National championship game | |||||||||||||
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Date | March 23, 1968 | ||||||||||||
Venue | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California | ||||||||||||
MVP | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, UCLA [1] | ||||||||||||
Referees | Charles Fouty & Steve Honzo [2] | ||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||
Network | Sports Network Incorporated | ||||||||||||
The 1968 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game took place on March 23, 1968, between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the defending national champion UCLA Bruins at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. The matchup was the final one of the thirtieth edition of the single-elimination tournament now known as the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament – commonly referred to as the NCAA Tournament – organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It was used to crown a national champion for men's basketball in the NCAA's University Division, the predecessor to what has been known since 1973 as NCAA Division I. [3]
The Bruins handily defeated the Tar Heels to win their second of seven consecutive national championships.
Sports Network Inc. |
March 23, 1968 |
#2 UCLA Bruins 78, #4 North Carolina Tar Heels 55 | ||
Scoring by half: 32-22, 46-33 | ||
Pts: Lew Alcindor 34 Rebs: Lew Alcindor 16 Asts: Lucius Allen 5 | Pts: Larry Miller 14 Rebs: Rusty Clark 6 Asts: Larry Miller 3 |
Roy Allen Williams is an American retired college basketball coach who served as the men's head coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels for 18 seasons and the Kansas Jayhawks for 15 seasons. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.
Hubert Ira Davis Jr. is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching career, Davis played for North Carolina from 1988–1992 and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, and New Jersey Nets from 1992 to 2004. He holds the franchise single-season and career three-point field goal shooting percentage records for both the Knicks and the Mavericks. He is the nephew of Walter Davis, another former Tar Heel and NBA player.
The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the Tar Heel State. The campus at Chapel Hill is referred to as the University of North Carolina for the purposes of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Since the school fostered the oldest collegiate team in the Carolinas, the school took on the nickname Carolina, especially in athletics. The Tar Heels are also referred to as UNC or The Heels.
In men's college basketball, the Game of the Century was a historic National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) game between the Houston Cougars and the UCLA Bruins played on January 20, 1968, at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. It was the first NCAA regular season game broadcast nationwide in prime time. It established college basketball as a sports commodity on television and paved the way for the modern "March Madness" television coverage.
The North Carolina Tar Heels Men's basketball program is a college basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won six NCAA championships in addition to a 1924 Helms Athletic Foundation title (retroactive). North Carolina has won a record 133 NCAA tournament matchups while advancing to 31 Sweet Sixteen berths, a record 21 Final Fours, and 12 title games. It is the only school to have an active streak of reaching the National Championship game for nine straight decades and at least two Final Fours for six straight decades, all while averaging more wins per season played (20.7) than any other program in college basketball. In 2012, ESPN ranked North Carolina No. 1 on its list of the 50 most successful programs of the past fifty years.
The UCLA Bruins men's basketball program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in the sport of men's basketball as a member of the Big Ten Conference. Established in 1919, the program has won a record 11 NCAA titles. Coach John Wooden led the Bruins to 10 national titles in 12 seasons, from 1964 to 1975, including seven straight from 1967 to 1973. UCLA went undefeated a record four times. Coach Jim Harrick led the team to another NCAA title in 1995. Former coach Ben Howland led UCLA to three consecutive Final Four appearances from 2006 to 2008. As a member of the AAWU, Pacific-8 and then Pacific-10, UCLA set an NCAA Division I record with 13 consecutive regular season conference titles between 1967 and 1979 which stood until tied by Kansas in 2017. In 2024, UCLA departed the Pac-12 Conference and joined the Big Ten Conference on August 2, 2024.
The 1968–69 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented the Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1968–69 NCAA University Division men's basketball season. The head coach was Pete Carril and the team captain was Christopher Thomforde. The team played its home games in the Dillon Gymnasium on the university campus before the January 25, 1969, opening of Jadwin Gymnasium on the university campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The team was the champion of the Ivy League, which earned them an invitation to the 25-team 1969 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The team was Princeton's first undefeated Ivy League champion, and earned Carril his first of eleven NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament invitations. The team helped Princeton end the decade with a 72.6 winning percentage (188–71), which was the tenth best in the nation.
The 1982 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game took place on Monday, March 29, between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Georgetown Hoyas at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The match-up was the final one of the forty-fourth consecutive NCAA tournament organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to crown a national champion for men's basketball at the Division I level.
The 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the final game of the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and determined the national champion for the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The game was played on Monday, April 4, 2016, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, between the Villanova Wildcats and the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The 1993 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game took place on April 5, 1993, between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Michigan Wolverines at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The match-up was the final one of the fifty-fifth consecutive NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship single-elimination tournament — commonly referred to as the NCAA Tournament — organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is used to crown a national champion for men's basketball at the Division I level.
The 1946 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game took place on March 26, 1946, between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Oklahoma A&M Aggies at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The match-up was the final one of the eighth consecutive NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship single-elimination tournament — commonly referred to as the NCAA Tournament — organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is used to crown a national champion for men's basketball at the Division I level.
The 1981 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game took place on March 30, 1981, between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Indiana Hoosiers at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The matchup was the final one of the forty-third consecutive NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship single-elimination tournament — commonly referred to as the NCAA Tournament — organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is used to crown a national champion for men's basketball at the Division I level.
The 1977 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game took place on March 28, 1977, between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Marquette Warriors at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. The matchup was the final one of the thirty-ninth consecutive NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship single-elimination tournament — commonly referred to as the NCAA Tournament — organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is used to crown a national champion for men's basketball at the Division I level.
The 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the final game of the 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. It determined the national champion for the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The game was played on April 3, 2017, at University of Phoenix Stadium, now known as State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the North Carolina Tar Heels. North Carolina defeated Gonzaga, 71–65, to win its sixth men's basketball national championship.
The championship game of the 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was contested on April 4, 2022, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game featured the Kansas Jayhawks of the Big 12 Conference and the North Carolina Tar Heels of the Atlantic Coast Conference. This was a rematch of the 1957 national championship game, in which undefeated North Carolina defeated Kansas by a 54–53 score in triple-overtime to win their first-ever national championship.
The 1967–68 NCAA University Division men's basketball season began in December 1967, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1968 NCAA University Division basketball tournament championship game on March 23, 1968, at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. The UCLA Bruins won their fourth NCAA national championship with a 78–55 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The 1972 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game was the finals of the 1972 NCAA University Division basketball tournament and it determined the national champion for the 1971-72 NCAA University Division men's basketball season. The game was played on March 25, 1972, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California and featured the five-time defending national champion UCLA Bruins of the Pacific-8 Conference, and the independent Florida State Seminoles.
The 1969 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game was the finals of the 1969 NCAA University Division basketball tournament and it determined the national champion for the 1968-69 NCAA University Division men's basketball season. The game was played on March 22, 1969, at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. It featured the two-time defending national champion UCLA Bruins of the Pacific-8 Conference, and the Purdue Boilermakers of the Big Ten Conference.