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113-744: This is a list of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four participants. From the first tournament in 1939 to 1951, the National Semifinals were also considered the Regional Championships, with the National Championship was held separately a week later. During this period, the tournament was divided into the East and West Regions. From 1952 to 1955, the Regional Championships were held at four sites, with two designated for

226-422: A single-elimination bracket. Thirty-two teams automatically qualify for the tournament by winning their conference tournament, played during the two weeks before the tournament, and thirty-six teams qualify by receiving an at-large bid based on their performance during the season. The Selection Committee determines the at-large bids, ranks all the teams 1 to 68, and places the teams in the bracket, all of which

339-484: A 13-year span (1992–2004). UC was also one of the top ranked teams of this time, often being ranked in the top 10 if not number one in the country. Huggin's team merits include claiming eight league tournament titles and 10 regular season crowns in addition to appearing in 14 consecutive NCAA Tournaments (1992–2005). Fifteen Bearcats had garnered first team all-conference honors during this era with three of those, Danny Fortson , Kenyon Martin and Steve Logan , picking up

452-584: A 2-point lead with 7.1 seconds remaining against West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Jarrod West of WV then banked in a 30-foot three-pointer with 0.8 seconds left, a shot that was tipped by Ruben Patterson. West Virginia advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with a 75–74 win. 11/29/1998 – Cincinnati 77, Duke 75 : No. 14 Cincinnati took on No. 1 Duke in the Great Alaska Shootout championship. In

565-571: A No. 11 seed. Since 2012, the committee has released the No. 1 to 68 true seed list after announcing the bracket. Since 2017, the Selection Committee has released a list of the top 16 teams three weeks before Selection Sunday. This list does not guarantee any team a bid, as the Committee re-ranks all teams when starting the final selection process. The seed line of the four at-large teams competing in

678-523: A Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1975. Catlett was also a skilled recruiter, bringing Jim Ard (1970), Lloyd Batts (1973), Steve Collier (1976), Gary Yoder (1977), Bob Miller (1978) and Pat Cummings (1979) to Cincinnati who all earned All-American recognition. Cummings closed his career as UC's No. 2 leading scorer of all time. After the 1977–78 campaign Catlett would leave to coach his alma mater West Virginia and Cincinnati hired Chicago Bulls head coach Ed Badger . A month into Badger's first season,

791-588: A catastrophic leg injury during the tournament. This tradition is credited to Everett Case , the coach of North Carolina State , who stood on his players' shoulders to accomplish the feat after the Wolfpack won the Southern Conference tournament in 1947. CBS, since 1987 and yearly to 2015, in the odd-numbered years since 2017, and TBS, since 2016, the even-numbered years, close out the tournament with " One Shining Moment ", performed by Luther Vandross . Just as

904-592: A geographical district. Multiple conferences were considered part of each district, such as the Missouri Valley and the Big Seven conferences in one district and the Southern and Southeastern conferences in another, which often led to top-ranked teams being left out of the tournament. The issue came to a head in 1950 , when the NCAA suggested that third-ranked Kentucky and fifth-ranked North Carolina State compete in

1017-465: A long two-pointer at the buzzer. Nothing but net. Cats won 40–38. 12/17/1994 – Cincinnati 81, Wyoming 80 : UC trailed Wyoming all game, but when down 2 in the final seconds, LaZelle Durden put up a 3-point attempt as the final horn sounded. He was fouled, but hit all three free throws with no time on the clock. UC won, 81–80, and Durden's 45 points were the most by a Bearcat in 34 years. 03/12/1995 – Cincinnati 67, St. Louis 65 : LaZelle Durden fired in

1130-499: A one-point lead, but in the waning seconds, Tony Wilson, who was on a track scholarship, hit a 54-foot shot beyond half-court at the buzzer to give Cincinnati a 2-point win at Riverfront Coliseum . 11/25/1989 – Cincinnati 66, Minnesota 64 : It was the school's first game under Bob Huggins , in their new arena, the Shoemaker Center . Walk-on Steve Sanders, who was also the school's football team's wide receiver for four years, hit

1243-471: A one-point win. Cincinnati, who was a bubble team, just barely missed the NCAA tournament (even with a Joe Lunardi prediction of a 9 seed on the morning of Selection Sunday), snapping their streak of 14 straight appearances. 3/11/2010 – West Virginia 54, Cincinnati 51 : The Bearcats needed a marquee win to shore up a borderline NCAA tournament at-large profile and they would get the opportunity against #6 West Virginia and their former Coach Bob Huggins in

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1356-426: A playoff game for a bid, but Kentucky refused, believing they should be given the bid as the higher-ranked team. In response, the NCAA doubled the field to 16 in 1951 , adding two additional districts and six spots for at-large teams. Conferences could still only have one team in the tournament, but multiple conferences from the same geographic district could now be included through at-large bids. This development helped

1469-716: A school they have already taken to the Final Four. Pitino is the only coach on this list currently active at a school he has not taken to the Final Four. Seven coaches have both played and coached in the Final Four. Hubert Davis at North Carolina and Dick Harp at Kansas did so at the same school. Bob Knight and Dean Smith are the only two coaches to win a championship as player and coach. The following table shows Final Four appearance statistics based on teams' conference affiliations contemporaneous to their appearance. Therefore some schools are included across multiple conferences. Conferences are listed by their current or final name as found in

1582-475: A selected varsity team in 1901 and played nine games. Cincinnati, in its first season lost to Yale but later defeated a team from the University of Kentucky while compiling a 5–4 record, with the remaining games being against non-collegiate teams. Home games during this time were played in a gym in the basement of McMicken Hall. Pillars on the court gave UC a home court advantage. UC experienced moderate success in

1695-401: A separate location a week later, establishing the format with two final rounds of the tournament (although the name "Final Four" would not be used in branding until the 1980s). The 1953 tournament expanded to include 22 teams and added a fifth round, with ten teams receiving a bye to the regional semifinals. The number of teams would fluctuate from 22 to 25 teams over the next two decades, but

1808-542: A share of the regular season AAC championship before both the AAC tournament and the NCAA tournament were cancelled due to COVID-19 . In Brannen's second season, the team struggled to find its footing and dealt with 5 COVID related opt-outs and a 25-day program pause. The Bearcats would finish 12—11 but enjoyed a surprising run in the 2021 AAC tournament before losing in the final. On March 26, Athletic Director John Cunningham announced

1921-424: A team is not moved out of their preferred geographical region an inordinate number of times based on their placement in the previous two tournaments. To follow these rules and preferences, the committee may move a team off of their expected seed line. Thus, for example, the 40th overall ranked team, originally slated to be a No. 10 seed within a particular region, may instead be moved up to a No. 9 seed or moved down to

2034-454: A three-point lead. In a desperation heave, Jalen Adams of UConn banked in a 75-footer to extend the game. UConn outscored Cincinnati in the 4th overtime, 16–9, advancing in the conference tournament in which they would end up winning. 03/18/2016 – St. Joe's 78, Cincinnati 76 : In the first round of the NCAA tournament, 9-seeded Cincinnati took on 8-seeded St. Joe's. After the Cats clawed back from

2147-621: A tie game with 3 seconds left, Cincinnati ran a "hook-and-ladder" type play, that had Kenyon Martin hit an open Melvin Levett sprinting towards the hoop. Levett dunked the ball with one second left, and the Bearcats won, 77–75. As of the 2019 season, it is their lone win vs a No. 1 team. 03/02/2000 – Cincinnati 66, DePaul 64 : DePaul led the No. 2 Bearcats by 17, and by 10 with under 4 minutes remaining. The National POY Kenyon Martin took over, scoring 5 straight field goals for UC and had 2 key blocks down

2260-412: A total of four C-USA Most Outstanding Player Awards. Fortson, Nick Van Exel , Ruben Patterson , Bobby Brannen, Melvin Levett , Logan, Martin and Pete Mickeal have joined Cincinnati's list of All-Americans. Fortson was a consensus first team All-American in 1996–97 after receiving second team recognition in 1995–96. Martin was college basketball's top player of the 1999–2000 season, making a clean sweep of

2373-792: Is blank for coaches whose Final Four appearances were before 1946 or after 1981. Coaches still active in Division I are highlighted in green. Fifteen coaches have non-vacated Final Four appearances with multiple schools. Of these, 14 have coached two schools and only one, Rick Pitino , has coached three schools. Two additional coaches appeared with multiple schools but had all appearances with one of those schools vacated. Larry Brown appeared with UCLA and Kansas but his only appearance with UCLA school were vacated. John Calipari appeared with UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky, but his only appearances at UMass and Memphis were vacated. Five coaches are still active, with Calipari, Huggins, Larrañaga, and Sampson coaching at

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2486-587: Is blank for schools whose Final Four appearances were before 1946 or after 1981. Eleven teams have appeared three or more times in the Final Four in consecutive tournaments. In the following table, National Champions are indicated by bold years, runners-up by underlined years, and third place by italics. Since 1939, 158 head coaches have appeared in the Final Four. Six additional coaches have had their only Final Four appearance vacated. This table shows non-vacated Final Four appearances and victories by coach; vacated records are shown in parentheses. The Third Place column

2599-533: Is considered a "home court". For the First Four and the Final Four, the home court prohibition does not apply because only one venue hosts these rounds. The First Four is regularly hosted by the Dayton Flyers ; as such, the team competed on their home court in 2015 . Because the Final Four is hosted at indoor football stadiums, it is unlikely that a team will play on their home court in the future. The last time this

2712-478: Is in the Basketball Hall of Fame . Oscar Robertson made his debut in 1957, and quickly emerged as one of the top college players in the country. "The Big O" is still widely recognized as one of the greatest to ever play the sport—college or professional. A unanimous three-time All-American, he was college basketball's all-time leading scorer at the close of his career. His 33.8 scoring average today ranks third on

2825-417: Is played over three weekends, with two rounds occurring each weekend. Before the first weekend, eight teams compete in the First Four to advance to the first round. Two games pair the lowest-ranked conference champions and two games pair the lowest-ranked at-large qualifiers. The first and second rounds are played during the first weekend, the regional semifinals and regional finals during the second weekend, and

2938-601: Is revealed publicly on the Sunday before the tournament, dubbed Selection Sunday by the media and fans. There is no reseeding during the tournament and matchups in each subsequent round are predetermined by the bracket. The tournament is divided into four regions, with each region having sixteen to eighteen teams. Regions are named after the U.S. geographic area of the city hosting each regional semifinal and regional final (the tournament's third and 4th round overall). Host cities for all regions vary from year to year. The tournament

3051-523: The Big 12 Conference . The Bearcats are currently coached by Wes Miller . With over 1800 all-time wins, the Bearcats are the 12th winningest basketball program of all time. The school's merits include 2 National Titles, 6 Final Fours, and 33 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament appearances. As of 2019, Cincinnati had an all-time tournament record of 46–32. There have also been 42 All-American honors issued to Bearcats as well, while 36 have gone on to play in

3164-564: The NBA . Cincinnati has been playing its home games since 1989 at Fifth Third Arena , which received an $ 87 million renovation for the 2018 season. Cincinnati joined the original Big East Conference in 2005, which was rebranded as the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in 2013. In 2023, they joined the Big 12 conference. Statistics and NCAA all-time rankings (through the end of the 2021–22 season): Basketball formally debuted as

3277-836: The National Invitation Tournament . Founded by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association one year before the NCAA tournament, the NIT was held entirely in New York City at Madison Square Garden. Because New York was the center of the press in the United States, the NIT often received more coverage than the NCAA tournament in early years. Additionally, good teams were often excluded from the NCAA tournament because each conference could only have one bid and conference champions were even excluded because of

3390-446: The "stall game", first year coach Tony Yates had his players go into a four-corner spread and waste the clock. Trying to limit the pain from the No. 2 Wildcats, boos rang out for most of the game and Kentucky refused to reschedule a series with Cincinnati after the end of the contract. This game was a big factor that lead to the introduction of the shot clock for the 1985–86 season . 12/12/1984 – Cincinnati 69, UAB 67 : No. 17 UAB had

3503-659: The 2009–10 campaign. Despite the surroundings, Cincinnati began the retooling process, becoming the only program from a major conference to improve its win total every season from 2007 to 2011, building from 11 wins in 2007 to 26 victories and a return to the NCAA tournament in 2011. Now a fixture at the Big Dance, Cincinnati can include itself among an elite list of six programs appearing in eight consecutive NCAA Tournaments , along with Duke , Gonzaga , Kansas , Michigan State and North Carolina . This run of 9 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances by Cincinnati would see UC advance to

List of NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four participants - Misplaced Pages Continue

3616-519: The 2021 women's tournament about the differing facility quality and branding, both the men's and women's tournaments were branded as "NCAA March Madness" starting in 2022 with variations of the same tournament-wide logo used by the men's tournament. Additionally, the Final Four for the men's tournament was branded as the "Men's Final Four" beginning in 2022, reflecting the "Women's Final Four" branding in use for that tournament since 1987 . The tournament consists of 68 teams competing in seven rounds of

3729-454: The 8-district system before 1950. Teams often competed in both tournaments during the first decade, with City College of New York winning both the NIT and NCAA tournament in 1950. Soon after, the NCAA banned teams from participating in both tournaments. Two major changes over the course of the early 1970s led to the NCAA becoming the preeminent post-season tournament for college basketball. First,

3842-604: The Atlantic Coast Conference for non-vacated multi-team Final Four appearances. The Big East is the only conference to have three teams in the Final Four, which was in 1985. Teams from the same conference have played against each other in nine National Semifinal games. Only three times have teams from the same conference played each other in the National Championship. †National Champion; ‡Runner Up; §Teams played in National Semifinals †‡Teams played in National Championship game Schools from 38 states, including

3955-410: The Bearcats their first basketball title in school history. 03/24/1962 – Cincinnati 71, Ohio State 59 : Cincinnati and Ohio State, again ranked Nos. 1 and 2 at the end of the regular season, became the first teams to play each other in two consecutive NCAA championship games. Unlike the year before, this game was not close. Cincy led by eight at the half and won by 12 as Paul Hogue and Tom Thacker led

4068-461: The Bearcats were banned from postseason play and live television for two years due to numerous violations under Catlett, including recruiting violations and impermissible benefits. Badger would have only two winning seasons during his tenure, and resigned after the 1983 season. Tony Yates , a member of the national championship teams in the 1960s, succeeded Badger as head coach in 1983. In his first season in 1983–84, UC went 3–25 (0–14 in conference),

4181-644: The Big East Quarterfinals. With the score tied, the Bearcats were able to force WVU into a shot clock violation with 6.4 seconds left, giving them the final possession from under the opposing team's baseline. Captain Deonta Vaughn would inbounds to sophomore Dion Dixon, who the Mountaineers were able to overwhelm near halfcourt - causing him to dribble the ball off his leg and out of bounds. On the ensuing possession, tournament MVP Da'Sean Butler would receive

4294-571: The Big East tournament semifinals. The Bearcats were hot out of the gate, hitting 8 of their first 10 three-point attempts and jumping out to a 25–8 lead. Syracuse came roaring back in the game, getting it to a one-point game with a few seconds left. A Justin Jackson dunk with a second remaining capped the Bearcats 71–68 win, the school's highest-ranked victory since 1998. 03/19/2015 – Cincinnati 66, Purdue 65 : 8-seeded Cincinnati and 9-seeded Purdue met for

4407-513: The District of Columbia, have appeared in the Final Four. An additional state, Minnesota, had its only appearance vacated. This table shows non-vacated Final Four appearances and victories by state; vacated records are shown in parentheses. The Third Place column is blank for states whose Final Four appearances were before 1946 or after 1981. Schools noted as vacated had all their Final Four appearances vacated. Eleven Final Fours have had two teams from

4520-544: The East and two for the West. In 1956, the four regions were given unique names for the first time. From 1946 to 1981, a consolation game was conducted before the Championship for the losing teams of the National Semifinals; the winning team was awarded third place and the losing team was awarded fourth place. In 1982, the NCAA eliminated the game and the two losing teams of the semifinal games are considered tied for third place in

4633-559: The Final Four has exclusively been played in large indoor football stadiums. Beginning in 2001 , the field was expanded from 64 to 65 teams, adding to the tournament what was informally known as the "play-in game" . This was in response to the creation of the Mountain West Conference during 1999. Originally, the winner of the Mountain West's tournament did not receive an automatic bid, as doing so would have eliminated one of

List of NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four participants - Misplaced Pages Continue

4746-434: The Final Four in 1958–59 and 1959–60, settling for third place both years. Then the Bearcats, with a rookie head coach ( Ed Jucker ) and without Robertson, won their first national title in 1960–61. Then to prove that its 1961 championship was no fluke, UC repeated as national champion in 1961–62. Cincinnati made a fifth-straight trip to the Final Four in 1962–63, and narrowly missed capturing a third-straight national crown when

4859-399: The First Four games pit 16 seeds against each other. The two other games, however, pit the last at-large bids against each other. The seeding for the at-large teams will be determined by the selection committee and fluctuates based on the true seed ranking of the teams. Explaining the reasoning for this format, selection committee chairman Dan Guerrero said, "We felt if we were going to expand

4972-429: The First Four has varied each year, depending on the overall ranking of the at-large teams in the field. In the men's tournament, all sites are nominally neutral; teams are prohibited from playing tournament games on their home courts during the first, second, and regional rounds. Under NCAA rules, any court on which a team hosts more than three regular-season games (not including preseason or conference tournament games)

5085-594: The First Round and the Second Round and the First Four became the official name of the opening round. In 2016 , the NCAA introduced a new "NCAA March Madness" logo for tournament-wide branding, including fully-branded courts at each of the tournament venues. Previously, the NCAA had used the existing court or a generic NCAA court. Beginning in 2017 , the #1 overall seed picks the sites for their first and second round games and their potential regional games. Additionally,

5198-584: The Loyola Ramblers overcame a 15-point deficit and defeated the Bearcats by a basket, 60–58, in overtime. During those five seasons, UC recorded a 37-game win streak and posted a 161–16 ledger. The five straight Final Four appearances is a feat topped only by UCLA. Connie Dierking (1958), Ralph Davis (1960), Bob Wiesenhahn (1961), Paul Hogue (1961, 1962), Tom Thacker (1963), Tony Yates (1963), Ron Bonham (1963, 1964) and George Wilson (1963) were accorded All-American recognition with Wilson playing on

5311-405: The NCAA added a rule in 1971 that banned teams who declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament from participating in other post-season tournaments. This was in response to eighth-ranked Marquette declining its invitation in 1970 and instead participating in and winning the NIT after coach Al McGuire complained about their regional placement. Since then, the NCAA tournament has clearly been

5424-622: The NCAA career charts, and he has the NBA's third-most career assists. The Bearcats celebrated their entry into the Missouri Valley Conference by winning the league title. Cincinnati made its first NCAA tournament appearance in 1958, losing to Kansas State in overtime at the Midwest Regional. Sparked by the exploits of Robertson, who became the first player to lead the nation in scoring in three consecutive seasons, Cincinnati advanced to

5537-423: The NCAA compete with the National Invitation Tournament for prestige. In the eight team format, the tournament was split into the East and West Regions, with champions meeting in the national championship game. The first two rounds for each region were conducted at the same site and the national championship and, from 1946 , consolation game occurred a week later. Some years, the site of the national championship

5650-604: The NCAA tournament. In 2013–14 season and 2017–18 season Cincinnati were American Athletic Conference regular season champions and in 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons Cincinnati won the American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament . During this time many notable players came to Cincinnati with several progressing to the NBA, such as Sean Kilpatrick , Troy Caupain , Jacob Evans , and Gary Clark . The Bearcats also featured consecutive AAC Player-of-the-Year (POY) winners in Gary Clark and Jarron Cumberland . On April 9, 2019, it

5763-469: The No. 5 true seed will not be paired with the No. 1 true seed. The committee ensures competitive balance among the top four seeds in each region by adding the true seed values up and comparing the values among the regions. If there is significant deviation, some teams will be moved among the regions to balance the true seed distribution. If a conference has two to four teams in the top four seeds, they will be placed in different regions. Otherwise, teams from

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5876-468: The Olympics awards gold, silver, and bronze medals for first, second, and third place, respectively, the NCAA awards the national champions a gold-plated wooden NCAA national championship trophy. The loser of the championship game receives a silver-plated national runner-up trophy for second place. Since 2006, all four Final Four teams receive a bronze plated NCAA regional championship trophy; prior to 2006, only

5989-827: The Phoenix regional in 2004, the Chicago regional in 2005, and the Minneapolis regional in 2006, but reverted to the traditional geographic designations beginning in 2007 . For the 2011 tournament, the South Region was the Southeast Region and the Midwest Region the Southwest Region; both returned to their previous names in 2012. The 1996 Final Four was the last to take place in a venue built specifically for basketball. Since then,

6102-500: The Round of 32 five times and to the Sweet 16 once as of the 2018–19 season. During the 2014–15 season, Mick Cronin discovered he had an arterial dissection and sat out the rest of the season, last coaching December 17 against San Diego State . Assistant Coach, Larry Davis took the reins and lead the team onto a respectable season and classic overtime victory over Purdue in the first round of

6215-666: The Third Place Game and five schools were the National Runners Up. Only one school, the University of Louisville, has had its National Championship vacated. General Men's Final Four 2023 Records Book (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2023. Specific NCAA Division I men%27s basketball tournament The 68-team format was adopted in 2011 ; it had remained largely unchanged since 1985 when it expanded to 64 teams. Before then,

6328-560: The U.S. 1964 Olympic gold medal team. The Bearcats during the 1970s compiled a 170–85 record (.667). The success was led by flashy-dressing head coach Gale Catlett , who led the Bearcats to the NCAA tournament in the 1974–75 season returning Cincinnati to the Big Dance for the first time since the 1965–66 season. Cincinnati inaugurated the Metro Conference by winning the league's first two tournament championships and made four consecutive post-season appearances from 1974 to 1977, including

6441-521: The at-large bids. As an alternative to eliminating an at-large bid, the NCAA expanded the tournament to 65 teams . The #64 and #65 seeds were seeded in a regional bracket as 16 seeds, and then played the opening round game on the Tuesday preceding the first weekend of the tournament. This game was always played at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. Starting in 2004 , the selection committee revealed

6554-472: The attention of New York City in a road win. His 56 points, at the time, was a Madison Square Garden record. 03/25/1961 – Cincinnati 70, Ohio State 65 : The Buckeyes were the defending champs, 27–0 and No. 1 in the nation. They took on state rival No. 2 Cincinnati in the National Championship. A layup by Ohio State's Bobby Knight sent the game into overtime, tied at 61. Cincy, led by Paul Hogue and Bob Wiesenhahn , took it from there, winning, 70–65, giving

6667-557: The ball with 3.1 seconds left and unleash a highly contested 3 pointer which banked in and sent West Virginia to their eventual Big East tournament championship and the Bearcats to the NIT . 12/10/2011 – Xavier 76, Cincinnati 53 : The 2011 rivalry game with Xavier ended in a bench-clearing brawl between the two teams, with the officials calling an end to the game with less than 10 seconds left. For more details, see 2011 Crosstown Shootout brawl . 03/09/2012 – Cincinnati 71, Syracuse 68 : Unranked Cincinnati took on No. 2 Syracuse (31–1) in

6780-480: The bracket, the Committee ranks the whole field from 1 to 68; these are referred to as the true seed . The committee then divides the teams amongst the four regions, giving each a seed between No. 1 and No. 16. The same four seeds in all the regions are referred to as the seed line (i.e. the No. 6 seed line). Eight teams are doubled up and compete in the First Four . Two of the paired teams compete for No. 16 seeds, and

6893-410: The buzzer-beating three-pointer to give UC a 66–64 win over No. 20 Minnesota. 01/23/1993 – Cincinnati 40, UAB 38 : The No. 9 Bearcats were heavily favored playing at home vs an 11–7 UAB team. It was an ugly, very low-scoring affair, where UAB led at halftime 15–11. In a tie game with seconds left, Corie Blount for UC had his shot blocked. It was kicked around and Nick Van Exel recovered it to put up

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7006-436: The championship was moved to Monday evening in 1973 , where they have remained since. Before the championship had been played on Saturday and the semifinals two days before. The third-place games were eliminated during this era, with the last regional third-place games played in 1975 and the last national third-place game played in 1981 . In 1985 , the tournament expanded to 64 teams, eliminating all byes and play-ins. For

7119-455: The dismissal of Bob Huggins . Cronin was tasked with picking up the pieces from a depleted program after Huggins was abruptly asked to resign three months before the 2005 season, and a temporary coach in Kennedy for the previous season. Due to the school having little-to-no recruiting going on for around a full calendar year, Cronin was forced to scrounge for players. He even had a couple players on

7232-561: The early days, with the main highlights being them winning several conference championships in both the Buckeye Athletic Association and the Mid-American Conference . Cincinnati opened its new on-campus arena, Armory Fieldhouse , with a 97–65 win over Indiana in 1954. One of the first of Cincinnati's long list of standouts was Jack Twyman , who earned All-America status in 1954–55. He went on to NBA stardom and

7345-466: The field it would create better drama for the tournament if the First Four was much more exciting. They could all be on the 10 line or the 12 line or the 11 line." As part of this expansion, the round of 64 was renamed the Second Round and the round of 32 was renamed the Third Round, with the First Four being officially the First Round. In 2016 , the rounds of 64 and 32 returned to their previous names of

7458-478: The first edition not to be held, and decided against releasing the brackets that the Selection Committee had been working on. In 2021 , the tournament was held entirely in the state of Indiana to reduce travel. This was to date the only time the tournament was conducted in one state. As a COVID-19 precaution, all participating teams were required to stay in NCAA-provided accommodations until they lost. The schedule

7571-430: The first time in the NCAA tournament in this round of 64 matchup. In a game that was close the majority of the way, Purdue began to pull away down the stretch. Down 7 with 48 seconds to go, the Bearcats hit a three pointer, forced a turnover, and made an and-one layup, all within 6 seconds to cut it to one. Down two with 7 seconds left, sophomore Troy Caupain drove to the hoop and hit a floater that dramatically spun around

7684-586: The first time, all teams had to win six games to win the tournament. This expansion led to increased media coverage and popularity in American culture. Until 2001 , the First and Second Rounds occurred at two sites in each region. In 1985, the Mideast Region was renamed the Southeast Region. In 1997 , the Southeast Region became the South Region. From 2004 to 2006 , the regions were named after their host cities, e.g.

7797-411: The former head coach at the University of Akron, was named head coach at UC prior to the 1989–90 season. Taking over a team with a proud history but one that had not had any legitimate success in over a decade, Huggins quickly turned things around and rekindled the national championship expectations of the past. Posting winning records in each of his first two seasons, Huggins would soon prove that his team

7910-449: The game into OT and won the title on a last-second rebound and basket by Vic Rouse . 3/13/1976 – Notre Dame 79, Cincinnati 78 : Facing No. 7 Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament, the No. 15 Bearcats had led the entire game and were inbounding under the Irish basket with eight seconds left. The Bearcats were called for a five-second violation, in part for their signal for a timeout being missed by

8023-501: The game-winning three-pointer with 1.2 seconds to play in the conference championship game over Saint Louis, giving the Bearcats a 67–65 victory and clinching an NCAA Tournament berth. 02/11/1996 – Arizona, 79, Cincinnati 76 : The Bearcats had the ball under their own hoop in a tie game vs Arizona with just a few seconds left. Miles Simon stripped the ball from Danny Fortson , and hit a three-quarter-court buzzer-beater to beat UC, 79–76. 02/06/1997 – Cincinnati 65, Tulane 64 : The game

8136-450: The highest ranked teams normally get the closest sites. The possible pods by seeding are: * Vacated title not included A total of 333 teams have appeared in the NCAA tournament since 1939. Because the NCAA did not split into divisions until 1957 , some schools that have appeared in the tournament are no longer in Division I . Among Division I schools, 46 have never made

8249-462: The major one, with conference champions and the majority of the top-ranked teams participating. Second, the NCAA allowed multiple teams per conference starting in 1975 . This was in response to several highly ranked teams being denied bids during the early 1970s. These included South Carolina in 1970, which was undefeated in conference play but lost in the ACC tournament; second-ranked USC in 1971 , which

8362-565: The national championship once. All tournament games are broadcast by CBS , TBS , TNT , and truTV under the program name NCAA March Madness . With a contract through 2032, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery pay $ 891 million annually for the broadcast rights. The NCAA distributes revenue to participating teams based on how far they advance, which provides significant funding for college athletics. The tournament has become part of American popular culture through bracket contests that award money and other prizes for correctly predicting

8475-653: The national player of the year awards. Logan was a consensus All-American in 2001–02 and a finalist for every national player of the year award. Several Bearcats were NBA Draft Picks, including Martin being the number one overall pick in 2000. Huggins was forced to resign by school president Nancy Zimpher in August 2005. Zimpher was angered by the lackluster academic performance of Huggins' teams (he routinely only graduated 30 percent of his players), and felt that Huggins didn't fit in with her plan to upgrade UC's academic reputation. Huggins hadn't helped his standing with Zimpher when he

8588-434: The national semifinals and championship game during the third weekend. Regional rounds are branded as the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight and the third weekend is branded as the Final Four, all named after the number of teams remaining at the beginning of the round. All games, including the First Four, are scheduled so that teams will have one rest day between each game. This format has been in use since 2011, with minor changes to

8701-615: The national semifinals were rotated on a yearly basis instead of the two eastern and two western regions always playing. Seeding also began during this era, adding drama and ensuring better teams had better paths to the Final Four. In 1978 , teams were seeded in two separate pools based on their qualification method. Each region had four teams which automatically qualified ranked Q1–Q4 and four teams which received an at-large bid ranked L1–L4. In 1979 , all teams in each region were seeded 1 through 10, without regards for their qualification method. The national semifinals were moved to Saturday and

8814-422: The number of rounds remained the same. The double region naming was kept until 1956 , when the regions were named the East, Midwest, West, and Far West. In 1957 , the regions were named East, Mideast, Midwest, and West, which remained until 1985. Regions were paired in the national semifinals based on their geographic locations, with the two eastern regions meeting in one semifinal and two western regions meeting in

8927-446: The official NCAA record book. There have been 26 unique conferences appearing in the Final Four, of which 19 are still in existence. including original Big East There have been 25 Final Fours with multiple teams from the same conference. In two of these Final Fours, one of the conference team's appearance was later vacated later by the NCAA. The Big Ten has achieved this nine times, with one appearance later vacated, tying them with

9040-741: The official record book. At the conclusion of the championship game, one player is awarded the Most Outstanding Player award. Eleven times a player was awarded the MOP without being on the championship team. Five players have won the award twice, one player, Lew Alcindor , won the award three times. Since 1939, 95 schools have appeared in the Final Four. Four additional schools, Minnesota , Saint Joseph's , UMass , and Western Kentucky , had their only appearance vacated. This table shows non-vacated Final Four appearances and victories by school; vacated records are shown in parentheses. The Third Place column

9153-530: The official. Notre Dame would get the ball and score with two seconds remaining to escape with the victory. 12/21/1981 – Cincinnati 75, Bradley 73 : This contest is still listed as the longest game of NCAA Division I history , reaching seven overtimes. Reserve forward Doug Schloemer hit the decisive shot, a left-wing 15-footer with one second remaining in the seventh overtime. If he had missed that jump shot, it would have gone to an eighth overtime. 12/12/1983 – Kentucky 24, Cincinnati 11 : It what became known as

9266-429: The other semifinal. Beginning in 1946 , a national third-place game was held before the championship game. Regional third-place games were played in the West from 1939 and the East from 1941 . Despite expansion in 1951 , there were still only two regions, each with a third-place game. The 1952 tournament had four regions each with a third-place game. This era of the tournament was characterized by competition with

9379-472: The other two paired teams are the last at-large teams awarded bids to the tournament and compete for a seed line in the No. 10 to No. 14 range, which varies year to year based on the true seeds of the teams overall. The top four overall seeds are placed as No. 1 seeds in each region. The regions are paired so that if all the No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four true seed No. 1 would play No. 4 and No. 2 would play No. 3. The No. 2 teams are preferably placed so that

9492-448: The outcomes of the most games. In 2023, Sports Illustrated reported that an estimated 60 to 100 million brackets are filled out each year. The first tournament was held in 1939 and was won by Oregon . It was the idea of Ohio State coach Harold Olsen . The National Association of Basketball Coaches operated the first tournament for the NCAA. From 1939 to 1950, the NCAA tournament consisted of eight teams, with each selected from

9605-441: The overall rankings among the #1 seeds. Based on these rankings, the regions were paired so that the #1 overall seed would play the #4 overall seed in a national semifinal if both teams made the Final Four. This was to prevent the top two teams from meeting before the finals, as was largely considered the case in 1996 when Kentucky played Massachusetts in the Final Four. Previously, regional pairings rotated yearly. In 2010 , there

9718-549: The rim, hung on the rim for a second, and fell in, as time expired. In overtime, UC prevailed 66–65, to advance to the round of 32 against an undefeated Kentucky team. 03/11/2016 – UConn 104, Cincinnati 97 : In a 4-overtime thriller for the ages, Cincinnati and UConn faced off in the AAC Tournament. In the closing seconds of the 3rd overtime, in a tie game, UC guard Kevin Johnson drained a long 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left to take

9831-415: The same conference are placed to avoid a rematch before the regional finals if they have played three or more times in the season, the regional semifinals if they have played twice, or the second round if they have played once. Additionally, the committee is advised to avoid rematches from the regular season and the previous years' tournament in the First Four. Finally, the committee will attempt to ensure that

9944-538: The same state. North Carolina and Ohio both have three Final Fours with two teams, the most, and Kentucky is the only other state to do it more than once. Teams from the same state have played each other four times in a National Semifinal and teams from the same state have played each other twice in the National Championship, both times Cincinnati and Ohio State in 1960 and 1961 . † National Champion; ‡ Runner-Up; § Third Place Thirteen Final Four appearances have been vacated by ten schools. Two of these schools won

10057-490: The schedule in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Selection Committee, which includes conference commissioners and university athletic directors appointed by the NCAA, determines the bracket during the week before the tournament. Since the results of several conference tournaments occurring during the same week can significantly impact the bracket, the Committee often makes several brackets for different results. To make

10170-466: The school's football team play, one being future NFL linebacker Connor Barwin . Although Cronin's teams struggled early in his UC career, he improved the school's win total each of his first five seasons. After two straight losing seasons, UC began to get back on track under Cronin in the 2008–09 season with an 18–14 record. This was then followed by an NIT appearance and a brief return to the Top 25 polls during

10283-455: The school's worst season (winning-percentage-wise) since going 1–9 in 1915. After tallying only two more winning seasons, Yates was fired after the 1989 season. The Bearcats of the 1980s failed to make a single NCAA tournament, and only had one postseason appearance in the 1985 NIT . All told, the 1980s were an especially hard time for the Bearcats, who went 112–142 over the course of the decade and notched only two winning seasons. Bob Huggins ,

10396-401: The season. 03/08/2006 – Syracuse 74, Cincinnati 73 : In the first round of the Big East tournament, the Bearcats led by one with 8.3 seconds remaining. Devan Downey of UC was at the line shooting two free throws. After making the first, he missed the second. Trailing by 2, Gerry McNamara of Syracuse came down and hit a running one-handed three pointer with 0.5 seconds left, giving Syracuse

10509-404: The selection committee began releasing the top 16 seeds three weeks before Selection Sunday as a bracket preview. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the NCAA cancelled the 2020 tournament. Initially, the NCAA discussed holding a shortened version with only 16 teams in the Final Four host city of Atlanta. Once the vast scale of the pandemic was understood, the NCAA cancelled the tournament, making it

10622-451: The stretch. With the game tied at 62, freshman DerMarr Johnson hit the game-winning jumper with 2.7 seconds left. 02/22/2002 – Cincinnati 63, Marquette 62 : 9th-ranked Marquette led No. 4 Cincinnati by 4 with 30 seconds remaining. Steve Logan hit a three-pointer with 22 seconds left, then after a missed one-and-one free throw by Dwyane Wade , Donald Little hit a jumper with 3 seconds remaining. Cincinnati won 63–62 in their biggest win of

10735-513: The teams who did not make the title game received bronze plated trophies for being a semifinalist. The champions also receive a commemorative gold championship ring , and the other three Final Four teams receive Final Four rings. Cincinnati Bearcats men%27s basketball The Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball program represents the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati , Ohio. The school's team competes in NCAA Division I as part of

10848-556: The tournament due to COVID-19 protocols during the 48 hours after the brackets were announced. Only one game was declared a no contest due to COVID-19, with Oregon advancing to the second round because VCU could not participate due to COVID-19 protocols. VCU was not replaced by one of the first four teams out because the COVID-19 infections started more than two days after the brackets were announced. The tournament returned to its regular format in 2022 . In response to protests from players in

10961-417: The tournament expanded to 40 teams and added a sixth round; 24 teams received byes to the second round. Eight more teams were added in 1980 with only 16 teams receiving byes, and the restriction on the number of at-large bids from a conference was removed. In 1983 , a seventh round with four play-in games was added; an additional play-in game was added in 1984 . Beginning in 1973 , the regional pairings for

11074-448: The tournament sized varied from as little as 8 to as many as 53. The field was restricted to conference champions until at-large bids were extended in 1975 and teams were not fully seeded until 1979 . In 2020 , the tournament was cancelled for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic ; in the subsequent season, the tournament was contested completely in the state of Indiana as a precaution. Thirty-seven different schools have won

11187-551: The tournament to date. UCLA has the most with 11 championships; their coach John Wooden has the most titles of any coach with 10. The University of Kentucky (UK) has eight championships, the University of Connecticut (UConn) and the University of North Carolina have six championships, Duke University and Indiana University have five championships, the University of Kansas (KU) has four championships, and Villanova University has three championships. Seven programs are tied with two national championships, and 23 teams have won

11300-419: The tournament, including 11 that are ineligible because they are transitioning to Division I. Key For each season starting in 1979, the 4 teams seeded No. 1 are shown with double underline , and 12 teams seeded between No. 2 and No. 4 are shown with dotted underline . Bold indicates an active current streak as of the 2024 tournament. *Kansas's 2018 appearance was vacated. As a tournament ritual,

11413-569: The university would begin investigating allegations against the program. Soon after on April 3, it was announced that head coach John Brannen was placed on indefinite leave. Finally, on April 9 the school announced Brannen had been relieved of his duties effective immediately along with assistants. On April 14 Cincinnati hired Wes Miller to become their next head coach, replacing Brannen. 01/09/1958 – Cincinnati 118, Seton Hall 54 : 19-year-old sophomore Oscar Robertson ("The Big O") dropped 56 points, scoring more than all of Seton Hall, and caught

11526-454: The way with 22 and 21 points, respectively. When it was over, the Bearcats' second-year coach Ed Jucker had a pair of NCAA titles in two tries. 03/23/1963 – Loyola Chicago 60, Cincinnati 58 : Despite its No. 3 ranking and a scoring average of 91.8, nobody expected Loyola of Chicago to beat Cincinnati, especially when the Ramblers fell behind by 15 in the second half. But Loyola rallied to send

11639-529: The winning team cuts down the nets at the end of regional championship games as well as the national championship game. Starting with the seniors, and moving down by classes, players each cut a single strand off each net; the head coach cuts the last strand connecting the net to the hoop, claiming the net itself. An exception to the head coach cutting the last strand came in 2013 , when Louisville head coach Rick Pitino gave that honor to Kevin Ware , who had suffered

11752-405: Was adjusted to provided extended time for COVID-19 evaluation before the tournament began, with the First Four occurring entirely on Thursday, the First and Second Rounds pushed one day back to a Friday-Monday window, and the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight pushed to a Friday-Monday window as well. Teams ranked 69–72 by the Selection Committee were put on "standby" to replace any team that withdrew from

11865-502: Was announced that Mick Cronin would be leaving Cincinnati to become the next head coach of the UCLA Bruins after UCLA had fired Coach Steve Alford earlier in the season (ironically, his firing was due in part to a blowout loss to the Bearcats ). On April 14, 2019, it was announced that John Brannen was being hired as the new head coach. In his first year, Brannen would lead the 'Cats to

11978-467: Was arrested for DUI in 2004. This decision was met wide widespread criticism among virtually everyone connected to the program, creating a situation that would not bode well for the team in the near future. Looking to stay within the program, the school immediately promoted assistant coach Andy Kennedy as interim head coach for the 2005–06 season. In the spring of 2006, Mick Cronin was hired as head coach, replacing interim coach Andy Kennedy after

12091-522: Was for real and in only his third season at the helm he directed UC to the 1992 Final Four. The 1992 team that went on to lose to Michigan's " Fab Five " in the Final Four, would set a high standard of success that would last for years to come. The Bearcats advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament three times, and reached the Sweet 16 four times while Huggins was coach. Cincinnati also won its conference season and/or tournament title in 12 years out of

12204-478: Was left out because their conference was represented by top-ranked UCLA ; and Maryland in 1974 , which was ranked #3 but lost the ACC tournament championship game to eventual national champion North Carolina State . To accommodate at-large bids, the tournament expanded in 1975 to include 32 teams, allowing a second team to represent a conference in addition to the conference champion, and eliminated byes. In 1979 ,

12317-467: Was possible was the 1996 when the Continental Airlines Arena , home court of Seton Hall , hosted. For the first and second rounds, eight venues host games, four on each day of the round. Each venue hosts two sets of four teams, referred to as "pods." To limit travel, teams are placed in pods closer to their home unless seeding rules would prevent it. Because each pod includes a top 4 seed,

12430-404: Was speculation about increasing the tournament size to as many as 128 teams. On April 1, 2010, the NCAA announced that it was looking at expanding to 96 teams for 2011 . However, three weeks later the NCAA announced a new television contract with CBS/Turner that expanded the field to 68 teams, instead of 96, starting in 2011. The First Four was created by the addition of three play-in games. Two of

12543-409: Was the same site as a regional championship and in other years a new site. With the expansion to 16 teams, the tournament retained the original format of the national semifinals being the regional finals in 1951 . For the 1952 tournament, there were four regions named East-1, East-2, West-1, West-2, all played at separate sites. The regional champions met for the national semifinals and championship at

12656-449: Was tied at 63 with 2 seconds left, and UC had the ball. Bobby Brannan threw the ball the length of the court. Danny Fortson made the catch near the hoop and laid it in with 0.2 seconds remaining. The majority of the Bearcats bench stormed the court in excitement, thinking the game was over. Cincinnati was given a technical foul for the incident, awarding Tulane two free throws and the ball. Honeycutt only made one of two free throws, and Tulane

12769-476: Was unable to score with 0.2 seconds left. Cincinnati won by one. 02/19/1998 – Cincinnati 93, UAB 76 : All-American Ruben Patterson was awoken at 6:00 in the morning by Bob Huggins. The coach broke the news to him that his mother had a heart attack overnight and died. Patterson played the game that night anyway, after spending all day crying. He scored a career-high 32 points in a 93–76 win over UAB. 03/15/1998 – West Virginia 75, Cincinnati 74 : Cincinnati took

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