The 1987 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 49th annual edition of the tournament began on March 12, 1987, and ended with the championship game on March 30, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. A total of 63 games were played.

Indiana, coached by Bob Knight, won the national title with a 74–73 victory in the final game over Syracuse, coached by Jim Boeheim. Keith Smart of Indiana, who hit the game-winner in the final seconds, and intercepted the full court pass at the last second, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The tournament also featured a "Cinderella team" in the Final Four, as Providence College, led by a then-unknown Rick Pitino, made their first Final Four appearance since 1973.

One year after reaching the Final Four as a #11 seed, LSU made another deep run as a #10 seed in the Midwest region. The Tigers ousted #2 seed Temple in the second round and #3 seed DePaul in the Sweet 16 before losing 77–76 to top seeded Indiana in the Elite Eight.

This was the last tournament in which teams were allowed to have home court advantage: national runner-up Syracuse (2E), DePaul (3MW), Arizona (10W) and UAB (11SE) all opened the tournament playing on their home courts. UAB and Arizona each lost in the first round, while DePaul won twice at the Rosemont Horizon. Under rules adopted in 1988, teams cannot play in a facility in which they play four or more regular season games.

The 1987 NCAA men's basketball tournament was also the first tournament to use the three-point shot.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1987 tournament:

First and Second Rounds March 12 and 14 East Region Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte) Midwest Region Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Butler University, Midwestern Collegiate Conference) Southeast Region Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum, Birmingham, Alabama (Host: Southeastern Conference) West Region Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah) March 13 and 15 East Region Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York (Host: Syracuse University) Midwest Region Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois (Host: DePaul University) Southeast Region Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Tech) West Region McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 19 and 21 East Regional, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference) Southeast Regional, Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville) March 20 and 22 Midwest Regional, Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio (Hosts: University of Cincinnati, Xavier University) West Regional, Kingdome, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) March 28 and 30 Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (Host: Tulane University)

Teams Region Seed Team Coach Conference Finished Final Opponent Score East East 1 North Carolina Dean Smith Atlantic Coast Regional Runner-up2 SyracuseL 79–75 East 2 Syracuse Jim Boeheim Big East Runner-up1 IndianaL 74–73 East 3 Purdue Gene Keady Big Ten Round of 326 FloridaL 85–66 East 4 TCU Jim Killingsworth Southwest Round of 325 Notre DameL 58–57 East 5 Notre Dame Digger Phelps Independent Sweet Sixteen1 North CarolinaL 74–68 East 6 Florida Norm Sloan Southeastern Sweet Sixteen2 SyracuseL 87–81 East 7 West Virginia Gale Catlett Atlantic 10 Round of 6410 Western KentuckyL 64–62 East 8 Navy Pete Herrmann Colonial Round of 649 MichiganL 97–82 East 9 Michigan Bill Frieder Big Ten Round of 321 North CarolinaL 109–97 East 10 Western Kentucky Murray Arnold Sun Belt Round of 322 SyracuseL 104–86 East 11 NC State Jim Valvano Atlantic Coast Round of 646 FloridaL 82–70 East 12 Middle Tennessee State Bruce Stewart Ohio Valley Round of 645 Notre DameL 84–71 East 13 Marshall Rick Huckabay Southern Round of 644 TCUL 76–60 East 14 Northeastern Karl Fogel ECAC North Round of 643 PurdueL 104–95 East 15 Georgia Southern Frank Kerns Trans America Round of 642 SyracuseL 79–73 East 16 Penn Tom Schneider Ivy League Round of 641 North CarolinaL 113–82 Midwest Midwest 1 Indiana Bob Knight Big Ten Champion2 SyracuseW 74–73 Midwest 2 Temple John Chaney Atlantic 10 Round of 3210 LSUL 72–62 Midwest 3 DePaul Joey Meyer Independent Sweet Sixteen10 LSUL 63–58 Midwest 4 Missouri Norm Stewart Big Eight Round of 6413 XavierL 70–69 Midwest 5 Duke Mike Krzyzewski Atlantic Coast Sweet Sixteen1 IndianaL 88–82 Midwest 6 St. John's Lou Carnesecca Big East Round of 323 DePaulL 83–75 Midwest 7 Georgia Tech Bobby Cremins Atlantic Coast Round of 6410 LSUL 85–79 Midwest 8 Auburn Sonny Smith Southeastern Round of 321 IndianaL 107–90 Midwest 9 San Diego Hank Egan West Coast Round of 648 AuburnL 62–61 Midwest 10 LSU Dale Brown Southeastern Regional Runner-up1 IndianaL 77–76 Midwest 11 Wichita State Eddie Fogler Missouri Valley Round of 646 St. John'sL 57–55 Midwest 12 Texas A&M Shelby Metcalf Southwest Round of 645 DukeL 58–51 Midwest 13 Xavier Pete Gillen Midwestern Round of 325 DukeL 65–60 Midwest 14 Louisiana Tech Tommy Joe Eagles Southland Round of 643 DePaulL 76–62 Midwest 15 Southern Ben Jobe Southwest Athletic Round of 642 TempleL 75–56 Midwest 16 Fairfield Mitch Buonaguro Metro Atlantic Round of 641 IndianaL 92–58 Southeast Southeast 1 Georgetown John Thompson Big East Regional Runner-up6 ProvidenceL 88–73 Southeast 2 Alabama Wimp Sanderson Southeastern Sweet Sixteen6 ProvidenceL 103–82 Southeast 3 Illinois Lou Henson Big Ten Round of 6414 Austin PeayL 68–67 Southeast 4 Clemson Cliff Ellis Atlantic Coast Round of 6413 Southwest Missouri StateL 65–60 Southeast 5 Kansas Larry Brown Big Eight Sweet Sixteen1 GeorgetownL 70–57 Southeast 6 Providence Rick Pitino Big East National semifinals2 SyracuseL 77–63 Southeast 7 New Orleans Benny Dees Independent Round of 322 AlabamaL 101–76 Southeast 8 Kentucky Eddie Sutton Southeastern Round of 649 Ohio StateL 91–77 Southeast 9 Ohio State Gary Williams Big Ten Round of 321 GeorgetownL 82–79 Southeast 10 BYU LaDell Andersen Western Athletic Round of 647 New OrleansL 83–79 Southeast 11 UAB Gene Bartow Sun Belt Round of 646 ProvidenceL 90–68 Southeast 12 Houston Pat Foster Southwest Round of 645 KansasL 66–55 Southeast 13 Southwest Missouri State Charlie Spoonhour Mid-Continent Round of 325 KansasL 67–63 Southeast 14 Austin Peay Lake Kelly Ohio Valley Round of 326 ProvidenceL 90–87 Southeast 15 North Carolina A&T Don Corbett Mid-Eastern Round of 642 AlabamaL 88–71 Southeast 16 Bucknell Charles Woollum East Coast Round of 641 GeorgetownL 75–53 West West 1 UNLV Jerry Tarkanian Pacific Coast National semifinals1 IndianaL 97–93 West 2 Iowa Tom Davis Big Ten Regional Runner-up1 UNLVL 84–81 West 3 Pittsburgh Paul Evans Big East Round of 326 OklahomaL 96–93 West 4 UCLA Walt Hazzard Pacific-10 Round of 3212 WyomingL 78–68 West 5 Virginia Terry Holland Atlantic Coast Round of 6412 WyomingL 64–60 West 6 Oklahoma Billy Tubbs Big Eight Sweet Sixteen2 IowaL 93–91 West 7 UTEP Don Haskins Western Athletic Round of 322 IowaL 84–82 West 8 Georgia Hugh Durham Southeastern Round of 649 Kansas StateL 82–79 West 9 Kansas State Lon Kruger Big Eight Round of 321 UNLVL 80–61 West 10 Arizona Lute Olson Pacific-10 Round of 647 UTEPL 98–91 West 11 Tulsa J. D. Barnett Missouri Valley Round of 646 OklahomaL 74–69 West 12 Wyoming Jim Brandenburg Western Athletic Sweet Sixteen1 UNLVL 92–78 West 13 Central Michigan Charlie Coles Mid-American Round of 644 UCLAL 92–73 West 14 Marist Dave Magarity ECAC Metro Round of 643 PittsburghL 93–68 West 15 Santa Clara Carroll Williams West Coast Round of 642 IowaL 99–76 West 16 Idaho State Jim Boutin Big Sky Round of 641 UNLVL 95–70

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

Regional Final Summary

Southeast Regional – Louisville, Kentucky

Regional Final Summary

Midwest Regional – Cincinnati, Ohio

West Regional – Seattle, Washington

Final Four – New Orleans, Louisiana

Game summaries

National Championship

Trivia The 59th Academy Awards show was broadcast on the ABC network at the same time as CBS network broadcast of the championship game between Indiana and Syracuse. Oscars show host Chevy Chase quipped later in the evening, "Is the game over yet?" The Oscars show would subsequently be scheduled around the tournament broadcast by moving it later in April for two years. Tenth seeded LSU reached the Elite Eight for the second straight year without being favored to win a game. This time, the Tigers did not have the advantage of playing their first- and second-round games on their home court. They had previously reached the Final Four as an 11-seed in 1986, losing to eventual national champion Louisville Cardinals. The Tigers missed a shot at the buzzer and fell short of another trip to the Final Four, losing 77–76 to eventual national champion Indiana. It marked the fifth time in seven tournament appearances between 1979 and 1987 LSU was eliminated by the eventual national champion. The Tigers did not reach the Elite Eight again until 2006. Years after the end of the tournament, Alabama, DePaul, Florida, Marshall, and North Carolina State all had their tournament spots vacated by the NCAA retroactively. This marked the first time that CBS Sports used "One Shining Moment" during their tournament epilogue. Initially, the song was supposed to have been played after Super Bowl XXI (which was also aired on CBS), but due to time constraints, its debut was delayed until the national championship game. The opening words for the football version were "The ball is kicked"; in the reworked version, the word "kicked" was changed to "tipped" to suit the tournament. The three losing coaches in the Final Four all eventually won national titles. Jerry Tarkanian was the first to do so, winning in 1990 with UNLV defeating Duke 103–73. Rick Pitino followed in 1996 with Kentucky, defeating Jim Boeheim's Syracuse in the final. Boeheim would win in 2003 with Syracuse by defeating Kansas. There were no teams from the Metro Conference, Big South Conference or Gulf Star Conference in the tournament. The Metro Conference allowed Memphis State, which was serving an NCAA tournament ban that year, to compete in its conference tournament, which it won by defeating the defending 1986 National Champion Louisville Cardinals by the lopsided score 75 to 52 on the Cardinals' home court, Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The NCAA basketball tournament committee said as the conference had committed its automatic berth would go to its conference tournament winner, the conference lost its automatic berth that year, and no other schools received an at-large entry. Most conferences now prohibit teams on postseason bans from participating in conference tournaments as a result, or have provisional automatic bids awarded to the eligible team that advanced the most. The Gulf Star and Big South did not have automatic bids to the tournament because many of the schools in these conferences were transitioning from other divisions. During the selection show, there was a spot left open for the #12 seed in the Southeast Region. Kansas, the 5th seed in the region, was due to face either Washington or Houston in the first round. Washington was facing UCLA in the finals of the Pac-10 tournament at the time the selections were announced. UCLA held on to defeat Washington 76–62, putting Houston into the field of 64.