The 1978 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. The 40th annual edition of the tournament began on March 11, 1978, and ended with the championship game on March 27, at The Checkerdome in St. Louis, Missouri. A total of 32 games were played, including a national third-place game.

The process of seeding the bracket was first used in this tournament. Sixteen conference winners with automatic bids were seeded 1 through 4 in each region. At-large teams were seeded 1 through 4 in each region separately. There were in fact only eleven true at-large teams in the field, as the remaining five were conference winners with automatic bids and seeded The practice of distinguishing between automatic and at-large teams ended with this edition; the expanded field of forty in the 1979 tournament was simply seeded from one to ten in each of the four regions.

Led by head coach Joe B. Hall, Kentucky won its fifth national title with a 94–88 victory over Duke, coached by Bill Foster. Wildcat forward Jack Givens scored 41 points in the finale and was named the tournament's most outstanding player.

The bracket's biggest upset came in the first round, when little-heralded Miami (Ohio) defeated defending champion Marquette 84–81 in overtime. The victory was even sweeter for Miami Redskins (now RedHawks) fans as former Marquette coach Al McGuire had earlier strongly criticized the NCAA for potentially matching Marquette against Kentucky in the second round, with Marquette being given a first-round opponent in Miami that was supposedly not even worthy of providing an adequate tune-up game.

Unranked Cal State Fullerton (CSUF) pulled off two upsets, first over 4th ranked New Mexico (coached by Norm Ellenberger and led by Michael Cooper) and then over top-10 San Francisco (featuring Bill Cartwright). The loss was especially painful for New Mexico as the regional semifinals and finals were held on the Lobos' home court in Albuquerque. CSUF then almost upset Arkansas in the West Regional final, losing by 3 points. In each of the three games, the Titans overcame second-half double-digit deficits. In the Arkansas game, they cut a big deficit to 1 and had the ball with 14 seconds left. But Arkansas' Ron Brewer stripped the ball from Keith Anderson and Jim Counce drove down to hit a clinching layup.

In the Mideast regional final, Kentucky knocked off Michigan State, led by freshman Earvin "Magic" Johnson. This was the only time in a 4-year period (that included his senior year in high school, 2 years of college, and his rookie NBA season) that Magic's team did not win its final game of the playoffs and hence the championship.

The Final Four games (semifinals, third-place, and championship) at St. Louis Arena (a.k.a. The Checkerdome) were not played on the arena's official floor. Water damage to it forced the NCAA to borrow the floor from Indiana University's Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

This was the fourth and last year for a 32-team bracket; the field expanded to forty teams in 1979 and 48 in 1980, all seeded. The 64-team field debuted in 1985, eliminating byes for the top seeds (1979–1984). The third-place game at the Final Four was last played in 1981.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1978 tournament:

First round March 11 Mideast Region Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana (Host: Butler University) Stokely Athletic Center, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee) West Region McArthur Court, Eugene, Oregon (Host: University of Oregon) ASU Activity Center, Tempe, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University) March 12 East Region Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte) The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hosts: University of Pennsylvania, Ivy League) Midwest Region Mabee Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Host: Oral Roberts University) Levitt Arena, Wichita, Kansas (Host: Wichita State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 16 and 18 Mideast Regional, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton) West Regional, University Arena ("The Pit"), Albuquerque, New Mexico (Host: University of New Mexico) March 17 and 19 East Regional, Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island (Host: Providence College) Midwest Regional, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas (Host: University of Kansas)

National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship) March 25 and 27 The Checkerdome, St. Louis, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Teams Region Seed Team Coach Conference Finished Final Opponent Score East East 1Q Duke Bill E. Foster Atlantic Coast Runner UpKentuckyL 94–88 East 3Q Furman Joe Williams Southern Round of 32IndianaL 63–62 East 1L Indiana Bob Knight Big Ten Sweet SixteenVillanovaL 61–60 East 4L La Salle Paul Westhead East Coast Round of 32VillanovaL 103–97 East 4Q Penn Bob Weinhauer Ivy League Sweet SixteenDukeL 84–80 East 3L Rhode Island Jack Kraft Independent Round of 32DukeL 63–62 East 2L St. Bonaventure Jim Satalin Independent Round of 32PennL 92–83 East 2Q Villanova Rollie Massimino Eastern Athletic Regional Runner-upDukeL 90–72 Mideast Mideast 4L Florida State Hugh Durham Metropolitan Round of 32KentuckyL 85–76 Mideast 2Q Kentucky Joe B. Hall Southeastern ChampionDukeW 94–88 Mideast 1L Marquette Hank Raymonds Independent Round of 32Miami (OH)L 84–81 Mideast 3Q Miami (OH) Darrell Hedric Mid-American Sweet SixteenKentuckyL 91–69 Mideast 1Q Michigan State Jud Heathcote Big Ten Regional Runner-upKentuckyL 52–49 Mideast 3L Providence Dave Gavitt Independent Round of 32Michigan StateL 77–63 Mideast 2L Syracuse Jim Boeheim Independent Round of 32Western KentuckyL 87–86 Mideast 4Q Western Kentucky Jim Richards Ohio Valley Sweet SixteenMichigan StateL 90–69 Midwest Midwest 3Q Creighton Tom Apke Missouri Valley Round of 32DePaulL 80–78 Midwest 1L DePaul Ray Meyer Independent Regional Runner-upNotre DameL 84–64 Midwest 4Q Houston Guy Lewis Southwest Round of 32Notre DameL 100–77 Midwest 2Q Louisville Denny Crum Metropolitan Sweet SixteenDePaulL 90–89 Midwest 1Q Missouri Norm Stewart Big Eight Round of 32UtahL 86–79 Midwest 2L Notre Dame Digger Phelps Independent Fourth PlaceArkansasL 71–69 Midwest 4L St. John's Lou Carnesecca Independent Round of 32LouisvilleL 76–68 Midwest 3L Utah Jerry Pimm Western Athletic Sweet SixteenNotre DameL 69–56 West West 2L Arkansas Eddie Sutton Southwest Third PlaceNotre DameW 71–69 West 4L Cal State Fullerton Bobby Dye Pacific Coast Regional Runner-upArkansasL 61–58 West 3L Kansas Ted Owens Big Eight Round of 32UCLAL 83–76 West 2Q New Mexico Norm Ellenberger Western Athletic Round of 32Cal State FullertonL 90–85 West 1L North Carolina Dean Smith Atlantic Coast Round of 32San FranciscoL 68–64 West 3Q San Francisco Bob Gaillard West Coast Sweet SixteenCal State FullertonL 75–72 West 1Q UCLA Gary Cunningham Pacific-8 Sweet SixteenArkansasL 74–70 West 4Q Weber State Neil McCarthy Big Sky Round of 32ArkansasL 73–52

Bracket * – Denotes overtime period

East region

Midwest region

Mideast region

West region

Final Four

Q = automatic qualifier bid L = at-large bid (including 5 automatic bids seeded with at-large teams)

Game summaries

Final Four

Championship

Announcers Dick Enberg/Curt Gowdy, Billy Packer, and Al McGuire – Final Four at St. Louis, Missouri; Gowdy called the Notre Dame-Duke Semifinal with Billy Packer, and served as host of the national championship game, while Enberg called the Arkansas-Kentucky semifinal with Packer and the Duke-Kentucky final with both Packer and McGuire. Dick Enberg and Al McGuire – First round at Tulsa, Oklahoma (Louisville–St. John's, Notre Dame–Houston); Midwest Regional Final at Lawrence, Kansas; West Regional Final at Albuquerque, New Mexico Curt Gowdy and Billy Packer – East Regional Final at Providence, Rhode Island; Mideast Regional Final at Dayton, Ohio Jay Randolph and Gary Thompson – Midwest Regional semifinals at Lawrence, Kansas;National Third Place Game (Arkansas-Notre Dame) at St. Louis, Missouri Connie Alexander and Bill Strannigan – West Regional semifinals at Albuquerque, New Mexico Dick Enberg and Billy Packer – First round at Knoxville, Tennessee (Kentucky–Florida State, Syracuse–Western Kentucky) Curt Gowdy and Al McGuire – First round at Eugene, Oregon (Arkansas–Weber State, UCLA–Kansas) Marv Albert and Bucky Waters – First round at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Villanova–La Salle, St. Bonaventure–Pennsylvania) Merle Harmon and Fred Taylor – First round at Indianapolis, Indiana (Marquette–Miami Ohio, Michigan State–Providence)

See also 1978 NCAA Division II basketball tournament 1978 NCAA Division III basketball tournament 1978 National Invitation Tournament 1978 NAIA basketball tournament 1978 National Women's Invitation Tournament

References