1978 NCAA Division I basketball tournament

Last updated

1978 NCAA Division I
basketball tournament
NCAA 70s logo.svg
NCAA logo from 1971 to 1979
Season 197778
Teams32
Finals site The Checkerdome,
St. Louis, Missouri
Champions Kentucky Wildcats (5th title, 7th title game,
8th Final Four)
Runner-up Duke Blue Devils (2nd title game,
4th Final Four)
Semifinalists
Winning coach Joe B. Hall (1st title)
MOP Jack Givens (Kentucky)
Attendance447,234
Top scorer Mike Gminski (Duke)
(109 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments
« 1977 1979 »

The 1978 NCAA Division I basketball tournament involved 32 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1978, and ended with the championship game on March 27 in St. Louis, Missouri. A total of 32 games were played, including a national third-place game.

Contents

The process of seeding the bracket was first used in this tournament. Sixteen conference winners with automatic bids were seeded 1 through 4 in each region. At-large teams were seeded 1 through 4 in each region separately. There were in fact only eleven true at-large teams in the field, as the remaining five were conference winners with automatic bids and seeded as "at-large." [1] The practice of distinguishing between automatic and at-large teams ended with this edition; the expanded field of forty in the 1979 tournament was simply seeded from one to ten in each of the four regions.

Led by head coach Joe B. Hall, Kentucky won its fifth national title with a 94–88 victory over Duke, coached by Bill Foster. Wildcat forward Jack Givens scored 41 points in the finale and was named the tournament's most outstanding player. [2] [3] [4] [5]

The bracket's biggest upset came in the first round, when little-heralded Miami (Ohio) defeated defending champion Marquette 84–81 in overtime. The victory was even sweeter for Miami Redskins (now RedHawks) fans as former Marquette coach Al McGuire had earlier strongly criticized the NCAA for potentially matching Marquette against Kentucky in the second round, with Marquette being given a first-round opponent in Miami that was supposedly not even worthy of providing an adequate tune-up game.

Unranked Cal State Fullerton (CSUF) pulled off two upsets, first over 4th ranked New Mexico (coached by Norm Ellenberger and led by Michael Cooper) and then over top-10 San Francisco (featuring Bill Cartwright). The loss was especially painful for New Mexico as the regional semifinals and finals were held on the Lobos' home court in Albuquerque. CSUF then almost upset Arkansas in the West Regional final, losing by 3 points. In each of the three games, the Titans overcame second-half double-digit deficits. In the Arkansas game, they cut a big deficit to 1 and had the ball with 14 seconds left. But Arkansas' Ron Brewer stripped the ball from Keith Anderson and Jim Counce drove down to hit a clinching layup.

In the Mideast regional final, Kentucky knocked off Michigan State, led by freshman Earvin "Magic" Johnson. This was the only time in a 4-year period (that included his senior year in high school, 2 years of college, and his rookie NBA season) that Magic's team did not win its final game of the playoffs and hence the championship.

The Final Four games (semifinals, third-place, and championship) at St. Louis Arena (a.k.a. The Checkerdome) were not played on the arena's official floor. Water damage to it forced the NCAA to borrow the floor from Indiana University's Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

This was the fourth and last year for a 32-team bracket; the field expanded to forty teams in 1979 and 48 in 1980, all seeded. The 64-team field debuted in 1985, eliminating byes for the top seeds (1979–1984). The third-place game at the Final Four was last played in 1981.

Schedule and venues

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Charlotte
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Philadelphia
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Tulsa
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Knoxville
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Wichita
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Indianapolis
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Eugene
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Tempe
1978 sites for first round games
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Providence
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Dayton
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Lawrence
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Albuquerque
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St. Louis
1978 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1978 tournament:

First round

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)

Teams

RegionSeedTeamCoachConferenceFinishedFinal OpponentScore
East
East1Q Duke Bill E. Foster Atlantic CoastRunner Up Kentucky L 94–88
East3Q Furman Joe Williams SouthernRound of 32 Indiana L 63–62
East1L Indiana Bob Knight Big TenSweet Sixteen Villanova L 61–60
East4L La Salle Paul Westhead East CoastRound of 32 Villanova L 103–97
East4Q Penn Bob Weinhauer Ivy LeagueSweet Sixteen Duke L 84–80
East3L Rhode Island Jack Kraft IndependentRound of 32 Duke L 63–62
East2L St. Bonaventure Jim Satalin IndependentRound of 32 Penn L 92–83
East2Q Villanova Rollie Massimino Eastern AthleticRegional Runner-up Duke L 90–72
Mideast
Mideast4L Florida State Hugh Durham MetropolitanRound of 32 Kentucky L 85–76
Mideast1Q Kentucky Joe B. Hall SoutheasternChampion Duke W 94–88
Mideast1L Marquette Hank Raymonds IndependentRound of 32 Miami (OH) L 84–81
Mideast3Q Miami (OH) Darrell Hedric Mid-AmericanSweet Sixteen Kentucky L 91–69
Mideast2Q Michigan State Jud Heathcote Big TenRegional Runner-up Kentucky L 52–49
Mideast3L Providence Dave Gavitt IndependentRound of 32 Michigan State L 77–63
Mideast2L Syracuse Jim Boeheim IndependentRound of 32 Western Kentucky L 87–86
Mideast4Q Western Kentucky Jim Richards Ohio ValleySweet Sixteen Michigan State L 90–69
Midwest
Midwest3Q Creighton Tom Apke Missouri ValleyRound of 32 DePaul L 80–78
Midwest1L DePaul Ray Meyer IndependentRegional Runner-up Notre Dame L 84–64
Midwest4Q Houston Guy Lewis SouthwestRound of 32 Notre Dame L 100–77
Midwest2Q Louisville Denny Crum MetropolitanSweet Sixteen DePaul L 90–89
Midwest1Q Missouri Norm Stewart Big EightRound of 32 Utah L 86–79
Midwest2L Notre Dame Digger Phelps IndependentFourth Place Arkansas L 71–69
Midwest4L St. John's Lou Carnesecca IndependentRound of 32 Louisville L 76–68
Midwest3L Utah Jerry Pimm Western AthleticSweet Sixteen Notre Dame L 69–56
West
West2L Arkansas Eddie Sutton SouthwestThird Place Notre Dame W 71–69
West4L Cal State Fullerton Bobby Dye Pacific CoastRegional Runner-up Arkansas L 61–58
West3L Kansas Ted Owens Big EightRound of 32 UCLA L 83–76
West2Q New Mexico Norm Ellenberger Western AthleticRound of 32 Cal State Fullerton L 90–85
West1L North Carolina Dean Smith Atlantic CoastRound of 32 San Francisco L 68–64
West3Q San Francisco Bob Gaillard West CoastSweet Sixteen Cal State Fullerton L 75–72
West1Q UCLA Gary Cunningham Pacific-8Sweet Sixteen Arkansas L 74–70
West4Q Weber State Neil McCarthy Big SkyRound of 32 Arkansas L 73–52

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1Q Duke63
3L Rhode Island 62
1Q Duke84
4Q Penn 80
4Q Penn92
2L St. Bonaventure 83
1Q Duke90
2Q Villanova 72
1L Indiana63
3Q Furman 62
1L Indiana 60
2Q Villanova61
2Q Villanova103
4L La Salle 97

Midwest region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
3L Utah86
1Q Missouri 79**
3L Utah 56
2L Notre Dame69
2L Notre Dame100
4Q Houston 77
2L Notre Dame84
1L DePaul 64
1L DePaul80
3Q Creighton 78
1L DePaul90
2Q Louisville 89**
2Q Louisville76
4L St. John's 68

Mideast region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1Q Michigan State77
3L Providence 63
1Q Michigan State90
4Q Western Kentucky 69
4Q Western Kentucky87
2L Syracuse 86*
1Q Michigan State 49
2Q Kentucky52
3Q Miami (OH)84
1L Marquette 81*
3Q Miami (OH) 69
2Q Kentucky91
2Q Kentucky85
4L Florida State 76

West region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1Q UCLA83
3L Kansas 76
1Q UCLA 70
2L Arkansas74
2L Arkansas73
4Q Weber State 52
2L Arkansas61
4L Cal State Fullerton 58
3Q San Francisco68
1L North Carolina 64
3Q San Francisco 72
4L Cal State Fullerton75
4L Cal State Fullerton90
2Q New Mexico 85

Final Four

National semifinals
Saturday, March 25
National Championship Game
Monday, March 27
      
E1Q Duke90
MW2L Notre Dame 86
E1Q Duke 88
ME2Q Kentucky94
ME2Q Kentucky64
W2L Arkansas 59 National third-place game
MW2L Notre Dame 69
W2L Arkansas71

Q = automatic qualifier bid L = at-large bid (including 5 automatic bids seeded with at-large teams)

Game summaries

Final Four

NBC
March 25
#5 Arkansas Razorbacks 59, #1 Kentucky Wildcats64
Scoring by half: 30–32, 29–32
Pts: Ron Brewer 16
Rebs: Marvin Delph 8
Asts: Jim Counce 2
Pts: Jack Givens 23
Rebs: Jack Givens 9
Asts: Jay Shidler 4
NBC
March 25
#7 Duke Blue Devils90, #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 86
Scoring by half: 43–29, 47–57
Pts: Mike Gminski 29
Rebs: Gene Banks 12
Asts: Jim Spanarkel/Bob Bender 5
Pts: Duck Williams 16
Rebs: Bill Laimbeer 10
Asts: Rich Branning 5

Championship

NBC
March 27
#7 Duke Blue Devils 88, #1 Kentucky Wildcats94
Scoring by half: 38–45, 50–49
Pts: Gene Banks 22
Rebs: Mike Gminski 12
Pts: Jack Givens 41
Rebs: Rick Robey 11

Announcers

See also

References

  1. Washington Post – March 6, 1978
  2. "Kentucky finally gets to celebrate". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). UPI. March 28, 1978. p. 4B.
  3. "Kentucky can finally celebrate". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. March 28, 1978. p. 1C.
  4. Keith, Larry (April 3, 1978). "The Cats go wild". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
  5. "Givens heads team". Kentucky New Era. (Hopkinsville). Associated Press. March 28, 1978. p. 12.