1973 NCAA University Division basketball tournament

1973 NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Tournament

Teams	25
Finals site	St. Louis Arena St. Louis, Missouri
Champions	UCLA (9th title, 9th title game, 10th Final Four)
Runner-up	Memphis State (1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Semifinalists	Indiana (3rd Final Four) Providence (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	John Wooden (9th title)
MOP	Bill Walton (UCLA)
Attendance	163,160
Top scorer	Ernie DiGregorio Providence (128 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «1972 1974»

The 1973 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA University Division (the predecessor to today's Division I, which would be created later in 1973) college basketball. It began on March 10, 1973, and ended with the championship game on March 26 in St. Louis, Missouri. A total of 29 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game. This was the first year that the championship game was held on a Monday night, after the semifinals on Saturday. It has remained that way ever since. Previously the championship game was on Saturday with the semi finals on either Thursday or Friday.

UCLA, coached by John Wooden, won the national title with an 87–66 victory in the final game over Memphis State, coached by Gene Bartow. This gave UCLA their 7th consecutive title. Bill Walton of UCLA was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Tournament notes

The UCLA - Memphis State championship game made USA Today's 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.

Trivia: Indiana had a home floor advantage. Bobby Knight did not like the floor, so he had the floor shipped in from Indiana and installed in the St. Louis Arena.

Locations

Region	Site	Other Locations
East	Charlotte, North Carolina	Jamaica, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Williamsburg, Virginia
Mideast	Nashville, Tennessee	Dayton, Ohio
Midwest	Houston, Texas	Wichita, Kansas
West	Los Angeles, California	Logan, Utah
Finals	St. Louis, Missouri

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	n/a	Furman	Joe Williams	First round	Syracuse	L 83-82
East	n/a	Maryland	Lefty Driesell	Regional Runner-up	Providence	L 103-89
East	n/a	Penn	Chuck Daly	Regional Fourth Place	Syracuse	L 69-68
East	n/a	Providence	Dave Gavitt	Fourth Place	Indiana	L 97-79
East	n/a	St. John's	Frank Mulzoff	First round	Penn	L 62-61
East	n/a	Saint Joseph's	Jack McKinney	First round	Providence	L 89-76
East	n/a	Syracuse	Roy Danforth	Regional Third Place	Penn	W 69-68
Mideast
Mideast	n/a	Austin Peay	Lake Kelly	Regional Fourth Place	Marquette	L 88-73
Mideast	n/a	Indiana	Bob Knight	Third Place	Providence	W 97-79
Mideast	n/a	Jacksonville	Tom Wasdin	First round	Austin Peay	L 77-75
Mideast	n/a	Kentucky	Joe B. Hall	Regional Runner-up	Indiana	L 72-65
Mideast	n/a	Marquette	Al McGuire	Regional Third Place	Austin Peay	W 88-73
Mideast	n/a	Miami, Ohio	Darrell Hedric	First round	Marquette	L 77-62
Midwest
Midwest	n/a	Houston	Guy Lewis	First round	Southwestern Louisiana	L 102-89
Midwest	n/a	Kansas State	Jack Hartman	Regional Runner-up	Memphis State	L 92-72
Midwest	n/a	Southwestern Louisiana (Vacated)	Beryl Shipley	Regional Fourth Place	South Carolina	L 90-85
Midwest	n/a	Memphis State	Gene Bartow	Runner Up	UCLA	L 87-66
Midwest	n/a	South Carolina	Frank McGuire	Regional Third Place	Southwestern Louisiana	W 90-85
Midwest	n/a	Texas Tech	Gerald Myers	First round	South Carolina	L 78-70
West
West	n/a	Arizona State	Ned Wulk	Regional Fourth Place	Long Beach State	L 84-80
West	n/a	Long Beach State	Jerry Tarkanian	Regional Third Place	Arizona State	W 84-80
West	n/a	Oklahoma City	Abe Lemons	First round	Arizona State	L 103-78
West	n/a	San Francisco	Bob Gaillard	Regional Runner-up	UCLA	L 54-39
West	n/a	UCLA	John Wooden	Champion	Memphis State	W 87-66
West	n/a	Weber State	Gene Visscher	First round	Long Beach State	L 88-75

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Maryland	91
							Syracuse	75
		Syracuse	83
		Furman	82
												Maryland	89
												Providence	103
		Pennsylvania	62
		St. John's	61
							Pennsylvania	65
							Providence	87
		Providence	89
		St. Joseph's	76

Midwest region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Memphis State	90
							South Carolina	76
		South Carolina	78
		Texas Tech	70
												Memphis State	92
												Kansas State	72
							Kansas State	66
							Southwest Louisiana	63
		Southwest Louisiana	102
		Houston	89

Mideast region

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Indiana

75

Marquette

69

Marquette

77

Miami-OH

62

Indiana

72

Kentucky

65

Kentucky

106

Austin Peay

100*

Austin Peay

77

Jacksonville

75

West region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							UCLA	98
							Arizona State	81
		Arizona State	103
		Oklahoma City	78
												UCLA	54
												San Francisco	39
							San Francisco	77
							Long Beach State	67
		Long Beach State	88
		Weber State	75

Final Four

UCLA won its seventh consecutive championship

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	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

Aftermath

The 1973 NC State Wolfpack team averaged 93 ppg, led the nation in win margin (21.8 ppg), and posted a 27–0 record, but was ineligible for postseason play because of NCAA probation. David Thompson, a two-time national Player of the Year, and All-American Tom Burleson, led NC State to a 30–1 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 1974-1975 season.