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1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Edition of USA college basketball tournament

Field	Value
Year	1996
Image	1996FinalFour.png
ImageSize	150px
Teams	64
FinalFourArena	Continental Airlines Arena
FinalFourCity	East Rutherford, New Jersey
Champions	[Kentucky Wildcats](1995-96-kentucky-wildcats-men-s-basketball-team)
TitleCount	6th
ChampGameCount	8th
ChampFFCount	11th
RunnerUp	[Syracuse Orangemen](1995-96-syracuse-orangemen-basketball-team)
GameCount	2nd
RunnerFFCount	3rd
Semifinal1	[UMass Minutemen](1995-96-umass-minutemen-basketball-team) (Vacated)
FinalFourCount	1st
Semifinal2	[Mississippi State Bulldogs](1995-96-mississippi-state-bulldogs-men-s-basketball-team)
FinalFourCount2	1st
Coach	Rick Pitino
CoachCount	1st
MOP	Tony Delk
MOPTeam	Kentucky
Attendance	631,834
TopScorer	John Wallace
TopScorerTeam	Syracuse
Points	131

The 1996 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 58th annual edition of the tournament began on March 14, 1996, and ended with the championship game on April 1 at Continental Airlines Arena (now known as Meadowlands Arena) in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A total of 63 games were played.

The Final Four venue was notable for several reasons:

This marked the first time that the NCAA finals had been held in Greater New York since 1950.
This was also the last (men's) Final Four to be held in a basketball/hockey-specific facility. Every Final Four since has been held in a domed stadium (usually built for football) because of NCAA venue capacity requirements. Therefore, this was also the last time the NCAA finals have been held in the Greater New York area and the Northeastern United States (for the time being). The Final Four consisted of Kentucky, making its first appearance in the Final Four since 1993 and eleventh overall, Massachusetts, making its first ever appearance in the Final Four, Syracuse, making its third appearance in the Final Four and first since 1987, and Mississippi State, also making its first appearance.

Kentucky, coached by Rick Pitino, won its sixth national championship by defeating Syracuse in the final game 76–67. It was the Orangemen's second championship game loss under coach Jim Boeheim, joining a 74–73 defeat vs. Indiana in 1987 (Boeheim and Syracuse finally won the championship in 2003).

The championship game the second Final Four meeting between Pitino and Boeheim. Boeheim's Orangemen defeated Pitino's Providence Friars in the 1987 semifinals.

Tony Delk of Kentucky was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Kentucky's run to the championship was one of the most dominant in NCAA tournament history, as the Wildcats won each of their first four games by at least 20 points and won every game by at least 7 points.

Massachusetts, coached by John Calipari, was later stripped of its wins, including the UMass Minutemen's Final Four appearance, by the NCAA because UMass star Marcus Camby had accepted illegal gifts from agents. Connecticut, coached by Jim Calhoun, was additionally punished monetarily due to players accepting illegal gifts from agents.

The 1996 tournament was the last to feature teams from the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences; later four teams from the SWC would merge with the Big Eight to form the Big 12 Conference. Through 2025, they were the last Division I conferences to disband and/or merge after sending teams to the NCAA tournament. (In 2024, the Pac-12 sent four teams to the tournament before it nearly disintegrated, with all but two members--Oregon State and Washington State--leaving for other conferences. The Beavers and Cougars played in the West Coast Conference during the 2024–25 season.)

This is also one of only two Final Fours between 1986 and 2001 (1987 being the other) to include neither Duke nor North Carolina.

As of 2025, this is the earliest tournament from which all four Final Four coaches (Pitino, Boeheim, Calipari and Mississippi State's Richard Williams) are still living.

This was the last tournament in which officials wore collared shirts. A v-neck shirt, already worn in several conferences during the regular season, was adopted association-wide in 1996–97.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1996 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

March 14 and 16
- East Region
  - Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island (Host: Providence College)
- Midwest Region
  - Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas (Host: Southwest Conference)
- Southeast Region
  - RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Butler University, Midwestern Collegiate Conference)
- West Region
  - University Arena ("The Pit"), Albuquerque, New Mexico (Host: University of New Mexico)
March 15 and 17
- East Region
  - Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia (Hosts: University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University)
- Midwest Region
  - Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Host: Marquette University)
- Southeast Region
  - Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida (Host: Stetson University)
- West Region
  - ASU Activity Center, Tempe, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

March 21 and 23
- East Regional, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology)
- Midwest Regional, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)
March 22 and 24
- Southeast Regional, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)
- West Regional, McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado (Host: University of Colorado)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

March 30 and April 1
- Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference)

Teams

There were 30 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 27 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while three were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference (Big Ten, Ivy League and Pac-10).

Two conferences, the American West Conference and Conference USA, did not receive automatic bids to the tournament.

Four conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Monmouth (NEC), UNC Greensboro (Big South), Valparaiso (Mid-Continent), and Western Carolina (Southern).

Automatic qualifiers

Conference	Team	Appearance
[ACC](1996-acc-men-s-basketball-tournament)	14th	1995
[Atlantic 10](1996-atlantic-10-men-s-basketball-tournament)	–	1995
[Big East](1996-big-east-men-s-basketball-tournament)	–	1995
[Big Eight](1996-big-eight-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	9th	1995
[Big Sky](1996-big-sky-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	3rd	1986
[Big South](1996-big-south-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	1st
Big Ten	–	1995
[Big West](1996-big-west-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	3rd	1980
[CAA](1996-caa-men-s-basketball-tournament)	6th	1985
Ivy League	19th	1992
[MAAC](1996-maac-men-s-basketball-tournament)	4th	1957
[MAC](1996-mac-men-s-basketball-tournament)	3rd	1991
[MCC](1996-midwestern-collegiate-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	3rd	1991
[MEAC](1996-meac-men-s-basketball-tournament)	2nd	1989
[Mid-Continent](1996-mid-continent-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	1st
[Missouri Valley](1996-missouri-valley-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	9th	1995
[NAC](1996-north-atlantic-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	4th	1995
[NEC](1996-northeast-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	1st
[Ohio Valley](1996-ohio-valley-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	4th	1987
Pac-10	31st	1995
[Patriot](1996-patriot-league-men-s-basketball-tournament)	2nd	1995
[SEC](1996-sec-men-s-basketball-tournament)	4th	1995
[Southern](1996-southern-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	1st
[Southland](1996-southland-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	7th	1993
[Sun Belt](1996-sun-belt-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	4th	1993
[SWAC](1996-swac-men-s-basketball-tournament)	3rd	1992
[SWC](1996-southwest-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	–	1993
[TAAC](1996-taac-men-s-basketball-tournament)	2nd	1994
[WAC](1996-wac-men-s-basketball-tournament)	7th	1994
[West Coast](1996-west-coast-conference-men-s-basketball-tournament)	2nd	1959

Tournament seeds

Seed	School	Conference	Record
1	Atlantic 10	31–1	Automatic
2	Big East	26–7	At-Large
3	SWC	28–1	Automatic
4	Conference USA	22–7	At-Large
5	Big Ten	21–6	At-Large
6	ACC	20–10	At-Large
7	WAC	28–5	Automatic
8	Missouri Valley	22–7	At-Large
9	Pac-10	19–8	At-Large
10	Big Eight	17–11	At-Large
11	Sun Belt	21–8	Automatic
12	SEC	18–12	At-Large
13	NEC	20–9	Automatic
14	MCC	20–9	Automatic
15	SWAC	22–6	Automatic
16	TAAC	11–18	Automatic

Seed	School	Conference	Record
1	Big East	30–2	Automatic
2	Conference USA	25–4	At-Large
3	ACC	22–11	At-Large
4	Pac-10	23–7	Automatic
5	SEC	22–7	Automatic
6	Big Ten	19–11	At-Large
7	Atlantic 10	19–12	At-Large
8	ACC	18–12	At-Large
9	MAC	24–5	Automatic
10	Big Eight	17–12	At-Large
11	Big East	18–10	At-Large
12	CAA	17–10	Automatic
13	Ivy League	21–6	Automatic
14	Ohio Valley	19–10	Automatic
15	Big South	20–9	Automatic
16	Patriot League	15–14	Automatic

Seed	School	Conference	Record
1	SEC	28–2	At-Large
2	ACC	26–6	Automatic
3	Big East	25–6	At-Large
4	WAC	25–6	At-Large
5	Big Eight	23–8	Automatic
6	Conference USA	20–11	At-Large
7	Big Ten	20–11	At-Large
8	MCC	25–3	At-Large
9	Atlantic 10	22–5	At-Large
10	SWC	20–9	At-Large
11	Missouri Valley	22–7	Automatic
12	Pac-10	17–10	At-Large
13	MAAC	19–10	Automatic
14	West Coast	19–10	Automatic
15	Southland	16–13	Automatic
16	Big West	13–16	Automatic

Seed	School	Conference	Record
1	Big Ten	26–4	Automatic
2	Big Eight	25–5	At-Large
3	Pac-10	24–6	At-Large
4	Big East	24–8	At-Large
5	Conference USA	22–7	At-Large
6	Big Ten	22–8	At-Large
7	ACC	17–12	At-Large
8	SEC	19–9	At-Large
9	ACC	18–10	At-Large
10	West Coast	19–8	At-Large
11	Atlantic 10	21–7	At-Large
12	NAC	26–3	Automatic
13	Big Sky	21–8	Automatic
14	Mid-Continent	23–7	Automatic
15	MEAC	22–7	Automatic
16	Southern	17–12	Automatic

Bracket

East Regional – Atlanta

Regional Final summary

East Regional all-tournament team

Marcus Camby – Massachusetts (MOP)
Allen Iverson – Georgetown
Donta Bright – Massachusetts
Carmelo Travieso – Massachusetts
Jason Sasser – Texas Tech

Midwest Regional – Minneapolis

Michigan's appearance in the 1996 NCAA tournament along with 20 regular season wins were vacated on November 7, 2002, as part of the settlement of the University of Michigan basketball scandal. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with the removal of any Michigan wins from all records.

Regional Final summary

Midwest Regional all-tournament team

Tony Delk – Kentucky (MOP)
Derek Anderson – Kentucky
Anthony Epps – Kentucky
Antoine Walker – Kentucky
Tim Duncan – Wake Forest

Southeast Regional – Lexington, Kentucky

Regional Final summary

Southeast Regional all-tournament team

Dontae' Jones – Mississippi State (MOP)
Darnell Burton – Cincinnati
Danny Fortson – Cincinnati
Erick Dampier – Mississippi State
Darryl Wilson – Mississippi State

West Regional – Denver, Colorado

Regional Final summary

West Regional all-tournament team

John Wallace – Syracuse (MOP)
Pertha Robinson – Georgia
Shandon Anderson – Georgia
Jacque Vaughn – Kansas
Otis Hill – Syracuse

Final Four at East Rutherford, New Jersey

On May 8, 1997, the NCAA Executive Committee voted to negate the Minutemen's 1996 NCAA Tournament record, for Marcus Camby's acceptance of agents' improper gifts. The team's 35–2 season record was reduced to 31–1, and the UMass slot in the Final Four is officially marked as "vacated". The Final Four trophy, banner, and 45% of tournament revenue were returned to the NCAA. Camby reimbursed the school for the lost revenue. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with UMass removing the wins from its own record.

National semifinals

National Championship

Main article: 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game

Final Four all-tournament team

Tony Delk – Kentucky (MOP)
Ron Mercer – Kentucky
Marcus Camby – Massachusetts
Todd Burgan – Syracuse
John Wallace – Syracuse

Announcers

Jim Nantz/Bob Rathbun and Billy Packer First & Second Round at Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Southeast Regional at Lexington, Kentucky; Final Four at East Rutherford, New Jersey
Sean McDonough/Bill Raftery/Michele Tafoya First & Second Round at Orlando, Florida; Midwest Regional at Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tim Ryan and Al McGuire First & Second Round at Providence, Rhode Island; West Regional at Denver, Colorado
Gus Johnson/Quinn Buckner/Andrea Joyce First & Second Round at Indianapolis; East Regional at Atlanta, Georgia
Mike Gorman and George Raveling First & Second Round at Dallas, Texas
Ted Robinson and Larry Farmer First & Second Round at Richmond, Virginia
Tim Brando and Derrek Dickey First & Second Round at Albuquerque, New Mexico
Bill Macatee and Dan Bonner First & Second Round at Tempe, Arizona

Note: During the Midwest Regional Final in Minneapolis; sideline reporter Michele Tafoya temporarily substituted for Sean McDonough in the play-by-play booth when McDonough became ill; calling about 10 minutes of the first half before McDonough felt well enough to resume play-by-play; in the process making her the first woman to call part of an NCAA Men's Division I Tournament game.

References

"1996 NCAA tournament: Bracket, scores, stats, records {{!}} NCAA.com".
(9 May 1997). "UMass and UConn Lose '96 Honors". The New York Times.
(September 7, 1995). "NCAA to give 30 leagues automatic bids". [[Greensboro News & Record]].
"Kentucky vs. Massachusetts (March 30, 1996)".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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