MOP Bill Walton UCLA Teams 25 | Dates 11 Mar 1972 – 25 Mar 1972 Attendance 147,304 | |
Champions UCLA (8th title, 8th title game,
9th Final Four) Runner-up Florida State (1st title game,
1st Final Four) Semifinalists Louisville (2nd Final Four)
North Carolina (6th Final Four) Winning coach John Wooden (8th title) Top scorer Jim Price Louisville
(103 points) Champion UCLA Bruins men's basketball Finals site Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Similar 1973 NCAA Men's Div, 1977 NCAA Men's Div, 1981 NCAA Men's Div | ||
The 1972 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) college basketball. It began on March 11, 1972, and ended with the championship game on March 25 in Los Angeles, California. A total of 29 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
UCLA, coached by John Wooden, won the national title with an 81–76 victory in the final game over Florida State, coached by Hugh Durham. Bill Walton of UCLA was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
In a historically significant note, the University of Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns made the tournament in their first season of eligibility for postseason play. No school would repeat this feat in the men's tournament until North Dakota State in 2009. Southwestern Louisiana also made the tournament in 1973, but due to major infractions that resulted in the basketball program receiving the NCAA death penalty (and very nearly expelled from the NCAA altogether), both appearances have since been vacated and the records expunged.
Bracket
* – Denotes overtime period