Season 2012–13 Teams 68 | Dates 19 Mar 2013 – 8 Apr 2013 Finals site Georgia Dome | |
 | ||
Champions Louisville (3rd title, 3rd title game,
10th Final Four) Runner-up Michigan (6th title game,
7th Final Four) Semifinalists Syracuse (5th Final Four)
Wichita State (2nd Final Four) Winning coach Rick Pitino (2nd title) MOP Luke Hancock Louisville Champion Louisville Cardinals men's basketball Similar 2014 NCAA Division I, 2012 NCAA Division I, 2011 NCAA Division I, 2015 NCAA Division I, 2010 NCAA Division I | ||
The 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was a single-elimination tournament that involved 68 teams playing to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 19, 2013, and concluded with the championship game on April 8, 2013, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. This was the 75th edition of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, dating to 1939.
Contents
- 2013 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
- Automatic qualifiers
- Tournament seeds
- Brackets
- Midwest Regional all tournament team
- West Regional all tournament team
- South Regional all tournament team
- East Regional all tournament team
- Final Four Georgia Dome Atlanta Georgia
- Final Four all tournament team
- National championship
- Record by conference
- Other events surrounding the tournament
- US television
- Studio hosts
- Studio analysts
- Commentary teams
- Radio
- First four
- Second and third rounds
- Regionals
- Final Four
- Local radio
- International
- Canada
- References
Selection Sunday, when CBS announced the participants and tournament brackets, occurred on March 17, 2013.
The Final Four consisted of Louisville, making their second straight appearance, Wichita State, making their second ever appearance, Syracuse, making their first appearance since their 2003 national championship, and Michigan, returning for the first time since the Fab Five's second appearance in 1993 (which was later vacated). By winning the West Region, Wichita State became the first #9 seed and first Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) team to reach the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last #9 seed to reach the Final Four was Penn, and the last MVC team to do so was Indiana State, both in 1979.
Louisville defeated Michigan in the championship game by a final score of 82-76, winning their first national title since 1986.
The tournament featured several notable upsets. Perhaps the most notable were the two victories put together by Atlantic Sun Conference champion Florida Gulf Coast University, who were playing in their first ever NCAA tournament in only their second year of Division I eligibility. The Eagles were given the #15 seed in the South Region and defeated Georgetown in the round of 64. They followed that up by defeating #7 seed San Diego State in the round of 32, becoming the first #15 seed to advance to the regional semifinals. Florida Gulf Coast was defeated in their next game by Florida.
Florida Gulf Coast's run was not the only upset of the tournament, as at least one team seeded #9 through #15 won at least once in the tournament. For the first time since 2010, a #14 seed won as Harvard defeated New Mexico in the West Region. The same region saw #13 La Salle, who won in the opening round, defeat #4 Kansas State and #12 Mississippi defeat #5 Wisconsin. In addition to that, the region's top seed, Gonzaga, was defeated in the round of 32 by eventual region winner Wichita State, who defeated La Salle in the Sweet Sixteen.
The Pac-12 saw two of its schools qualify as #12 seeds and both won. In the Midwest Region, Oregon advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by defeating #5 seed Oklahoma State and #4 Saint Louis. California, who was placed in the East Region, knocked off #5 UNLV before falling to eventual region winner Syracuse. By contrast #6 seed Pac-12 team UCLA was upset by #11 seed Minnesota in their opening round matchup.
With their loss to Florida Gulf Coast, Georgetown has lost to a double-digit seed in their last five NCAA tournament appearances.
A notable absence from the tournament was Connecticut, who won twenty games in 2012-13. The Huskies were barred from all postseason play by the NCAA for 2013 due to a new rule initiated in 2011 that penalizes schools for not keeping an average Academic Progress Rate over the previous four years.
Two other teams also earned their first ever NCAA Tournament victory: Ivy League champion Harvard and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion North Carolina A&T. Liberty became the first 20-loss team in five years to earn an NCAA bid, having finished its season with five consecutive wins to secure the Big South championship and its automatic qualification. For the first time since 1977, the 10-member basketball selection committee did not choose a single NCAA team from the state of Texas for the tournament. For the first time since 1994, no team from Utah was selected for the tournament.
For the first time since the 1987 Final Four, the Final Four did not feature any of the 5 teams with the most Final Four appearances: UCLA, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, or Kentucky.
2013 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2013 tournament:
Automatic qualifiers
The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2013 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).
Tournament seeds
*See First Four.
Brackets
* – Denotes overtime period
Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04)
Midwest Regional all-tournament team
Regional all-tournament team: Seth Curry, Duke; Gorgui Dieng, Louisville; Mason Plumlee, Duke; Peyton Siva, Louisville
Regional most outstanding player: Russ Smith, Louisville
West Regional all-tournament team
Regional all-tournament team: Carl Hall, Wichita State; Mark Lyons, Arizona; LaQuinton Ross, Ohio State; Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State
Regional most outstanding player: Malcolm Armstead, Wichita State
South Regional all-tournament team
Regional all-tournament team: Mitch McGary, Michigan; Ben McLemore, Kansas; Mike Rosario, Florida; Nik Stauskas, Michigan
Regional most outstanding player: Trey Burke, Michigan
East Regional all-tournament team
Regional all-tournament team: Vander Blue, Marquette; C. J. Fair, Syracuse; Davante Gardner, Marquette; James Southerland, Syracuse
Regional most outstanding player: Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse
Final Four – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia
During the Final Four round, the champion of the top overall top seed's region was to play against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region, and the champion of the second overall top seed's region was to play against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region. Louisville (placed in the Midwest Regional) was selected as the top overall seed, and Gonzaga (in the West Regional) was named as the final top seed. Thus, the Midwest champion played the West Champion in one semifinal game, and the South Champion faced the East Champion in the other semifinal game.
Wichita State surprised the college basketball world by reaching the Final Four from the West region. They lost to Louisville in the first semifinal game, 72–68. Michigan defeated Syracuse 61–56 in the second semifinal.
Final Four all-tournament team
Final Four all-tournament team: Spike Albrecht, Michigan; Trey Burke, Michigan; Mitch McGary, Michigan; Cleanthony Early, Wichita State; Peyton Siva, Louisville; Luke Hancock, Louisville; Chane Behanan, Louisville
Final Four most outstanding player: Luke Hancock, Louisville (the first-ever non-starter to earn this title)
National championship
Louisville defeated Michigan 82–76 in the championship game. The win gave Louisville its first championship since 1986, and third overall. It became the eighth school to win at least three championships. Head coach Rick Pitino became the first coach to win an NCAA championship with two different schools. Michigan fell to 1–5 all time in championship games (including two losses vacated because of sanctions against the university).
Michigan's Trey Burke scored seven quick points to get Michigan out to a 7–3 lead, but also picked up two quick fouls and sat during much of the first half. With Burke on the bench, Michigan got a spark from freshman Spike Albrecht, a minor role player during the regular season. Albrecht hit four straight 3-pointers en route to a 17-point first half performance, easily surpassing his previous single game best of 7. Louisville trailed Michigan 35–23 late in the first half, before going on a run fueled by four straight three-pointers by Luke Hancock. At halftime, Michigan led 38–37.
The second half featured several lead changes before Louisville pushed the margin to 10 on a three-pointer by Hancock with 3:20 remaining in the game. Michigan fought back, closing the gap to four points in the last minute, but ran out of time in its comeback effort.
Hancock hit all five three-point shots he attempted in the game and led Louisville with 22 points, while teammate Peyton Siva scored 18 and had a game high 4 steals. Chane Behanan pulled down 12 rebounds to go with 15 points. Burke led Michigan with 24 points. Russ Smith, Louisville's leading scorer on the season, struggled in the game, shooting 3-for-16. Hancock was named as the game's most outstanding player.
Record by conference
Other events surrounding the tournament
On May 10, 2012, the NCAA announced that as part of the celebration of the 75th Division I tournament, it would hold all three of its men's basketball championship games in Atlanta. The finals of the Division II and Division III tournaments were held at Philips Arena on April 7, the day between the Division I semifinals and final. In addition, Atlanta-based tournament broadcaster TBS announced that Conan O'Brien would tape his Conan talk show at The Tabernacle, located a few blocks from the Georgia Dome and Philips Arena, in the week leading up to the Final Four. March Madness studio analyst Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale were among the guests who appeared.Kevin Ware, a Louisville player broke his leg in the Elite Eight as well.
U.S. television
The year 2013 marked the third year of a 14-year partnership between CBS and Turner cable networks TBS, TNT and truTV to cover the entire tournament under the NCAA March Madness banner. CBS aired the Final Four and championship rounds for the 32nd consecutive year. The tournament was considered a ratings success. Tournament games averaged 10.7 million viewers, and the championship game garnered an average of 23.4 million viewers and a peak viewership of 27.1 million.
Studio hosts
Studio analysts
Commentary teams
Kerr joins Nantz and Kellogg during the Final Four and National Championship games
Radio
Dial Global Sports (formerly Westwood One) and SiriusXM have live broadcasts of all 67 games.
First four
Second and third rounds
Regionals
Final Four
Local radio
International
ESPN International held broadcast rights to the tournament outside of the United States: it produced its own broadcasts of the semi-final and championship game, called by ESPN College Basketball personalities Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Dick Vitale (analyst for the final and one semi-final), and Jay Bilas (analyst for the other semi-final). For the initial rounds, they use CBS/Turner coverage with an additional host to transition between games, with whiparound coverage similar to the CBS-only era. ESPN also has exclusive digital rights to the NCAA tournament outside of North America.
Canada
In Canada, the TSN family of media outlets (including TSN2, RDS, and TSN Radio), which are part-owned by ESPN, own broadcast rights to the tournament. TSN produces separate studio coverage with Kate Beirness, Jack Armstrong, Dan Shulman and Sam Mitchell, but simulcasts CBS/Turner game coverage for the first five rounds (and ESPN International coverage for the Final Four).
As in past years, TSN and TSN2 carry whiparound coverage (often in parallel) during the second, third and fourth rounds, in 2013 focusing when possible on games not being broadcast on CBS (as that network, but not the Turner channels, is also widely available in Canada).