2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2022–23 season. The 84th annual edition of the tournament began on March 14, 2023, and concluded with the UConn Huskies defeating the San Diego State Aztecs, 76–59 in the championship game on April 3 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

ASUN champion Kennesaw State made its NCAA tournament debut, while Southern Conference champion Furman made its first NCAA appearance since 1980. Another school, Texas Southern, won the SWAC tournament to become the third 20-loss team to make the field, after the Coppin State Eagles in 2008 and Liberty Flames in 2013. It was also Texas Southern's 3rd consecutive NCAA tournament.

This tournament featured several notable upsets. For only the second time in history, a 16-seed defeated a 1-seed, when Fairleigh Dickinson upset Purdue in the first round 63–58 in Columbus. For the third consecutive year, and seventh time since 2012, a 15-seed defeated a 2-seed in the tournament, when 15-seeded Princeton defeated 2-seed Arizona 59–55 in Sacramento for the Tigers' first tournament win since 1998. Arizona became the first team to lose to a 15-seed team twice, with the first loss being against the Santa Clara Broncos in 1993. Additionally, Princeton subsequently defeated Missouri in the second round to advance to the Sweet 16, marking the third consecutive year where a 15-seed reach the regional semifinals. It was also the 15th consecutive tournament since 2007 where a double-digit seed made the regional semifinals. Additionally, Virginia was knocked out in the first round as a top-four seed for the second consecutive year, and the third time in five years as a 4-seed when they were upset by 13-seed Furman.

The defending national champions Kansas Jayhawks were eliminated in the second round, against the Arkansas Razorbacks, becoming the sixth consecutive tournament where the defending champion failed to make the Sweet Sixteen.

This was also the first NCAA tournament in which all of the top seeds failed to make the Elite Eight, after Alabama and Houston's eliminations in the Sweet Sixteen. This year also had the fewest combined 1- and 2-seeds left in the Elite Eight in tournament history, with only 2-seed Texas remaining.

For the first time since 1970, three teams made their first Final Four appearance in this tournament. Those three teams were Florida Atlantic, who defeated 3-seed Kansas State to join Wichita State as the only 9-seeds to advance to the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, San Diego State, and Miami (FL), who both advanced to their first Final Four in program history. FAU also became the first team since George Mason in 2006 to make the Final Four in the same season that it earned its first NCAA tournament win. This is also the third Final Four without any 1-seeds since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, with the first two being in 2006 and 2011, the second time without any 1 or 2 seeds (2011), and the first time in Final Four history without any teams seeded 1–3. The highest seeded team in the Final Four was #4 seed UConn. With FAU (Conference USA) and SDSU (Mountain West Conference), the Final Four had two mid-major teams for the first time since 2011's Butler and VCU.

The 2023 Final Four was also marked by its lack of highly touted high school prospects. For the first time since the NCAA began seeding the tournament in 1979, no former McDonald's All-American participated in the Final Four. Of the rotation players on the Final Four teams (those receiving regular playing time), the highest-ranked in the composite recruiting rankings of 247Sports was UConn's Jordan Hawkins, who was #51 in the 2021 class. Only eight rotation players in the Final Four were even ranked in the top 100; by contrast, 12 players were unranked in high school. Two teams, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State, had no top-100 players, with FAU's nine-man rotation featuring six unranked players and only one in the top 200.

For the second consecutive year, a school that won a conference championship was ineligible to compete in the NCAA tournament because they were in transition to Division I. Fairleigh Dickinson was awarded the Northeast Conference bid due to Merrimack's ineligibility.

Procedures

A total of 68 teams participated in the tournament with 32 automatic bids being filled by each program that won its conference tournament. The remaining 36 bids were issued "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee on Selection Sunday, March 12. The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.

Eight teams (the four-lowest seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams) played in the First Four. The winners of those games advanced to the main tournament bracket.

+First Four OutNETSchoolConferenceRecord43Oklahoma StateBig 1218–1540RutgersBig Ten19–1446North CarolinaACC20–1360Clemson23–10

Schedule and venues The following are the sites selected to host the each round of the 2023 tournament:

First Four March 14 and 15 University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

First and second rounds (subregionals) March 16 and 18 Amway Center, Orlando, Florida (Host: University of Central Florida) Legacy Arena, Birmingham, Alabama (Host: Southeastern Conference) Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa (Host: Drake University) Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California (Host: California State University, Sacramento) March 17 and 19 MVP Arena, Albany, New York (Hosts: Siena College, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference) Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University) Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado (Host: Mountain West Conference)

Regional semi-finals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 23 and 25 East regional Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Hosts: Big East Conference, St. John's University) West regional T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada (Host: University of Nevada, Las Vegas) March 24 and 26 South regional KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville) Midwest regional T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 12 Conference)

National semi-finals and championship (Final Four) April 1 and 3 NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas (Hosts: University of Houston, Rice University, Houston Christian University, Texas Southern University)

Houston hosted the Final Four for the fourth time, having previously hosted in 1971, 2011, and 2016.

Qualification and selection of teams

Automatic qualifiers +Automatic qualifiersConferenceTeamAppearanceLast bidAmerica EastVermont9th2022AmericanMemphis28th2022Atlantic 10VCU18th2021ACCDuke 45th2022ASUNKennesaw State1stBig 12Texas37th2022Big EastMarquette35th2022Big SkyMontana State5th2022Big SouthUNC Asheville5th2016Big TenPurdue34th2022Big WestUC Santa Barbara7th2021CAACharleston6th2018C-USAFlorida Atlantic2nd2002HorizonNorthern Kentucky3rd2019Ivy LeaguePrinceton26th2017MAACIona16th2021MACKent State7th2017MEACHoward3rd1992Missouri ValleyDrake6th2021Mountain WestSan Diego State15th2022NECFairleigh Dickinson7th2019Ohio ValleySoutheast Missouri State2nd2000Pac-12Arizona37th2022PatriotColgate6th2022SECAlabama24th2022Southern Furman7th1980SouthlandTexas A&M–Corpus Christi 3rd2022SWACTexas Southern11th2022Summit LeagueOral Roberts7th2021Sun Belt Louisiana9th2014WCCGonzaga25th2022WACGrand Canyon2nd2021

Seeds

The tournament seeds and regions were determined through the NCAA basketball tournament selection process and were published by the selection committee after the brackets were released. +South Regional – KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KYSeedSchoolConferenceRecordOverall SeedBerth typeLast bid1AlabamaSEC29–51Automatic20222ArizonaPac–1228–67Automatic20223BaylorBig 1222–109At large20224VirginiaACC25–716At large20215San Diego StateMountain West27–617Automatic20226CreightonBig East21–1222At large20227MissouriSEC24–927At large20218MarylandBig Ten21–1231At large20219West VirginiaBig 1219–1434At large202110Utah StateMountain West26–840At large202111NC StateACC23–1041At large201812CharlestonColonial31–347Automatic201813FurmanSouthern27–753Automatic198014UC Santa BarbaraBig West27–756Automatic202115PrincetonIvy21–861Automatic201716*Texas A&M–Corpus ChristiSouthland23–1065Automatic2022Southeast Missouri StateOhio Valley19–1667Automatic2000+East Regional – Madison Square Garden, New York, NYSeedSchoolConferenceRecordOverall SeedBerth typeLast bid1PurdueBig Ten29–54Automatic20222MarquetteBig East28–68Automatic20223Kansas StateBig 1223–911At large20194TennesseeSEC23–1014At large20225DukeACC26–818Automatic20226KentuckySEC21–1123At large20227Michigan StateBig Ten19–1226At large20228MemphisAmerican26–829Automatic20229Florida AtlanticC-USA31–333Automatic200210USCPac–1222–1039At large202211ProvidenceBig East21–1142At large202212Oral RobertsSummit30–448Automatic202113LouisianaSun Belt26–754Automatic201414Montana StateBig Sky25–958Automatic202215VermontAmerica East23–1059Automatic202216*Texas SouthernSWAC14–2066Automatic2022Fairleigh DickinsonNortheast19–1568Automatic2019+Midwest Regional – T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, MOSeedSchoolConferenceRecordOverall SeedBerth typeLast bid1HoustonAmerican31–32At large20222TexasBig 1226–86Automatic20223XavierBig East25–912At large20184IndianaBig Ten22–1115At large20225Miami (FL)ACC25–720At large20226Iowa StateBig 1219–1321At large20227Texas A&MSEC25–925At large20188IowaBig Ten19–1332At large20229AuburnSEC20–1235At large202210Penn StateBig Ten22–1338At large201111*Mississippi StateSEC21–1243At large2019PittsburghACC22–1144At large201612DrakeMissouri Valley27–749Automatic202113Kent StateMAC28–651Automatic201714Kennesaw StateASUN26–855AutomaticNever15ColgatePatriot26–860Automatic202216Northern KentuckyHorizon22–1263Automatic2019+West Regional – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NVSeedSchoolConferenceRecordOverall SeedBerth typeLast bid1KansasBig 1227–73At large20222UCLAPac–1229–55At large20223GonzagaWest Coast28–510Automatic20224UConnBig East25–813At large20225Saint Mary'sWest Coast26–719At large20226TCUBig 1221–1224At large20227NorthwesternBig Ten21–1128At large20178ArkansasSEC20–1330At large20229IllinoisBig Ten20–1236At large202210Boise StateMountain West24–937At large202211*Arizona StatePac–1222–1245At large2019NevadaMountain West22–1046At large201912VCUAtlantic 1027–750Automatic202113IonaMAAC27–752Automatic202114Grand CanyonWAC24–1157Automatic202115UNC AshevilleBig South27–762Automatic201616HowardMEAC22–1264Automatic1992 *See First Four Source:

Tournament bracket Source: All times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)

First Four – Dayton, OH

The First Four games involve eight teams: the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams.

South regional – KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY

South regional final

South regional all-tournament team Lamont Butler - San Diego State Tosan Evbuomwan - Princeton Ryan Kalkbrenner - Creighton Baylor Scheierman - Creighton Darrion Trammell (MOP) – San Diego State

East regional – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

East regional final

East regional all-tournament team Johnell Davis – Florida Atlantic Vladislav Goldin – Florida Atlantic AJ Hoggard – Michigan State Keyontae Johnson – Kansas State Markquis Nowell (MOP) – Kansas State

Midwest regional – T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, MO

Midwest regional final

Midwest regional all-tournament team Timmy Allen – Texas Marcus Carr – Texas Jordan Miller – Miami (FL) Nijel Pack (MOP) – Miami (FL) Isaiah Wong – Miami (FL)

West regional – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV

West regional final

West regional all-tournament team Jordan Hawkins (MOP) – UConn Jaime Jaquez Jr. – UCLA Adama Sanogo – UConn