1968 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1968 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Teams	23
Finals site	Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Champions	UCLA (4th title, 4th title game)
Runner-up	North Carolina (3rd title game, 4th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Houston (2nd Final Four) Ohio State (8th Final Four)
Winning coach	John Wooden (4th title)
MOP	Lew Alcindor UCLA
Attendance	160,888
Top scorer	Elvin Hayes Houston (167 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «1967 1969»

The 1968 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 23 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8, 1968, and ended with the championship game on March 23 in Los Angeles, California. A total of 27 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.

UCLA, coached by John Wooden, won the national title with a 78-55 victory in the final game over North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith. Lew Alcindor of UCLA was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player for the second of three consecutive years. This UCLA team, composed of three All-Americans, Player of the Year Alcindor, Lucius Allen, and Mike Warren, along with dead eye pure shooter Lynn Shackleford (most of his shots would be 3 pointers today) and burly senior power forward Mike Lynn is considered to be one of the greatest teams in college basketball history.

The NCAA semi-final match between the Houston Cougars and UCLA Bruins was a re-match of the college basketball Game of the Century held in January at the Astrodome, in the Cougars' home city. The match was historic, the first nationally syndicated college basketball game and the first to play in a domed stadium before more than 52,000 fans. It was UCLA's only loss in two years, a two-pointer, to the then-#2 Houston, but with UCLA's dominating center Alcindor playing with an eye injury that limited his effectiveness after being hospitalized the week before. The loss broke a 47-game winning streak for UCLA. In the March NCAA Tournament Final 4, the Bruins at full strength avenged that loss with a 101-69 drubbing of that same Houston team, now ranked #1, in UCLA's home city at the Memorial Sports Arena. UCLA limited Houston's Elvin Hayes, who was averaging 37.7 points per game but was held to only 10. Bruins coach John Wooden credited his assistant, Jerry Norman, for devising the diamond-and-one defense that contained Hayes.^[1][2]

Locations

Region	Site	Other Locations
East	Raleigh, North Carolina	College Park, Maryland; Kingston, Rhode Island
Mideast	Lexington, Kentucky	Kent, Ohio
Midwest	Wichita, Kansas	Salt Lake City, Utah
West	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Salt Lake City, Utah
Finals	Los Angeles, California

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	n/a	Boston College	Bob Cousy	First round	St. Bonaventure	L 102-93
East	n/a	Columbia	John Rohan	Regional Third Place	St. Bonaventure	W 95-75
East	n/a	Davidson	Lefty Driesell	Regional Runner-up	North Carolina	L 70-66
East	n/a	La Salle	Jim Harding	First round	Columbia	L 83-69
East	n/a	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Runner Up	UCLA	L 78-55
East	n/a	St. Bonaventure	Larry Weise	Regional Fourth Place	Columbia	L 95-75
East	n/a	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	First round	Davidson	L 79-70
Mideast
Mideast	n/a	Bowling Green	Bill Fitch	First round	Marquette	L 72-71
Mideast	n/a	East Tennessee State	J. Madison Brooks	Regional Fourth Place	Marquette	L 69-57
Mideast	n/a	Florida State	Hugh Durham	First round	East Tennessee State	L 79-69
Mideast	n/a	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	Regional Runner-up	Ohio State	L 82-81
Mideast	n/a	Marquette	Al McGuire	Regional Third Place	East Tennessee State	W 69-57
Mideast	n/a	Ohio State	Fred Taylor	Third Place	Houston	W 89-85
Midwest
Midwest	n/a	Houston	Guy Lewis	Fourth Place	Ohio State	L 89-85
Midwest	n/a	Kansas State	Tex Winter	Regional Fourth Place	Louisville	L 93-63
Midwest	n/a	Louisville	John Dromo	Regional Third Place	Kansas State	W 93-63
Midwest	n/a	Loyola, Illinois	George Ireland	First round	Houston	L 94-76
Midwest	n/a	TCU	Johnny Swaim	Regional Runner-up	Houston	L 103-68
West
West	n/a	New Mexico	Bob King	Regional Fourth Place	New Mexico State	L 62-58
West	n/a	New Mexico State	Lou Henson	Regional Third Place	New Mexico	W 62-58
West	n/a	Santa Clara	Dick Garibaldi	Regional Runner-up	UCLA	L 87-66
West	n/a	UCLA	John Wooden	Champion	North Carolina	W 78-55
West	n/a	Weber State	Dick Motta	First round	New Mexico State	L 68-57

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							North Carolina	91
							St. Bonaventure	72
		St. Bonaventure	102
		Boston College	93
												North Carolina	70
												Davidson	66
		Davidson	79
		St. John's	70
							Davidson	61
							Columbia	59*
		Columbia	83
		La Salle	69

Mideast region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Ohio State	79
							East Tennessee State	72
		East Tennessee State	79
		Florida State	69
												Ohio State	82
												Kentucky	81
							Kentucky	107
							Marquette	89
		Marquette	72
		Bowling Green	71

Midwest region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							TCU	77
							Kansas State	72
												TCU	68
												Houston	103
							Louisville	75
							Houston	91
		Houston	94
		Loyola-IL	76

West region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Santa Clara	86
							New Mexico	73
												Santa Clara	66
												UCLA	87
							UCLA	58
							New Mexico State	49
		New Mexico State	68
		Weber State	57

Final Four

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	E	North Carolina	80
	ME	Ohio State	66
						E	North Carolina	55
						W	UCLA	78
	MW	Houston	69
	W	UCLA	101

See also

• 1968 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

References

1. Esper, Dwain (March 25, 1968). "Bruins Hope Norman Stays". The Independent (Pasadena, California). p. 15. Retrieved July 22, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Gasaway, John (June 7, 2010). "John Wooden's Century". Basketball Prospectus. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015.