1978 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1978 NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Tournament
Teams 32
Finals site The Checkerdome
St. Louis, Missouri
Champions Kentucky (5th title, 7th title game,
8th Final Four)
Runner-up Duke (2nd title game,
4th Final Four)
Semifinalists
Winning coach Joe B. Hall (1st title)
MOP Jack Givens Kentucky
Attendance 227,149
Top scorer Mike Gminski Duke
(109 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments
«1977 1979»

The 1978 NCAA Men's 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.

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 11 true at-large teams in the field, as the remaining 5 teams were conference winners with automatic bids who were seeded as "at-large."[1] The practice of distinguishing between automatic and at-large teams was ended after the tournament, and the expanded field of 40 was simply seeded from 1 to 10 in the 1979 tournament.

Kentucky, coached by Joe B. Hall, won the national title with a 94-88 victory in the final game over Duke, coached by Bill E. Foster. Jack Givens of Kentucky was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The biggest upset of the tournament took place in the first round, when little-heralded Miami University (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 semi finals and finals were scheduled 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 3 games, the Titans (CSUF) 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' Jim Counce stole the ball from Keith Anderson (many observers felt Anderson was fouled) drove down to hit a clinching layup.

In the Mideast regional final, Kentucky knocked off top seeded 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 semifinal games and the National Championship game in 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.

Locations

Charlotte
Philadelphia
Tulsa
Knoxville
Wichita
Indianapolis
Eugene
Tempe
1978 sites for first and second round games
Providence
Dayton
Lawrence
Albuquerque
St. Louis
1978 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)
Region Site Other Locations
East Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mideast University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana
Stokely Athletic Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
Midwest Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas Mabee Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Levitt Arena, Wichita, Kansas
West University Arena, Albuquerque, New Mexico McArthur Court, Eugene, Oregon
ASU Activity Center, Tempe, Arizona
Finals The Checkerdome, St. Louis, Missouri

Teams

Region Seed Team Coach Finished Final Opponent Score
East
East 1Q Duke Bill E. Foster Runner UpKentuckyL 94-88
East 3Q Furman Joe Williams Round of 32IndianaL 63-62
East 1L Indiana Bob Knight Sweet SixteenVillanovaL 61-60
East 4L La Salle Paul Westhead Round of 32VillanovaL 103-97
East 4Q Penn Bob Weinhauer Sweet SixteenDukeL 84-80
East 3L Rhode Island Jack Kraft Round of 32DukeL 63-62
East 2L St. Bonaventure Jim Satalin Round of 32PennL 92-83
East 2Q Villanova Rollie Massimino Regional Runner-upDukeL 90-72
Mideast
Mideast 4L Florida State Hugh Durham Round of 32KentuckyL 85-76
Mideast 2Q Kentucky Joe B. Hall ChampionDukeW 94-88
Mideast 1L Marquette Hank Raymonds Round of 32Miami, OhioL 84-81
Mideast 3Q Miami, Ohio Darrell Hedric Sweet SixteenKentuckyL 91-69
Mideast 1Q Michigan State Jud Heathcote Regional Runner-upKentuckyL 52-49
Mideast 3L Providence Dave Gavitt Round of 32Michigan StateL 77-63
Mideast 2L Syracuse Jim Boeheim Round of 32Western KentuckyL 87-86
Mideast 4Q Western Kentucky Jim Richards Sweet SixteenMichigan StateL 90-69
Midwest
Midwest 3Q Creighton Tom Apke Round of 32DePaulL 80-78
Midwest 1L DePaul Ray Meyer Regional Runner-upNotre DameL 84-64
Midwest 4Q Houston Guy Lewis Round of 32Notre DameL 100-77
Midwest 2Q Louisville Denny Crum Sweet SixteenDePaulL 90-89
Midwest 1Q Missouri Norm Stewart Round of 32UtahL 86-79
Midwest 2L Notre Dame Digger Phelps Fourth PlaceArkansasL 71-69
Midwest 4L St. John's Lou Carnesecca Round of 32LouisvilleL 76-68
Midwest 3L Utah Jerry Pimm Sweet SixteenNotre DameL 69-56
West
West 2L Arkansas Eddie Sutton Third PlaceNotre DameW 71-69
West 4L Fullerton State Bob Dye Regional Runner-upArkansasL 61-58
West 3L Kansas Ted Owens Round of 32UCLAL 83-76
West 2Q New Mexico Norm Ellenberger Round of 32Cal State FullertonL 90-85
West 1L North Carolina Dean Smith Round of 32San FranciscoL 68-64
West 3Q San Francisco Bob Gaillard Sweet SixteenCal State FullertonL 75-72
West 1Q UCLA Gary Cunningham Sweet SixteenArkansasL 74-70
West 4Q Weber State Neil McCarthy Round of 32ArkansasL 73-52

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1Q Duke 63
3L Rhode Island 62
1Q Duke 84
4Q Pennsylvania 80
4Q Pennsylvania 92
2L St. Bonaventure 83
1Q Duke 90
2Q Villanova 72
1L Indiana 63
3Q Furman 62
1L Indiana 60
2Q Villanova 61
2Q Villanova 103
4L La Salle 97

Midwest region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
3L Utah 86
1Q Missouri 79**
3L Utah 56
2L Notre Dame 69
2L Notre Dame 100
4Q Houston 77
2L Notre Dame 84
1L DePaul 64
1L DePaul 80
3Q Creighton 78
1L DePaul 90
2Q Louisville 89**
2Q Louisville 76
4L St. John's 68

Mideast region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1Q Michigan St. 77
3L Providence 63
1Q Michigan St. 90
4Q Western Kentucky 69
4Q Western Kentucky 87
2L Syracuse 86*
1Q Michigan St. 49
2Q Kentucky 52
3Q Miami-OH 84
1L Marquette 81*
3Q Miami-OH 69
2Q Kentucky 91
2Q Kentucky 85
4L Florida St. 76

West region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1Q UCLA 83
3L Kansas 76
1Q UCLA 70
2L Arkansas 74
2L Arkansas 73
4Q Weber St. 52
2L Arkansas 61
4L Cal State Fullerton 58
3Q San Francisco 68
1L North Carolina 64
3Q San Francisco 72
4L Cal State Fullerton 75
4L Cal State Fullerton 90
2Q New Mexico 85

Final Four

  National Semifinals     National Championship Game
                 
  E1Q  Duke 90  
  MW2L  Notre Dame 86    
      E1Q  Duke 88
      ME2Q  Kentucky 94
  ME2Q  Kentucky 64    
  W2L  Arkansas 59   National Third Place Game
 
W2L  Arkansas 71
  MW2L  Notre Dame 69

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

Game summaries

Final Four

March 25
Arkansas 59, Kentucky 64
Scoring by half: 30-32, 29-32
Pts: Brewer 16
Rebs: Delph 8
Asts: Counce 2		 Pts: Givens 23
Rebs: Givens 9
Asts: Shidler 4

Attendance: 18,721
March 25
Duke 90, Notre Dame 86
Scoring by half: 43-29, 47-57
Pts: Gminski 29
Rebs: Banks 12
Asts: Spanarkel/Bender 5		 Pts: Williams 16
Rebs: Laimbeer 10
Asts: Branning 5

Attendance: 18,721

Championship

March 27
Duke 88, Kentucky 94
Scoring by half: 38-45, 50-49
Pts: Banks 22
Rebs: Gminski 12		 Pts: Givens 41
Rebs: Robey 11

Attendance: 18,721

References

  1. ↑ Washington Post – March 6, 1978
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