1971 National Invitation Tournament

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1971 National Invitation Tournament
Season 197071
Teams16
Finals site Madison Square Garden
New York City
Champions North Carolina Tar Heels (1st title)
Runner-up Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1st title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coach Dean Smith (1st title)
MVP Bill Chamberlain (North Carolina)
National Invitation Tournaments
« 1970 1972 »

The 1971 National Invitation Tournament was the 1971 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. 1971 was unique because it was the only time that major rivals Duke and North Carolina had played each other after the ACC tournament until the 2022 NCAA Final Four clash. Eventual ACC member Georgia Tech also made the semis, and lost to North Carolina in the championship. The fourth semifinalist, St. Bonaventure, was playing its first season following the departure of All-American Bob Lanier, who led the Brown Indians to the 1970 Final Four (Lanier was injured in the 1970 regional final vs. Villanova and did not play in either Final Four game).

Contents

Selected teams

Below is a list of the 16 teams selected for the tournament. [1]

TeamConferenceOverall recordAppearanceLast bid
Dayton Independent 18–812th 1968
Duke ACC 18–84th 1970
Georgia Tech Independent 20–82nd 1970
Hawaii Independent 22–41stNever
La Salle Middle Atlantic 20–68th 1965
Louisville Missouri Valley 20–89th 1970
Michigan Big Ten 18–61stNever
North Carolina ACC 22–62nd 1970
Oklahoma Big Eight 19–72nd 1970
Providence Independent 19–77th 1967
Purdue Big Ten 18–61stNever
St. Bonaventure Independent 18–58th 1964
St. John's Independent 18–820th 1970
Syracuse Independent 19–65th 1967
Tennessee SEC 20–63rd 1969
UMass Yankee 23–32nd 1970

Bracket

Below is the tournament bracket. [1]

First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
            
North Carolina 90
UMass 49
North Carolina86
Providence 79
Providence 64
Louisville 58
North Carolina73
Duke 69
Tennessee 84
St. John's 83
Tennessee 64
Duke78
Duke 68
Dayton 60
North Carolina84
Georgia Tech 66
Michigan 86
Syracuse 76
Michigan 70
Georgia Tech78
Georgia Tech 70
La Salle 67
Georgia Tech76
St. Bonaventure 71
St. Bonaventure 94
Purdue 79
St. Bonaventure73
Hawaii 64
Hawaii 87
Oklahoma 86
Third place game
   
Duke 88
St. Bonaventure92

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Tournament Results (1970's) at nit.org, URL accessed November 7, 2009. Archived 11/7/09