1975 NCAA Division I basketball tournament

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1975 NCAA Division I
basketball tournament

NCAA logo from 1971 to 1979
Season	1974–75
Teams	32
Finals site	San Diego Sports Arena San Diego, CA
Champions	UCLA Bruins (10th title, 10th title game, 12th Final Four)
Runner-up	Kentucky Wildcats (6th title game, 7th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Louisville Cardinals (3rd Final Four) Syracuse Orangemen (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	John Wooden (10th title)
MOP	Richard Washington (UCLA)
Attendance	183,857
Top scorer	Jim Lee (Syracuse) (119 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1974 1976»

The 1975 NCAA 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 15, 1975, and ended with the championship game on March 31 at the San Diego Sports Arena, now known as Pechanga Arena San Diego, in San Diego, California. A total of 36 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game. This was the first 32-team tournament.

UCLA, coached by John Wooden, won his 10th national title and last with a 92–85 victory in the final game over Kentucky, coached by Joe B. Hall. Richard Washington of UCLA was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The Bruins again had an advantage by playing the Final Four in their home state. It was the last time a team won the national championship playing in its home state.

• The bracket expanded to 32 teams;^[1] the previous six editions had 25 teams, and had varied between 22 and 25 from 1953 through 1974.
• With the expanded bracket, seven teams made their NCAA tournament debuts: Alabama, Central Michigan, Middle Tennessee, Montana, UNLV, Rutgers, and San Diego State. This was the most new teams since a then-record eleven new teams made the 25-team bracket in 1956.
• Alabama had previously won the Southeastern Conference in 1956, but were deemed ineligible for the tournament due to their entire starting lineup having played as freshmen, which was not allowed at the time. They had also tied Vanderbilt for the 1974 SEC title, but lost the bid because Vanderbilt was ranked higher.
• It was the last time until 2021 that Oregon State officially won an NCAA tournament game. (The Beavers won two tournament games in 1982, but those were later vacated by the NCAA.) Of the major conferences, only Nebraska, which has never won an NCAA tournament game, had a longer active winning drought.
• This was the last tournament in which third-place games were contested in each regional; the national third-place game continued through 1981.
• This was also the first NCAA tournament to allow more than one team per conference; previously, only one team from each conference was allowed.^[1] This change was in response to a number of factors:
  • The USC Trojans were ranked fifth in both major polls in 1971,^[2] their only two losses were to Pac-8 rival and top-ranked UCLA (the defending and eventual national champion), but were excluded from the 25-team NCAA tournament due to being runner-up in the conference.
  • The 1974 ACC tournament final pitted two of the three best teams in the country: North Carolina State and Maryland.^[3]
  • In 1974, the Collegiate Commissioners' Association held a tournament in St. Louis, Missouri. They invited the second-place teams from eight conferences to participate.
• The new selection criteria threatened to exclude Northeastern teams, which did not belong to conferences. To address this problem, this was the first NCAA Tournament to grant automatic bids to the winners of ECAC regional tournaments for Northeastern Division I independents organized by the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a loose sports federation of Northeastern colleges and universities; this practice continued through 1982.^[4][5]
• Finally, the national final was the last game for UCLA coaching legend John Wooden, who had announced his retirement at the press conference following the Saturday semifinal win over Louisville. Two days later, he won his tenth and final NCAA championship.^[6]
• Bob Wortman became the first person to officiate championship games in college basketball and the National Football League when he worked the UCLA-Kentucky final alongside Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame referee Hank Nichols. Wortman was the field judge for Super Bowl VI in January 1972, and later for Super Bowl XII at the same position.
  • The UCLA-Kentucky matchup was the first of six championship games officiated by Nichols (1979, '80, 82, '83, '86), who later became the NCAA's national coordinator of officiating.

There were two memorable games in the 1975 tournament. Number 2 ranked Kentucky upset previously unbeaten Indiana 92–90 in their regional final. The Hoosiers, coached by Bob Knight, were undefeated and the number one team in the nation, when leading scorer Scott May suffered a broken arm in a win over arch-rival Purdue. This was the only loss Indiana would suffer between March 1974 and December 1976. In the national semifinals, UCLA defeated Louisville, coached by former Wooden assistant Denny Crum, 75–74 in overtime, rallying late in regulation to force overtime and coming from behind in overtime to win on a last second shot by Richard Washington.

Both games made USA Today's 2002 list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time, with the former at #8 and the latter at #28.^[7]

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1975 tournament:

First round

• March 15
  • East Region
    • Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
    • The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hosts: University of Pennsylvania, Ivy League)
  • Mideast Region
    • Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)
    • Memorial Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Host: University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa)
  • Midwest Region
    • Lubbock Municipal Coliseum, Lubbock, Texas (Host: Texas Tech University)
    • Mabee Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Host: Oral Roberts University)
  • West Region
    • WSU Performing Arts Coliseum, Pullman, Washington (Host: Washington State University)
    • ASU Activity Center, Tempe, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 20 and 22
  • East Regional, Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island (Host: Providence College)
  • Mideast Regional, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
  • Midwest Regional, Pan American Center, Las Cruces, New Mexico (Host: New Mexico State University)
  • West Regional, Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon (Hosts: University of Portland, West Coast Athletic Conference)

National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)

• March 29 and 31
  • San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California (Host: San Diego State University)

* – Denotes overtime period

Curt Gowdy, Billy Packer, Jim Simpson and Jerry Lucas (Final Four only) - First Round at Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Marquette-Kentucky); West Regional Final at Portland, Oregon; Final Four in San Diego, California

• Jim Simpson and Tom Hawkins- First Round at Tempe, Arizona (Arizona State-Alabama); East Regional Final in Providence, Rhode Island
• Charlie Jones and Jerry Lucas- First Round at Lexington, Kentucky (Indiana-UTEP)
• Jay Randolph and Ross Porter - Midwest Regional Final at Las Cruces, New Mexico

• 1975 NCAA Division II basketball tournament
• 1975 NCAA Division III basketball tournament
• 1975 National Invitation Tournament
• 1975 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1975 National Women's Invitation Tournament