The 1977 NCAA Division I basketball tournament involved 32 American schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the National Champion of Men's NCAA Division Icollege basketball. It began on Saturday, March 12, 1977, and ended with the championship game on Monday, March 28 in Atlanta. A total of 32 games were played, including a national third-place game. This was the final tournament in which teams were not seeded.
Marquette, coached by Al McGuire, won the national title with a 67–59 victory in the final game over North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith. Butch Lee of Marquette was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Publicly announcing his retirement during the middle of the season, McGuire retired as head coach immediately after the game.[1]UNLV and UNC Charlotte were third and fourth place, respectively.[2] Marquette's seven losses were a record at the time for the most losses in a season by a national champion, exceeded four years later in 1981 by Indiana with nine.
Most of the excitement surrounding the Western Regional was the anticipated matchup between top-five-ranked teams UCLA and UNLV. Jerry Tarkanian had lost three times in the tournament to UCLA while he was at Long Beach State, including a heartbreaking 57–55 loss in the 1971 West Regional final in which Long Beach led by eleven in the second half. Many felt this UNLV team gave him the best opportunity to beat his longtime nemesis. But he never got the chance as UCLA was stunned in the regional semi final by unranked Idaho State of the Big Sky Conference.[6][7][8] This was the first time since 1963 that UCLA made the tournament but failed to get to the Final Four. Down by a point at halftime, UNLV went on to easily beat Idaho State 107–90.[9]
All four regionals were played on Thursday and Saturday.[3][4] The opening round the preceding weekend played twelve games on Saturday and four on Sunday.[5]
The tournament saw only two teams making their NCAA Tournament debut, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Southern Illinois University. Interestingly, both teams had hosted tournament games in their arenas before playing in the tournament; SIU Arena hosted first-round games in the 1969 tournament, and Charlotte Coliseum, which the 49ers had just moved to in 1976 after previously playing on campus at Belk Gymnasium, had hosted games seven previous years (including 1976) and would host five more times before the opening of the second Charlotte Coliseum in 1988.
This tournament marked the most recent appearance of VMI; their 47-year drought is, as of 2024, the sixth-longest active drought in the NCAA and ninth all-time. Fellow 1977 tournament participant Duquesne, who also spent 47 years attempting to reach the tournament again, ended their drought in 2024.
Prior to the 2023 NCAA Tournament, this marked the last time the six Division I college basketball-playing schools in the Philadelphia metropolitan area: Drexel, La Salle, Penn, St. Joseph's, Temple, and Villanova – were collectively shut out of the NCAA tournament. At least one of the teams had made the tournament the previous 18 years, and the city has only been shut out twelve of the 83 tournaments.
Announcers
Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, and Billy Packer - Final Four at Atlanta, Georgia; For the Final Four, Dick Enberg and Billy Packer called the first game while Packer teamed with Curt Gowdy for the second game. For the Championship Game, Curt Gowdy called the play-by-play while Dick Enberg and Billy Packer did the color commentary.
Dick Enberg and Billy Packer - First Round at Pocatello, Idaho (UCLA-Louisville); First Round at Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Syracuse-Tennessee); East Regional Semifinals at College Park, Maryland; West Regional Final at Provo, Utah
Curt Gowdy and John Wooden - First Round at Bloomington, Indiana (Michigan-Holy Cross); Mideast Regional Semifinals at Lexington, Kentucky; East Regional Final at College Park, Maryland
Jim Simpson and Tom Hawkins - First Round at Tucson, Arizona (UNLV-San Francisco); Mideast Regional Final at Lexington, Kentucky
Jay Randolph and Gary Thompson - Midwest Regional Final at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Marquette-Wake Forest)
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