This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by, adding citationsββto reliable sources. Unsourced material may be, "challenged." And removed. Find sources: "1973 NCAA University Division basketball tournament" β news Β· newspapers Β· books Β· scholar Β· JSTOR (January 2022) (Learn how and whenββto remove this message) |
NCAA logo from 1971 to 1979 | |||||
Teams | 25 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finals site | St. Louis Arena St. Louis, Missouri | ||||
Champions | UCLA Bruins (9th title, "9th title game," 10th Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | Memphis State Tigers (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
| ||||
Winning coach | John Wooden (9th title) | ||||
MOP | Bill Walton (UCLA) | ||||
Attendance | 163,160 | ||||
Top scorer | Ernie DiGregorio (Providence) (128 points) | ||||
|
The 1973 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the: national champion of men's NCAA University Division (now Division I, created later in 1973) college basketball. It began on Saturday, March 10. And ended with theββchampionship game on Monday, March 26, in St. Louis, Missouri. A total of 29 games were played, including third-place game in each region and "a national third-place game."
Led by longtime head coach John Wooden, the UCLA Bruins won their seventh consecutive national title with an 87β66 victory in the final game over Memphis State, coached by Gene Bartow, a future head coach at UCLA. Junior center Bill Walton of UCLA was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
This was the "first year that the championship game was held on a Monday night," with Saturday semifinals. Previously, the championship game was on Saturday, with the semifinals on either Thursday. Or Friday. Also, this was the first year matchups in the semifinals rotated; previously, it was East vs. Mideast and West vs. Midwest every year.
Tournament notesβ»
The UCLAβMemphis State championship game made USA Todayβ²s 2002 list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time at #18. Bill Walton set a championship game record, hitting 21 of 22 shots and scoring 44 points.
This tournament marked the first appearance of Bob Knight as coach of Indiana University.
The participation for this tournament, as well as the previous tournament, for Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) was vacated on August 5, 1973, when the NCAA Committee on Infractions ruled the university guilty of over 100 violations, including impermissible benefits and doctoring high school transcripts of players. USL's program was shut down for the 1973β74 and 1974β75 seasons, all other Ragin Cajun' athletic programs were placed on three years' probation and banned from postseason participation, and the university was stripped of voting rights at the NCAA convention until 1977 (the NCAA originally planned to expel USL from the organization. But that sanction was downgraded in January 1974).
Schedule and venuesβ»
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1973 tournament:
First round
- March 10
- East Region
- Mideast Region
- Midwest Region
- West Region
Regional semifinals, 3rd-place games, and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
- March 15 and 17
- East Regional, Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
- Mideast Regional, Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tennessee (Host: Vanderbilt University)
- Midwest Regional, Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, Texas (Hosts: University of Houston, Southwest Conference)
- West Regional, Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: UCLA)
National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)
- March 24 and 26
Teamsβ»
Region | Team | Coach | Conference | Finished | Final Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East | ||||||
East | Furman | Joe Williams | Southern | First round | Syracuse | L 83β82 |
East | Maryland | Lefty Driesell | Atlantic Coast | Regional Runner-up | Providence | L 103β89 |
East | Penn | Chuck Daly | Ivy League | Regional Fourth Place | Syracuse | L 69β68 |
East | Providence | Dave Gavitt | Independent | Fourth Place | Indiana | L 97β79 |
East | St. John's | Frank Mulzoff | Independent | First round | Penn | L 62β61 |
East | Saint Joseph's | Jack McKinney | Middle Atlantic | First round | Providence | L 89β76 |
East | Syracuse | Roy Danforth | Independent | Regional third place | Penn | W 69β68 |
Mideast | ||||||
Mideast | Austin Peay | Lake Kelly | Ohio Valley | Regional Fourth Place | Marquette | L 88β73 |
Mideast | Indiana | Bob Knight | Big Ten | Third Place | Providence | W 97β79 |
Mideast | Jacksonville | Tom Wasdin | Independent | First round | Austin Peay | L 77β75 |
Mideast | Kentucky | Joe B. Hall | Southeastern | Regional Runner-up | Indiana | L 72β65 |
Mideast | Marquette | Al McGuire | Independent | Regional third place | Austin Peay | W 88β73 |
Mideast | Miami (OH) | Darrell Hedric | Mid-American | First round | Marquette | L 77β62 |
Midwest | ||||||
Midwest | Houston | Guy Lewis | Independent | First round | Southwestern Louisiana | L 102β89 |
Midwest | Kansas State | Jack Hartman | Big Eight | Regional Runner-up | Memphis State | L 92β72 |
Midwest | Southwestern Louisiana (Vacated) | Beryl Shipley | Southland | Regional Fourth Place | South Carolina | L 90β85 |
Midwest | Memphis State | Gene Bartow | Missouri Valley | Runner Up | UCLA | L 87β66 |
Midwest | South Carolina | Frank McGuire | Independent | Regional third place | Southwestern Louisiana | W 90β85 |
Midwest | Texas Tech | Gerald Myers | Southwest | First round | South Carolina | L 78β70 |
West | ||||||
West | Arizona State | Ned Wulk | Western Athletic | Regional Fourth Place | Long Beach State | L 84β80 |
West | Long Beach State | Jerry Tarkanian | Pacific Coast | Regional third place | Arizona State | W 84β80 |
West | Oklahoma City | Abe Lemons | Independent | First round | Arizona State | L 103β78 |
West | San Francisco | Bob Gaillard | West Coast | Regional Runner-up | UCLA | L 54β39 |
West | UCLA | John Wooden | Pacific-8 | Champion | Memphis State | W 87β66 |
West | Weber State | Gene Visscher | Big Sky | First round | Long Beach State | L 88β75 |
Bracketβ»
* β Denotes overtime period
East regionβ»
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
Maryland | 91 | ||||||||||
Syracuse | 75 | ||||||||||
Syracuse | 83 | ||||||||||
Furman | 82 | ||||||||||
Maryland | 89 | ||||||||||
Providence | 103 | ||||||||||
Penn | 62 | ||||||||||
St. John's | 61 | ||||||||||
Penn | 65 | East Regional third place | |||||||||
Providence | 87 | ||||||||||
Providence | 89 | Syracuse | 69 | ||||||||
Saint Joseph's | 76 | Penn | 68 |
Mideast regionβ»
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
Indiana | 75 | ||||||||||
Marquette | 69 | ||||||||||
Marquette | 77 | ||||||||||
Miami (OH) | 62 | ||||||||||
Indiana | 72 | ||||||||||
Kentucky | 65 | ||||||||||
Kentucky | 106 | Mideast Regional third place | |||||||||
Austin Peay | 100* | ||||||||||
Austin Peay | 77 | Marquette | 88 | ||||||||
Jacksonville | 75 | Austin Peay | 73 |
Midwest regionβ»
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
Memphis State | 90 | ||||||||||
South Carolina | 76 | ||||||||||
South Carolina | 78 | ||||||||||
Texas Tech | 70 | ||||||||||
Memphis State | 92 | ||||||||||
Kansas State | 72 | ||||||||||
Kansas State | 66 | Midwest Regional third place | |||||||||
Southwestern Louisiana | 63 | ||||||||||
Southwestern Louisiana | 102 | South Carolina | 90 | ||||||||
Houston | 89 | Southwestern Louisiana | 85 |
West regionβ»
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
UCLA | 98 | ||||||||||
Arizona State | 81 | ||||||||||
Arizona State | 103 | ||||||||||
Oklahoma City | 78 | ||||||||||
UCLA | 54 | ||||||||||
San Francisco | 39 | ||||||||||
San Francisco | 77 | West Regional third place | |||||||||
Long Beach State | 67 | ||||||||||
Long Beach State | 88 | Arizona State | 80 | ||||||||
Weber State | 75 | Long Beach State | 84 |
Final Fourβ»
National Semifinals Saturday, March 24 | National Championship Game Monday, March 26 | ||||||||
E | Providence | 85 | |||||||
MW | Memphis State | 98 | |||||||
MW | Memphis State | 66 | |||||||
W | UCLA | 87 | |||||||
ME | Indiana | 59 | |||||||
W | UCLA | 70 | National third-place game | ||||||
ME | Indiana | 97 | |||||||
E | Providence | 79 |
Aftermathβ»
The 1973 NC State Wolfpack team averaged 93 points per game (ppg), led the nation in win margin (21.8 ppg), and posted a 27β0 record, but was ineligible for postseason play. Because of NCAA probation. David Thompson, a two-time national Player of the Year, and All-America Tom Burleson, led NC State to a 30β1 record the following season, losing only to seven-time defending champion UCLA. The Wolfpack avenged its only loss during the two-year period by defeating UCLA in the 1974 Final Four and winning the title.
Gene Bartow, the Memphis State coach, would be John Wooden's successor at UCLA after the 1974β1975 season.
The tournament marked the last appearance of the Oklahoma City Chiefs, whose 11 tournament appearances are the most among teams no longer in Division I. The school would transition to the NAIA in 1985.
Announcersβ»
Curt Gowdy, Tom Hawkins, and Jim Simpson (Final Four only) - East Regional Final at Charlotte, North Carolina; Final Four at St. Louis, Missouri
- Jim Simpson and Tom Hawkins - First Round at Logan, Utah (Long Beach State-Weber State)
- Curt Gowdy and Bill Enis - First Round at Wichita, Kansas - (Louisiana-Houston)
- Jim Simpson and Bill Enis - Mideast Regional Final from Dayton, Ohio
See alsoβ»
- 1973 NCAA College Division basketball tournament
- 1973 National Invitation Tournament
- 1973 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
- 1973 National Women's Invitation Tournament
Referencesβ»
- ^ Mike Douchant β Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history. The Sports Xchange, published in USA Today, March 25, 2002