1970 NCAA University Division basketball tournament
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2022) |
Teams | 25 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finals site | Cole Field House College Park, Maryland | ||||
Champions | UCLA Bruins (6th title, 6th title game, 7th Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | Jacksonville Dolphins (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
| ||||
Winning coach | John Wooden (6th title) | ||||
MOP | Sidney Wicks (UCLA) | ||||
Attendance | 146,794 | ||||
Top scorer | Austin Carr Notre Dame (158 points) | ||||
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The 1970 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 7, 1970, and ended with the championship game on March 21 in College Park, Maryland. A total of 29 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game. This tournament was notable for the number of small schools that reached the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and championship Game. Another notable aspect of the tournament was that Marquette became the first team to turn down an announced NCAA Tournament bid for the National Invitation Tournament. Coach Al McGuire took issue with being seeded in the Midwest regional instead of the geographically closer Mideast. They were replaced in the field by Dayton.[1] As a result of this action, the NCAA forbid its members from playing in other postseason tournaments if offered an NCAA bid.
UCLA, coached by John Wooden, won the national title with an 80–69 victory in the final game over Jacksonville, coached by Joe Williams. Sidney Wicks of UCLA was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Schedule and venues
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1970 tournament:
First round
- March 7
- East Region
- Mideast Region
- Midwest Region
- West Region
Regional semifinals, 3rd-place games, and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
- March 12 and 14
- East Regional, Carolina Coliseum, Columbia, South Carolina
- Mideast Regional, St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio
- Midwest Regional, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas
- West Regional, Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle, Washington
National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)
- March 19 and 21
For the second time in five years, Cole Field House and the University of Maryland, College Park were the hosts of the Final Four. Like the previous time Cole was the Final Four site, all the venues used in the tournament were on-campus venues. To date, this is the last time that this has been the case. The tournament, which featured three East sub-regional sites for the first time, saw four venues used for the first time. In the East Regional, the tournament came to the state of South Carolina for the first time, with games played in Columbia at the Carolina Coliseum, home of the South Carolina Gamecocks. The East sub-regional had two new sites to go with the Palestra: Alumni Hall, on the campus of St. John's University, and Jadwin Gymnasium on the campus of Princeton University. Jadwin is the only Ivy League venue other than the Palestra to ever host a tournament game. And in the Mideast sub-regional, the University of Dayton Arena hosted games for the first time, starting its tenure as the most-used venue in tournament history.
This would be the last tournament to host five of the arenas: Carolina Coliseum, Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, Hec Edmundson Pavilion, St. John Arena and Smith Fieldhouse. The Columbia market would not hold another tournament for 49 years, when its replacement, the Colonial Life Arena, which opened in 2002, hosted the 2019 tournament. While the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex continued to host games, the tournament did not return to Fort Worth itself until 2022 when the new Dickies Arena opened. Seattle has continued to host games, first at the Kingdome and later at KeyArena. The tournament returned to Columbus in 2004 at the Nationwide Arena, and returned in 1972 to Provo and the Smith Fieldhouse's replacement, the Marriott Center.
Teams
Region | Team | Coach | Conference | Finished | Final opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East | ||||||
East | Davidson | Terry Holland | Southern | First round | St. Bonaventure | L 85–72 |
East | Niagara | Frank Layden | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | NC State | L 108–88 |
East | NC State | Norm Sloan | Atlantic Coast | Regional third place | Niagara | W 108–88 |
East | Penn | Dick Harter | Ivy League | First round | Niagara | L 79–69 |
East | St. Bonaventure | Larry Weise | Independent | Fourth Place | New Mexico State | L 79–73 |
East | Temple | Harry Litwack | Middle Atlantic | First round | Villanova | L 77–69 |
East | Villanova | Jack Kraft | Independent | Regional Runner-up | St. Bonaventure | L 97–74 |
Mideast | ||||||
Mideast | Iowa | Ralph Miller | Big Ten | Regional third place | Notre Dame | W 121–106 |
Mideast | Jacksonville | Joe Williams | Independent | Runner Up | UCLA | L 80–69 |
Mideast | Kentucky | Adolph Rupp | Southeastern | Regional Runner-up | Jacksonville | L 106–100 |
Mideast | Notre Dame | John Dee | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | Iowa | L 121–106 |
Mideast | Ohio | James Snyder | Mid-American | First round | Notre Dame | L 112–82 |
Mideast | Western Kentucky | Johnny Oldham | Ohio Valley | First round | Jacksonville | L 109–96 |
Midwest | ||||||
Midwest | Dayton | Don Donoher | Independent | First round | Houston | L 71–64 |
Midwest | Drake | Maury John | Missouri Valley | Regional Runner-up | New Mexico State | L 87–78 |
Midwest | Houston | Guy Lewis | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | Kansas State | L 107–98 |
Midwest | Kansas State | Cotton Fitzsimmons | Big Eight | Regional third place | Houston | W 107–98 |
Midwest | New Mexico State | Lou Henson | Independent | Third Place | St. Bonaventure | W 79–73 |
Midwest | Rice | Don Knodel | Southwest | First round | New Mexico State | L 101–77 |
West | ||||||
West | Long Beach State | Jerry Tarkanian | Pacific Coast | Regional Fourth Place | Santa Clara | L 89–86 |
West | Santa Clara | Dick Garibaldi | West Coast | Regional third place | Long Beach State | W 89–86 |
West | UTEP | Don Haskins | Western Athletic | First round | Utah State | L 91–81 |
West | UCLA | John Wooden | Pacific-8 | Champion | Jacksonville | W 80–69 |
West | Utah State | LaDell Andersen | Independent | Regional Runner-up | UCLA | L 101–79 |
West | Weber State | Phil Johnson | Big Sky | First round | Long Beach State | L 92–73 |
Bracket
East region
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
NC State | 68 | |||||||||||||
St. Bonaventure | 80 | |||||||||||||
St. Bonaventure | 85 | |||||||||||||
Davidson | 72 | |||||||||||||
St. Bonaventure | 97 | |||||||||||||
Villanova | 74 | |||||||||||||
Villanova | 77 | |||||||||||||
Temple | 69 | |||||||||||||
Villanova | 98 | |||||||||||||
Niagara | 73 | |||||||||||||
Niagara | 79 | |||||||||||||
Penn | 69 |
East Regional third place | ||||
NC State | 108 | |||
Niagara | 88 |
Mideast region
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
Iowa | 103 | |||||||||||||
Jacksonville | 104 | |||||||||||||
Jacksonville | 109 | |||||||||||||
Western Kentucky | 96 | |||||||||||||
Jacksonville | 106 | |||||||||||||
Kentucky | 100 | |||||||||||||
Kentucky | 109 | |||||||||||||
Notre Dame | 99 | |||||||||||||
Notre Dame | 112 | |||||||||||||
Ohio | 82 |
Mideast Regional third place | ||||
Iowa | 121 | |||
Notre Dame | 106 |
Midwest region
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
Kansas State | 66 | |||||||||||||
New Mexico State | 70 | |||||||||||||
New Mexico State | 101 | |||||||||||||
Rice | 77 | |||||||||||||
New Mexico State | 87 | |||||||||||||
Drake | 78 | |||||||||||||
Drake | 92 | |||||||||||||
Houston | 87 | |||||||||||||
Houston | 71 | |||||||||||||
Dayton | 64 |
Midwest Regional third place | ||||
Kansas State | 107 | |||
Houston | 98 |
West region
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
UCLA | 88 | |||||||||||||
Long Beach State | 65 | |||||||||||||
Long Beach State | 92 | |||||||||||||
Weber State | 73 | |||||||||||||
UCLA | 101 | |||||||||||||
Utah State | 79 | |||||||||||||
Santa Clara | 68 | |||||||||||||
Utah State | 69 | |||||||||||||
Utah State | 91 | |||||||||||||
UTEP | 81 |
West Regional third place | ||||
Long Beach State | 86 | |||
Santa Clara | 89 |
Final Four
National semifinals | National Championship Game | ||||||||
E | St. Bonaventure | 83 | |||||||
ME | Jacksonville | 91 | |||||||
ME | Jacksonville | 69 | |||||||
W | UCLA | 80 | |||||||
MW | New Mexico State | 77 | |||||||
W | UCLA | 93 | National third-place game | ||||||
E | St. Bonaventure | 73 | |||||||
MW | New Mexico State | 79 |
See also
- 1970 NCAA College Division basketball tournament
- 1970 National Invitation Tournament
- 1970 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
- 1970 National Women's Invitation Tournament
Tournament notes
- In Iowa's 121-106 win over Notre Dame, the two teams set a tournament record for most combined points (227).
- Every game in the Mideast Regional saw at least one of the two teams score 100 points or more.
- For the second straight year, a first-time tournament participant, in this case Jacksonville, made the national championship game. Niagara and Long Beach State also made their tournament debuts this year, both of whom placed as their respective regional fourth place teams.
- This was the first of eighteen tournament appearances for Long Beach coach Jerry Tarkanian, who would go on to coach the 49ers to four straight tournament appearances, as well as the UNLV Runnin' Rebels to a national championship (1990) and four Final Fours, and Fresno State to two tournament appearances.
- The 1970 tournament is, to date, the most recent tournament appearance for Rice University. They currently hold the fifth longest active drought after Dartmouth (1959), Tennessee Tech (1963), Bowling Green and Columbia (1968) and Seattle (1969).
References
- ^ "Marquette takes NIT over NCAA bid". Great Falls Tribune. February 25, 1970. p. 11. Retrieved January 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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