1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1996 Final Four logo
Teams	64
Finals site	Continental Airlines Arena East Rutherford, New Jersey
Champions	Kentucky (6th title)
Runner-up	Syracuse (2nd title game)
Semifinalists	Mississippi State (1st Final Four) Massachusetts (Vacated) (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Rick Pitino (1st title)
MOP	Tony Delk Kentucky
Attendance	631,834
Top scorer	John Wallace Syracuse (131 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «1995  1997»

The 1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 14, 1996, and ended with the championship game on April 1 at Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A total of 63 games were played.

The Final Four venue was notable for two reasons:

• This marked the first time that the NCAA finals had been held in Greater New York since 1950.
• This was also the last (men's) Final Four to be held in a basketball/hockey-specific facility. Every Final Four since has been held in a domed stadium (usually built for football) because of NCAA venue capacity requirements. (Also, the rule prohibiting teams from playing on their home courts would potentially keep teams out of the tournament based on where the Final Four is held.) Therefore, this was also the last time the NCAA finals have been held in the Greater New York area (for the time being).

Kentucky, coached by Rick Pitino, won the national title with a 76–67 victory in the final game over Syracuse, coached by Jim Boeheim. Tony Delk of Kentucky was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Kentucky's run to the championship was one of the most dominant in NCAA tournament history, as the Wildcats won each of their first four games by at least 20 points and won every game by at least 7 points.

The committee that put together the bracket in 1996 was criticized for placing what clearly seemed to be the best two teams in college basketball - Massachusetts and Kentucky - on the same side of the bracket so that they faced each other in the national semifinal - not the final game itself.^{[citation needed]} Note that there are guidelines that the selection committee follows. In 2004 the procedure would be changed so that the regional sites would first be assigned their #1 seeds, then would be placed in the bracket so that the #1 overall seed would face the fourth #1 seed while the second #1 seed would face the third #1 seed, barring any upsets.

Connecticut, coached by Jim Calhoun and Massachusetts, coached by John Calipari, were later stripped of their wins, including the UMass Minuteman's Final Four appearance by the NCAA because a player had accepted illegal gifts from agents.^[1]

Locations

First and Second Rounds

• Albuquerque, New Mexico (University Arena)
• Dallas, Texas (Reunion Arena)
• Indianapolis, Indiana (RCA Dome)
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Bradley Center)
• Orlando, Florida (Orlando Arena)
• Providence, Rhode Island (Providence Civic Center)
• Richmond, Virginia (Richmond Coliseum)
• Tempe, Arizona (Arizona State University Activity Center)

Later Rounds

Teams

Bracket

East region

Midwest region

Southeast region

West region

Final Four

(*overtime)

Announcers

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer
• Sean McDonough and Bill Raftery
• Tim Ryan and Al McGuire
• Gus Johnson and Quinn Buckner
• Mike Gorman and George Raveling
• Tim Brando and Derrek Dickey
• Bill Macatee and Dan Bonner

References