1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament


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 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:
The Final Four consisted of [1995–96 1995–96 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky], making its first appearance in the Final Four since 1993 and eleventh overall, Massachusetts, making its first ever appearance in the Final Four, [1995–96 1995–96 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team|Syracuse Orangemen basketball team|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.
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.
This is also one of only two Final Fours between 1986 and 2001 to include neither Duke nor North Carolina.
As of 2025, this is the earliest tournament from which all four Final Four coaches 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
Regional semifinals and finals
National semifinals and championship

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.
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, UNC Greensboro, Valparaiso, and Western Carolina.

Bracket

East Regional – Atlanta

East Regional all-tournament team

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.

Midwest Regional all-tournament team

Southeast Regional – Lexington, Kentucky

Southeast Regional all-tournament team

West Regional – Denver, Colorado

West Regional all-tournament team

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.

Final Four all-tournament team

Announcers

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.