1982 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

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1982 NCAA Division I
Men's Basketball Tournament

Season	1981–82
Teams	48
Finals site	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana
Champions	North Carolina Tar Heels (2nd title, 6th title game, 9th Final Four)
Runner-up	Georgetown Hoyas (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Houston Cougars (3rd Final Four) Louisville Cardinals (5th Final Four)
Winning coach	Dean Smith (1st title)
MOP	James Worthy (North Carolina)
Attendance	427,251
Top scorer	Rob Williams Houston (88 points)
NCAA Division I Men's Tournaments «1981 1983»

The 1982 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 48 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1982, and ended with the championship game on March 29 in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. A total of 47 games were played.

North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith, won the national title with a 63–62 victory in the final game over Georgetown, coached by John Thompson. James Worthy of North Carolina was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

This Tournament was the first to eliminate the national third place game, which had been held every year since the 1946 tournament. It was also the first tournament to be televised by CBS after it acquired the broadcasting rights from NBC. Gary Bender and Billy Packer (also from NBC Sports) called the Final Four and National Championship games. In addition, it was the first tournament to include the word "Men's" in its official title, as the NCAA began sponsoring national championships in women's sports (including basketball) in the 1981–82 school year.

This was the last NCAA Tournament to grant automatic bids to the winners of ECAC regional tournaments for Northeastern Division I independents organized by the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a loose sports federation of Northeastern colleges and universities. The practice had begun with the 1975 Tournament to ensure that Northeastern independents would not be excluded, but was discontinued when all remaining Northeastern independents formed new conferences or joined existing ones after this season.^[1]

For the first time since 1966, the tournament field did not include UCLA.

Championship game[]

The 1982 NCAA Division I Men's Championship Game was between the Georgetown Hoyas and the North Carolina Tar Heels. Both teams had Hall of Fame coaches, Dean Smith for the Tar Heels and John Thompson for the Hoyas. As for players, five future NBA All-Stars were included between the two sides—the Hoyas featured center Patrick Ewing and Eric "Sleepy" Floyd, while the Tar Heels answered with forward James Worthy, forward and center Sam Perkins, and young guard Michael Jordan. This also marked the only NCAA championship game to feature three of the NBA 50 Greatest Players (Jordan, Ewing and Worthy) chosen in 1996 on the occasion of the NBA's 50th anniversary.

The championship matchup was tightly contested throughout, with no team ever leading by more than a few points, and 15 lead changes in the game overall. With slightly over a minute to go, Floyd scored to put Georgetown on top, 62–61. During the ensuing timeout, Smith predicted that Georgetown would heavily guard Worthy and Perkins and drew up a play that would work the ball around to Jordan and then met Jordan's eyes and told him to not be afraid to shoot if he was open. When the ball was worked around, Jimmy Black found Jordan on the left wing, and he rose and hit a jumper with 17 seconds to go to put Carolina back on top, 63–62. Georgetown did not call timeout but immediately pushed the ball up the court. However, guard Fred Brown mistook Carolina's James Worthy for a teammate and passed the ball right to his opponent. Worthy was fouled by Eric Smith with two seconds to go. He missed both free throws, but with no timeouts left (Georgetown coach John Thompson, in a questionable move, used his last one before Worthy's free throws rather than save it to set up a final play) the Hoyas' last desperation shot fell short. On the other hand, Dean Smith's decision to draw up a play for Jordan, rather than Worthy or Perkins, is often regarded as a brilliant coaching move.

Aside from the dramatic finish in the final minute, the 1982 NCAA championship game is today primarily remembered as being the stage on which several eventual basketball legends were introduced to a national audience, particularly North Carolina's Jordan and Georgetown's Ewing, both 19-year-old freshmen at the time of this game. Both had outstanding games - Jordan with 16 points including the game-winner, and Ewing with 23 points and 10 rebounds (but also a few goaltends on blocks that John Thompson supported for intimidation purposes). Jordan and Ewing would go on to have more memorable clashes in the National Basketball Association with the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks respectively, and both would be inducted into the Hall of Fame. For Jordan's part, his game-winner is often seen as the launching point of his career - the moment that gave him the confidence to become what many believe to be the greatest basketball player of all time, in no small part due to his clutch performance. Jordan has said multiple times that before he would take game-winning shots with the Bulls, he would sometimes think back to his shot in the 1982 game that propelled North Carolina past Georgetown.

The real star of the 1982 title game, and a third player in this game who would eventually be inducted to the pro basketball Hall of Fame, was Carolina's James Worthy. Worthy scored a game-high 28 points, showing the blazing speed and some of the same authoritative drives to the basket that later became familiar sights during his career with the powerful Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. Beyond these three legendary players, two other outstanding pro players of the 1980s and early 90s appeared in this 1982 game: Georgetown's Sleepy Floyd, who went on to an All-Star career in the NBA (including a still-standing record for most points in a quarter and in a half for a playoff game) and Carolina's Sam Perkins, who distinguished himself over a durable NBA career lasting 17 seasons.

Schedule and venues[]

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1982 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

• March 11 and 13
  • East Region
    • Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Mideast Region
    • Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tennessee
  • Midwest Region
    • Mabee Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
  • West Region
    • Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, Logan, Utah
• March 12 and 14
  • East Region
    • Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
  • Mideast Region
    • Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Midwest Region
    • Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas
  • West Region
    • Beasley Coliseum, Pullman, Washington

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 18 and 20
  • Mideast Regional, BJCC Coliseum, Birmingham, Alabama
  • West Regional, Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
• March 19 and 21
  • East Regional, Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Midwest Regional, The Checkerdome, St. Louis, Missouri

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

• March 27 and 29
  • Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

The 1982 Tournament marked the first of five to end at the Superdome, the second domed stadium after the Astrodome and twentieth venue overall to host a Final Four. The tournament was the first to feature Birmingham and Uniondale, as well as the first for Reunion Arena after four previous appearances for SMU's Moody Coliseum in Dallas. The games played at Uniondale were the first in the New York Metropolitan Area since 1974.

Teams[]

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	1	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Champion	1 Georgetown	W 63–62
East	2	Memphis State (Vacated)	Dana Kirk	Sweet Sixteen	3 Villanova	L 70–66
East	3	Villanova	Rollie Massimino	Regional Runner-up	1 North Carolina	L 70–60
East	4	Alabama	Wimp Sanderson	Sweet Sixteen	1 North Carolina	L 74–69
East	5	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	Round of 32	4 Alabama	L 69–68
East	6	Saint Joseph's	Jim Boyle	Round of 48	11 Northeastern	L 63–62
East	7	Wake Forest	Carl Tacy	Round of 32	2 Memphis State	L 56–55
East	8	Ohio State	Eldon Miller	Round of 48	9 James Madison	L 55–48
East	9	James Madison	Lou Campanelli	Round of 32	1 North Carolina	L 52–50
East	10	Old Dominion	Paul Webb	Round of 48	7 Wake Forest	L 74–57
East	11	Northeastern	Jim Calhoun	Round of 32	3 Villanova	L 76–72
East	12	Penn	Bob Weinhauer	Round of 48	5 St. John's	L 66–56
Mideast
Mideast	1	Virginia	Terry Holland	Sweet Sixteen	4 UAB	L 68–66
Mideast	2	Minnesota	Jim Dutcher	Sweet Sixteen	3 Louisville	L 67–61
Mideast	3	Louisville	Denny Crum	National Semifinals	1 Georgetown	L 50–46
Mideast	4	UAB	Gene Bartow	Regional Runner-up	3 Louisville	L 75–68
Mideast	5	Indiana	Bob Knight	Round of 32	4 UAB	L 80–70
Mideast	6	Kentucky	Joe B. Hall	Round of 48	11 Middle Tennessee State	L 50–44
Mideast	7	NC State	Jim Valvano	Round of 48	10 Chattanooga	L 58–51
Mideast	8	Southwestern Louisiana	Bobby Paschal	Round of 48	9 Tennessee	L 61–57
Mideast	9	Tennessee	Don DeVoe	Round of 32	1 Virginia	L 54–51
Mideast	10	Chattanooga	Murray Arnold	Round of 32	2 Minnesota	L 62–61
Mideast	11	Middle Tennessee State		Round of 32	3 Louisville	L 81–56
Mideast	12	Robert Morris	Matthew Furjanic Jr.	Round of 48	5 Indiana	L 94–62
Midwest
Midwest	1	DePaul	Ray Meyer	Round of 32	8 Boston College	L 82–75
Midwest	2	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Sweet Sixteen	6 Houston	L 79–78
Midwest	3	Tulsa	Nolan Richardson	Round of 32	6 Houston	L 78–74
Midwest	4	Arkansas	Eddie Sutton	Round of 32	5 Kansas State	L 65–64
Midwest	5	Kansas State	Jack Hartman	Sweet Sixteen	8 Boston College	L 69–65
Midwest	6	Houston	Guy Lewis	National Semifinals	1 North Carolina	L 68–63
Midwest	7	Marquette	Hank Raymonds	Round of 32	2 Missouri	L 73–69
Midwest	8	Boston College	Tom Davis	Regional Runner-up	6 Houston	L 99–92
Midwest	9	San Francisco		Round of 48	8 Boston College	L 70–66
Midwest	10	Evansville	Dick Walters	Round of 48	7 Marquette	L 67–62
Midwest	11	Alcorn State	Davey Whitney	Round of 48	6 Houston	L 94–84
Midwest	12	Northern Illinois		Round of 48	5 Kansas State	L 77–68
West
West	1	Georgetown	John Thompson	Runner Up	1 North Carolina	L 63–62
West	2	Oregon State	Ralph Miller	Regional Runner-up	1 Georgetown	L 69–45
West	3	Idaho	Don Monson	Sweet Sixteen	2 Oregon State	L 60–42
West	4	Fresno State	Boyd Grant	Sweet Sixteen	1 Georgetown	L 58–40
West	5	West Virginia	Gale Catlett	Round of 32	4 Fresno State	L 50–46
West	6	Iowa	Lute Olson	Round of 32	3 Idaho	L 69–67
West	7	Pepperdine	Jim Harrick	Round of 32	2 Oregon State	L 70–51
West	8	Wyoming	Jim Brandenburg	Round of 32	1 Georgetown	L 51–43
West	9	USC	Stan Morrison	Round of 48	8 Wyoming	L 61–58
West	10	Pittsburgh	Roy Chipman	Round of 48	7 Pepperdine	L 99–88
West	11	Northeast Louisiana	Mike Vining	Round of 48	6 Iowa	L 70–63
West	12	North Carolina A&T	Don Corbett	Round of 48	5 West Virginia	L 102–72

Bracket[]

* – Denotes overtime period

East region[]

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	8	Ohio State	48
	9	James Madison	55
						9	James Madison	50
						1	North Carolina	52
											1	North Carolina	74
											4	Alabama	69
						4	Alabama	69
						5	St. John's	68
	5	St. John's	66
	12	Penn	56
																1	North Carolina	70
																3	Villanova	60
	6	Saint Joseph's	62
	11	Northeastern	63
						11	Northeastern	72***
						3	Villanova	76
											3	Villanova	70
											2	Memphis State	66
						2	Memphis State	56
						7	Wake Forest	55
	7	Wake Forest	74
	10	Old Dominion	57

Midwest region[]

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	8	Boston College	70
	9	San Francisco	66
						8	Boston College	82
						1	DePaul	75
											8	Boston College	69
											5	Kansas State	65
						4	Arkansas	64
						5	Kansas State	65
	5	Kansas State	77
	12	Northern Illinois	68
																8	Boston College	92
																6	Houston	99
	6	Houston	94
	11	Alcorn State	84
						6	Houston	78
						3	Tulsa	74
											6	Houston	79
											2	Missouri	78
						2	Missouri	73
						7	Marquette	69
	7	Marquette	67
	10	Evansville	62

Mideast region[]

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	8	Southwest Louisiana	57
	9	Tennessee	61
						9	Tennessee	51
						1	Virginia	54
											1	Virginia	66
											4	UAB	68
						4	UAB	80
						5	Indiana	70
	5	Indiana	94
	12	Robert Morris	62
																4	UAB	68
																3	Louisville	75
	6	Kentucky	44
	11	Middle Tennessee State	50
						11	Middle Tennessee State	56
						3	Louisville	81
											3	Louisville	67
											2	Minnesota	61
						2	Minnesota	62
						10	Chattanooga	61
	7	NC State	51
	10	Chattanooga	58

West region[]

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	8	Wyoming	61
	9	USC	58
						8	Wyoming	43
						1	Georgetown	51
											1	Georgetown	58
											4	Fresno State	40
						4	Fresno State	50
						5	West Virginia	46
	5	West Virginia	102
	12	North Carolina A&T	72
																1	Georgetown	69
																2	Oregon State	45
	6	Iowa	70
	11	Northeast Louisiana	63
						6	Iowa	67*
						3	Idaho	69
											3	Idaho	42
											2	Oregon State	60
						2	Oregon State	70
						7	Pepperdine	51
	7	Pepperdine	99
	10	Pittsburgh	88

Final Four[]

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	E1	North Carolina	68
	MW6	Houston	63
						E1	North Carolina	63
						W1	Georgetown	62
	ME3	Louisville	46
	W1	Georgetown	50

Announcers[]

• Gary Bender and Billy Packer – First Round at Logan, Utah (Wyoming–USC); Second Round at Logan, Utah (Georgetown–Wyoming, Fresno State–West Virginia); Second Round at Indianapolis, Indiana (Virginia–Tennessee, Minnesota–Chattanooga); East Regional Semifinal (North Carolina–Alabama) at Raleigh, North Carolina; East Regional Final at Raleigh, North Carolina; Mideast Regional Final at Birmingham, Alabama; Final Four at New Orleans, Louisiana
• Frank Glieber and – Second Round at Nashville, Tennessee (Louisville–Middle Tennessee State, UAB–Indiana); Second Round at Dallas, Texas (DePaul–Boston College, Arkansas–Kansas State); West Regional Semifinal (Georgetown–Fresno State) at Provo, Utah; Midwest Regional Final at St. Louis, Missouri; West Regional Final at Provo, Utah
• and Bill Raftery – East Regional Semifinal (Villanova–Memphis State) at Raleigh, North Carolina
• Tom Hammond and Larry Conley – Mideast Regional Semifinals at Birmingham, Alabama
• Fred White and Gary Thompson – Midwest Regional Semifinals at St. Louis, Missouri
• and Irv Brown – West Regional Semifinal (Oregon State–Idaho) at Provo, Utah
• and Bill Foster – First Round at Charlotte, North Carolina (Ohio State–James Madison, Wake Forest–Old Dominion); Second Round at Charlotte, North Carolina (North Carolina–James Madison, Memphis State–Wake Forest); Second Round at Uniondale, New York (Villanova–Northeastern, Alabama–St. John's)
• Verne Lundquist and Dale Brown – Second Round at Tulsa, Oklahoma (Tulsa–Houston, Missouri–Marquette)
• Irv Brown and George Raveling – Second Round at Pullman, Washington (Idaho–Iowa, Oregon State–Pepperdine)
• Tim Ryan and Irv Brown – First Round at Pullman, Washington (Iowa–Northeast Louisiana)

See also[]

• 1982 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1982 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1982 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
• 1982 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
• 1982 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament
• 1982 National Invitation Tournament
• 1982 National Women's Invitation Tournament
• 1982 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1982 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament

References[]