1976 NCAA Division I basketball tournament

1976 NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Tournament

Teams	32
Finals site	The Spectrum Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Champions	Indiana (3rd title, 3rd title game, 4th Final Four)
Runner-up	Michigan (2nd title game, 3rd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Rutgers (1st Final Four) UCLA (13th Final Four)
Winning coach	Bob Knight (1st title)
MOP	Kent Benson (Indiana)
Attendance	202,502
Top scorer	Scott May Indiana (113 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «1975 1977»

The 1976 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 13, 1976, and ended with the championship game on March 29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A total of 32 games were played, including a national third place game.

Indiana, coached by Bob Knight, won the national title with an 86–68 victory in the final game over Michigan, coached by Johnny Orr. Kent Benson of Indiana was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Notably, this was the first time that two teams from the same conference (the Big Ten) played in the title game. Also, this was the last men's Division I tournament to date to feature two unbeaten teams, as both Indiana and Rutgers entered the tournament unbeaten. To date, Indiana is the last team to go the entire season undefeated. Both advanced to the Final Four, with Indiana winning the title and Rutgers losing to Michigan in the semifinals and UCLA in the third-place game. The title game fell on the day of the 48th Academy Awards; word of the Hoosiers' victory reached the Academy Awards audience just as the award for Best Film Editing was about to be presented.

Locations

Region	Site	Other locations
East	Greensboro, North Carolina	Charlotte, North Carolina, Providence, Rhode Island
Mideast	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Dayton, Ohio, Notre Dame, Indiana
Midwest	Louisville, Kentucky	Denton, Texas, Lawrence, Kansas
West	Los Angeles, California	Eugene, Oregon, Tempe, Arizona
Finals	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	N/A

Teams

Region	Team	Coach	Finished	Final opponent	Score
East
East	Connecticut	Dee Rowe	Sweet Sixteen	Rutgers	L 93–79
East	DePaul	Ray Meyer	Sweet Sixteen	VMI	L 71–66
East	Hofstra	Roger Gaeckler	Round of 32	Connecticut	L 80–78
East	Princeton	Pete Carril	Round of 32	Rutgers	L 54–53
East	Rutgers	Tom Young	Fourth Place	UCLA	L 106–92
East	Tennessee	Ray Mears	Round of 32	VMI	L 81–75
East	Virginia	Terry Holland	Round of 32	DePaul	L 69–60
East	VMI	Bill Blair	Regional Runner-up	Rutgers	L 91–75
Mideast
Mideast	Alabama	C. M. Newton	Sweet Sixteen	Indiana	L 74–69
Mideast	Indiana	Bob Knight	Champion	Michigan	W 86–68
Mideast	Marquette	Al McGuire	Regional Runner-up	Indiana	L 65–56
Mideast	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Round of 32	Alabama	L 79–64
Mideast	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	Round of 32	Indiana	L 90–70
Mideast	Virginia Tech	Don DeVoe	Round of 32	Western Michigan	L 77–67
Mideast	Western Kentucky	Jim Richards	Round of 32	Marquette	L 79–60
Mideast	Western Michigan	Eldon Miller	Sweet Sixteen	Marquette	L 62–57
Midwest
Midwest	Cincinnati	Gale Catlett	Round of 32	Notre Dame	L 79–78
Midwest	Michigan	Johnny Orr	Runner Up	Indiana	L 86–68
Midwest	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Regional Runner-up	Michigan	L 95–88
Midwest	Notre Dame	Digger Phelps	Sweet Sixteen	Michigan	L 80–76
Midwest	Syracuse	Roy Danforth	Round of 32	Texas Tech	L 69–56
Midwest	Texas Tech	Gerald Myers	Sweet Sixteen	Missouri	L 86–75
Midwest	Washington	Marv Harshman	Round of 32	Missouri	L 69–67
Midwest	Wichita State	Harry Miller	Round of 32	Michigan	L 74–73
West
West	Arizona	Fred Snowden	Regional Runner-up	UCLA	L 82–66
West	Boise State	Bus Connor	Round of 32	UNLV	L 103–78
West	Georgetown	John Thompson	Round of 32	Arizona	L 83–76
West	Memphis State	Wayne Yates	Round of 32	Pepperdine	L 87–77
West	UNLV	Jerry Tarkanian	Sweet Sixteen	Arizona	L 114–109
West	Pepperdine	Gary Colson	Sweet Sixteen	UCLA	L 70–61
West	San Diego State	Tim Vezie	Round of 32	UCLA	L 74–64
West	UCLA	Gene Bartow	Third Place	Rutgers	W 106–92

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

DePaul

69

Virginia

60

DePaul

66*

VMI

71

VMI

82

Tennessee

75

VMI

75

Rutgers

91

Rutgers

54

Princeton

53

Rutgers

93

Connecticut

79

Connecticut

80

Hofstra

78*

Midwest region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
		Michigan	74
		Wichita State	73
							Michigan	80
							Notre Dame	76
		Notre Dame	79
		Cincinnati	78
												Michigan	95
												Missouri	88
		Missouri	69
		Washington	67
							Missouri	86
							Texas Tech	75
		Texas Tech	69
		Syracuse	56

Mideast region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
		Alabama	79
		North Carolina	64
							Alabama	69
							Indiana	74
		Indiana	90
		St. John's	70
												Indiana	65
												Marquette	56
		Marquette	79
		Western Kentucky	60
							Marquette	62
							Western Michigan	57
		Western Michigan	77
		Virginia Tech	67*

West region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
		Pepperdine	87
		Memphis State	77
							Pepperdine	61
							UCLA	70
		UCLA	74
		San Diego State	64
												UCLA	82
												Arizona	66
		UNLV	103
		Boise State	78
							UNLV	109*
							Arizona	114
		Arizona	83
		Georgetown	76

Final Four

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	E	Rutgers	70
	MW	Michigan	86
						MW	Michigan	68
						ME	Indiana	86
	ME	Indiana	65
	W	UCLA	51			National Third Place Game
						W	UCLA	106
						E	Rutgers	92