The 2007 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2006-07 season. The 69th annual edition of the tournament began on March 13, 2007, with the opening round game and concluded with the championship game on April 2, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.2007 NCAA Basketball Men's Viewable Brackets – NCAA.com
Both of the finalists from the year before returned to the Final Four as Florida, who returned its entire starting lineup from the year before, and UCLA advanced. They were joined in the Final Four by Ohio State, who was making its first appearance since their 1999 appearance (later vacated), and Georgetown, appearing for the first time since their national runner-up finish in 1985.
Florida successfully defended their title by defeating Ohio State in the championship 84–75. This marked the second time in 2007 that a Florida team beat an Ohio State team to win a national championship, as Florida's football team won the BCS National Championship Game over Ohio State in January. Florida's Corey Brewer was named the Most Outstanding Player.ESPN – Ohio State vs. Florida Recap, April 02, 2007 Florida became the first team to repeat since Duke in 1992, and were the seventh school to repeat overall. The 2007 Gators were the last team to repeat as national champions until the UConn Huskies repeated as national champions in 2024. The Gators would become champions for a third time in 2025.
This tournament was notable because it featured significantly fewer upsets than prior years. There were only 12 games in which a lower-seeded team defeated a higher-seeded team, and eight of these "upsets" were by teams ranked only one seed lower than their opponent. As of 2026, this is the last tournament in which no team seeded 12 or lower won a round of 64 game, while No. 7-seed UNLV was the lowest-seeded team to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. This marked the second time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams that no team seeded No. 8 or lower played in the Sweet Sixteen; the other instance was in 1995. Southland Conference champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi made their first NCAA appearance.
This was the first Tournament since 2003 that regional sites were designated as "East", "West", "South", and "Midwest", rather than by the names of the host cities.
Tournament procedure A total of 65 teams entered the tournament. Of that total, 30 of the teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. The automatic bid of the Ivy League, which did not conduct a post-season tournament, went to its regular season champion, Penn. The remaining 34 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.
The initial game on March 13 officially named the opening round game, but popularly called the "play-in game", had Niagara, winner of the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament, facing Florida A&M, who won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, for a chance to play top seed Kansas in the first round of the Tournament. Niagara defeated Florida A&M, 77–69, to advance to play Kansas.
All teams are seeded 1 to 16 within their regionals, while the Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 65.
Schedule and venues
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2007 tournament:
Opening Round March 13 University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
First and Second Rounds March 15 and 17 HSBC Arena, Buffalo, New York (Hosts: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Canisius College and Niagara University) ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California (Host: University of the Pacific) Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky) Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Host: Wake Forest University) March 16 and 18 United Center, Chicago, Illinois (Host: Big Ten Conference) Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University) Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington (Host: Washington State University) New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana (Host: Tulane University)
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 22 and 24 South Regional, Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio) West Regional, HP Pavilion at San Jose, San Jose, California (Host: San José State University) March 23 and 25 East Regional, Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Host: Rutgers University) Midwest Regional, Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) March 31 and April 2 Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology)
Qualifying teams
Automatic bids The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2007 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).
ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bidACCNorth Carolina39th2006America EastAlbany2nd2006Atlantic 10George Washington19th2006Atlantic SunBelmont2nd2006Big 12Kansas36th2006Big EastGeorgetown24th2006Big SkyWeber State14th2003Big SouthWinthrop7th2006Big TenOhio State24th2006Big WestLong Beach State8th1995ColonialVCU8th2004C-USAMemphis20th2006HorizonWright State2nd1993Ivy LeaguePenn23rd2006MAACNiagara3rd2005MACMiami (OH)17th1999MEACFlorida A&M3rd2004Mid-ConOral Roberts4th2006Missouri ValleyCreighton16th2005Mountain WestUNLV15th2000NortheastCentral Connecticut3rd2002Ohio Valley7th2005Pac-10Oregon9th2003PatriotHoly Cross12th2003SECFlorida13th2006SouthernDavidson9th2006SouthlandTexas A&M–Corpus Christi1stNeverSun BeltNorth Texas2nd1988SWACJackson State3rd2000WACNew Mexico State17th1999West CoastGonzaga10th2006
Here are the top seeded teams in each regional and their overall seeds. Midwest Regional (St. Louis) (top seed: Florida; top overall seed) West Regional (San Jose) (top seed: Kansas; fourth overall seed) East Regional (East Rutherford) (top seed: North Carolina; second overall seed) South Regional (San Antonio) (top seed: Ohio State; third overall seed)
Listed by region and seeding Midwest Regional - St. LouisSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth Type #1 Florida SEC 29–5 Automatic#2 Wisconsin Big Ten 29–5 At-large#3 Oregon Pac-10 26–7 Automatic#4 Maryland ACC 24–8 At-large#5 Butler Horizon 27–6 At-large#6 Notre Dame Big East 24–7 At-large#7 UNLV Mountain West 28–6 Automatic#8 Arizona Pac-10 20–10 At-large#9 Purdue Big Ten 21–11 At-large#10 Georgia Tech ACC 20–11 At-large#11 Winthrop Big South 28–4 Automatic#12 Old Dominion CAA 24–8 At-large#13 Davidson Southern 29–4 Automatic#14 Miami (Ohio) MAC 18–14 Automatic#15 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Southland 26–6 Automatic#16 Jackson State SWAC 21–13 Automatic East Regional - East RutherfordSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth Type #1 North Carolina ACC 28–6 Automatic#2 Georgetown Big East 26–6 Automatic#3 Washington State Pac-10 25–7 At-large#4 Texas Big 12 24–9 At-large#5 USC Pac-10 23–11 At-large#6 Vanderbilt SEC 20–11 At-large#7 Boston College ACC 20–11 At-large#8 Marquette Big East 24–9 At-large#9 Michigan State Big Ten 22–11 At-large#10 Texas Tech Big 12 21–12 At-large#11 George Washington Atlantic 10 23–8 Automatic#12 Arkansas SEC 21–13 At-large#13 New Mexico State WAC 25–8 Automatic#14 Oral Roberts Mid-Continent 23–10 Automatic#15 Belmont Atlantic Sun 23–9 Automatic#16 Eastern Kentucky Ohio Valley 21–11 Automatic South Regional - San AntonioSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth Type #1 Ohio State Big Ten 30–3 Automatic#2 Memphis C-USA 30–3 Automatic#3 Texas A&M Big 12 25–6 At-large#4 Virginia ACC 20–10 At-large#5 Tennessee SEC 22–10 At-large#6 Louisville Big East 23–9 At-large#7 Nevada WAC 28–4 At-large#8 Brigham Young Mountain West 25–8 At-large#9 Xavier Atlantic 10 24–8 At-large#10 Creighton Missouri Valley 22–10 Automatic#11 Stanford Pac-10 18–12 At-large#12 Long Beach State Big West 24–7 Automatic#13 Albany America East 23–9 Automatic#14 Penn Ivy 22–8 Automatic#15 North Texas Sun Belt 23–10 Automatic#16 Central Connecticut Northeast 22–11 Automatic West Regional - San JoseSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth Type #1 Kansas Big 12 31–4 Automatic#2 UCLA Pac-10 26–5 At-large#3 Pittsburgh Big East 27–7 At-large#4 Southern Illinois Missouri Valley 27–6 At-large#5 Virginia Tech ACC 21–11 At-large#6 Duke ACC 22–10 At-large#7 Indiana Big Ten 20–10 At-large#8 Kentucky SEC 21–11 At-large#9 Villanova Big East 22–10 At-large#10 Gonzaga West Coast 23–10 Automatic#11 VCU CAA 27–6 Automatic#12 Illinois Big Ten 23–11 At-large#13 Holy Cross Patriot 25–8 Automatic#14 Wright State Horizon 23–9 Automatic#15 Weber State Big Sky 20–11 Automatic#16 Niagara MAAC 22–11 Automatic Florida A&M MEAC 21–13 Automatic
Bracket
Opening Round game – Dayton, Ohio Winner advances to West Regional vs. No. (1) Kansas.
Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri
West Regional – San Jose, California
East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey
South Regional – San Antonio, Texas
Final Four – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia
Game summaries Unless otherwise specified, all games were on CBS, except for the play-in game, which aired on ESPN and two additional games. Those games were broadcast on CSTV except in the natural areas of the teams involved, as those were broadcast on CBS. Times listed are US EDT (UTC−4).
Team names are those listed on the NCAA's scoreboard for the play-in game and first-round matchups. Only UNLV and UCLA use abbreviations; all other names are unabbreviated except for the common abbreviation "A&M".
Opening rounds
First round upsets, close games, and other facts The two major upsets of the first round were #11 Virginia Commonwealth's win over #6 Duke (West Regional), and #11 Winthrop's win over #6 Notre Dame (Midwest Regional). VCU beat Duke, 79–77, on a shot by Eric Maynor with 1.8 seconds left, sending Duke out for the first time in the first round since 1996. Winthrop's highly touted offense built a 21-point second-half lead before surviving a late Notre Dame rally to win, 74–64, earning their first tournament victory in school history. The only overtime game of the first round was in the South Regional, between #7 Nevada and #10 Creighton, ending 77–71 in favor of the Nevada Wolf Pack. Other close games included #3 Oregon squeaking by #14 Miami (Ohio), 58-56 (Midwest Regional), #5 Virginia Tech's win over #12 Illinois 54-52 (West Regional), and #9 Xavier's win over #8 BYU, 79-77 (South Regional). The highest score accumulated by a team in the 2007 tournament went to Tennessee's 121 points over Long Beach State (South Regional), which set a school record. This was the first year since 1993 that a #10 seed did not advance to the second round. It was also only the second time in the last 17 years that a #12 seed failed to advance against a #5 seed. #15 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi had leads of 10-0 and 25–7 in the first half against the #2 Wisconsin Badgers but Wisconsin prevailed 76–63.
Second round upsets, close games, and other facts