1986 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 1986 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 48th annual edition of the tournament began on March 13, 1986, and ended with the championship game on March 31, at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. A total of 63 games were played.

1986 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Season	1985–86
Teams	64
Finals site	Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas
Champions	Louisville Cardinals (2nd title, 2nd title game, 7th Final Four)
Runner-up	Duke Blue Devils (3rd title game, 5th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Kansas Jayhawks (7th Final Four) LSU Tigers (3rd Final Four)
Winning coach	Denny Crum (2nd title)
MOP	Pervis Ellison (Louisville)
Attendance	499,704
Top scorer	Johnny Dawkins (Duke) (153 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1985 1987»

Reunion Arena in Dallas hosted the semi-finals and championship game.

Louisville, coached by Denny Crum, won the national title with a 72–69 victory in the final game over Duke, coached by Mike Krzyzewski. Pervis Ellison of Louisville was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.^[1] Louisville became the first team from outside a power conference to win the championship since the expansion to 64 teams, and remains one of only two teams to do so (the other team was UNLV in 1990).

The 1986 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament was the first tournament to use a shot clock limiting the amount of time for any one offensive possession by a team prior to taking a shot at the basket. Beginning with the 1986 tournament, the shot clock was set at 45 seconds, which it would remain until being shortened to 35 seconds beginning in the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, and further shortened to 30 seconds (the same as NCAA women's basketball) starting with the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The 1986 tournament was also the last to not feature the three-point shot.

LSU's 1985–86 team is tied for the lowest-seeded team (#11) to ever make the Final Four with the 2005–06 George Mason Patriots, the 2010–11 VCU Rams, the 2017–18 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers, the 2020–21 UCLA Bruins, and the 2023-24 NC State Wolfpack. As of 2018, they are the only team in tournament history to beat the top 3 seeds from their region. LSU began its run to the Final Four by winning two games on its home court, the LSU Assembly Center, leading to a change two years later which prohibited teams from playing NCAA tournament games on a court which they have played four or more games in the regular season. Cleveland State University became the first #14 seed to reach the Sweet Sixteen, losing to their fellow underdog, Navy, by a single point. This was also the first year in which two #14 seeds reached the second round in the same year, as Arkansas-Little Rock beat #3-seed Notre Dame; however, they lost their second-round game in overtime. Both feats have only occurred one other time. Chattanooga reached the Sweet Sixteen as a 14-seed in 1997, and Old Dominion and Weber State both reached the second round as 14-seeds in 1995.

Every regional final featured a #1 or #2 seed playing a team seeded #6 or lower. The lone #1 seed to not reach the Elite Eight, St. John's (West), was knocked out in the second round by #8 Auburn, which lost to #2 Louisville in the regional final.

It can be argued that these upsets by the 14-seeds launched the NCAA tournament's reputation for having unknown teams surprise well-known basketball powers, and both happened on the same day.^{[citation needed]} Indiana's stunning loss to Cleveland State would be part of the climax in the best-selling book A Season On The Brink.^[2]

Another story of the tournament was when Navy reached the Elite 8 thanks to stunning performances by David Robinson. This tournament had no Pac 10 teams advance beyond the round of 64. This did not occur again until 2018.

Schedule and venues

Baton Rouge

Dayton

Charlotte

Syracuse

Greensboro

Minneapolis

Long Beach

Ogden

1986 first and second rounds

Houston

Atlanta

Kansas City

E. Rutherford

Dallas

1986 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1986 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

• March 13 and 15
  • East Region
    • Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference)
  • Midwest Region
    • University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
  • Southeast Region
    • LSU Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana State University)
  • West Region
    • Dee Events Center, Ogden, Utah (Host: Weber State University)
• March 14 and 16
  • East Region
    • Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York (Host: Syracuse University)
  • Midwest Region
    • Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)
  • Southeast Region
    • Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
  • West Region
    • Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California (Host: Long Beach State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 20 and 22
  • Southeast Regional, Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Tech)
  • West Regional, The Summit, Houston, Texas (Hosts: University of Houston, Rice University)
• March 21 and 23
  • East Regional, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference)
  • Midwest Regional, Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 8 Conference)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

• March 29 and 31
  • Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas (Host: Southwest Conference)

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Conference	Finished	Final opponent	Score
West
West	1	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	Big East	Round of 32	8 Auburn	L 81–65
West	2	Louisville	Denny Crum	Metro	Champion	1 Duke	W 72–69
West	3	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Atlantic Coast	Sweet Sixteen	2 Louisville	L 94–79
West	4	UNLV	Jerry Tarkanian	Pacific Coast	Sweet Sixteen	8 Auburn	L 70–63
West	5	Maryland	Lefty Driesell	Atlantic Coast	Round of 32	4 UNLV	L 70–64
West	6	UAB	Gene Bartow	Sun Belt	Round of 32	3 North Carolina	L 77–59
West	7	Bradley	Dick Versace	Missouri Valley	Round of 32	2 Louisville	L 82–68
West	8	Auburn	Sonny Smith	Southeastern	Regional Runner-up	2 Louisville	L 84–76
West	9	Arizona	Lute Olson	Pacific-10	Round of 64	8 Auburn	L 73–63
West	10	UTEP	Don Haskins	Western Athletic	Round of 64	7 Bradley	L 83–65
West	11	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Big Eight	Round of 64	6 UAB	L 66–64
West	12	Pepperdine	Jim Harrick	West Coast	Round of 64	5 Maryland	L 69–64
West	13	Northeast Louisiana	Mike Vining	Southland	Round of 64	4 UNLV	L 74–51
West	14	Utah	Lynn Archibald	Western Athletic	Round of 64	3 North Carolina	L 84–72
West	15	Drexel	Eddie Burke	East Coast	Round of 64	2 Louisville	L 93–73
West	16	Montana State	Stu Starner	Big Sky	Round of 64	1 St. John's	L 83–74
Midwest
Midwest	1	Kansas	Larry Brown	Big Eight	National semifinals	1 Duke	L 71–67
Midwest	2	Michigan	Bill Frieder	Big Ten	Round of 32	7 Iowa State	L 72–69
Midwest	3	Notre Dame	Digger Phelps	Independent	Round of 64	14 Arkansas–Little Rock	L 90–83
Midwest	4	Georgetown	John Thompson	Big East	Round of 32	5 Michigan State	L 80–68
Midwest	5	Michigan State	Jud Heathcote	Big Ten	Sweet Sixteen	1 Kansas	L 96–86
Midwest	6	NC State	Jim Valvano	Atlantic Coast	Regional Runner-up	1 Kansas	L 75–67
Midwest	7	Iowa State	Johnny Orr	Big Eight	Sweet Sixteen	6 NC State	L 70–66
Midwest	8	Jacksonville	Bob Wenzel	Sun Belt	Round of 64	9 Temple	L 61–50
Midwest	9	Temple	John Chaney	Atlantic 10	Round of 32	1 Kansas	L 65–43
Midwest	10	Miami (OH)	Jerry Peirson	Mid-American	Round of 64	7 Iowa State	L 81–79
Midwest	11	Iowa	George Raveling	Big Ten	Round of 64	6 NC State	L 66–64
Midwest	12	Washington	Andy Russo	Pacific-10	Round of 64	5 Michigan State	L 72–70
Midwest	13	Texas Tech	Gerald Myers	Southwest	Round of 64	4 Georgetown	L 70–64
Midwest	14	Arkansas–Little Rock	Mike Newell	Trans America	Round of 32	6 NC State	L 80–66
Midwest	15	Akron	Bob Huggins	Ohio Valley	Round of 64	2 Michigan	L 70–64
Midwest	16	North Carolina A&T	Don Corbett	Mid-Eastern	Round of 64	1 Kansas	L 71–46
Southeast
Southeast	1	Kentucky	Eddie Sutton	Southeastern	Regional Runner-up	11 LSU	L 59–57
Southeast	2	Georgia Tech	Bobby Cremins	Atlantic Coast	Sweet Sixteen	11 LSU	L 70–64
Southeast	3	Memphis State (Vacated)	Dana Kirk	Metro	Round of 32	11 LSU	L 83–81
Southeast	4	Illinois	Lou Henson	Big Ten	Round of 32	5 Alabama	L 58–56
Southeast	5	Alabama	Wimp Sanderson	Southeastern	Sweet Sixteen	1 Kentucky	L 68–63
Southeast	6	Purdue	Gene Keady	Big Ten	Round of 64	11 LSU	L 94–87
Southeast	7	Virginia Tech	Charles Moir	Metro	Round of 64	10 Villanova	L 71–62
Southeast	8	Western Kentucky	Clem Haskins	Sun Belt	Round of 32	1 Kentucky	L 71–64
Southeast	9	Nebraska	Moe Iba	Big Eight	Round of 64	8 Western Kentucky	L 67–59
Southeast	10	Villanova	Rollie Massimino	Big East	Round of 32	2 Georgia Tech	L 66–61
Southeast	11	LSU	Dale Brown	Southeastern	National semifinals	2 Louisville	L 88–77
Southeast	12	Xavier	Pete Gillen	Midwestern	Round of 64	5 Alabama	L 97–80
Southeast	13	Fairfield	Mitch Buonaguro	Metro Atlantic	Round of 64	4 Illinois	L 75–51
Southeast	14	Ball State	Al Brown	Mid-American	Round of 64	3 Memphis State	L 95–63
Southeast	15	Marist	Matt Furjanic	ECAC Metro	Round of 64	2 Georgia Tech	L 68–53
Southeast	16	Davidson	Bobby Hussey	Southern	Round of 64	1 Kentucky	L 75–55
East
East	1	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Atlantic Coast	Runner Up	2 Louisville	L 72–69
East	2	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Big East	Round of 32	7 Navy	L 97–85
East	3	Indiana	Bob Knight	Big Ten	Round of 64	14 Cleveland State	L 83–79
East	4	Oklahoma	Billy Tubbs	Big Eight	Round of 32	12 DePaul	L 74–69
East	5	Virginia	Terry Holland	Atlantic Coast	Round of 64	12 DePaul	L 72–68
East	6	Saint Joseph's	Jim Boyle	Atlantic 10	Round of 32	14 Cleveland State	L 75–69
East	7	Navy	Paul Evans	Colonial	Regional Runner-up	1 Duke	L 71–50
East	8	Old Dominion	Tom Young	Sun Belt	Round of 32	1 Duke	L 89–61
East	9	West Virginia	Gale Catlett	Atlantic 10	Round of 64	8 Old Dominion	L 72–64
East	10	Tulsa	J. D. Barnett	Missouri Valley	Round of 64	7 Navy	L 87–68
East	11	Richmond	Dick Tarrant	Colonial	Round of 64	6 Saint Joseph's	L 60–59
East	12	DePaul	Joey Meyer	Independent	Sweet Sixteen	1 Duke	L 74–67
East	13	Northeastern	Jim Calhoun	ECAC North	Round of 64	4 Oklahoma	L 80–74
East	14	Cleveland State	Kevin Mackey	Mid-Continent	Sweet Sixteen	7 Navy	L 71–70
East	15	Brown	Mike Cingiser	Ivy League	Round of 64	2 Syracuse	L 101–52
East	16	Mississippi Valley State	Lafayette Stribling	Southwest Athletic	Round of 64	1 Duke	L 85–78

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

	First round					Quarter-finals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Duke	85
	16	Mississippi Valley State	78
						1	Duke	89
	Greensboro
						8	Old Dominion	61
	8	Old Dominion	72
	9	West Virginia	64
											1	Duke	74
											12	DePaul	67
	5	Virginia	68
	12	DePaul	72
						12	DePaul	74
	Greensboro
						4	Oklahoma	69
	4	Oklahoma	80
	13	Northeastern	74
																1	Duke	71
																7	Navy	50
	6	Saint Joseph's	60
	11	Richmond	59
						6	Saint Joseph's	69
	Syracuse
						14	Cleveland State	75
	3	Indiana	79
	14	Cleveland State	83
											14	Cleveland State	70
											7	Navy	71
	7	Navy	87
	10	Tulsa	68
						7	Navy	97
	Syracuse
						2	Syracuse	85
	2	Syracuse	101
	15	Brown	52

Midwest Regional – Kansas City, Missouri

	First round					Quarter-finals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Kansas	71
	16	North Carolina A&T	46
						1	Kansas	65
	Dayton
						9	Temple	43
	8	Jacksonville	50
	9	Temple	61OT
											1	Kansas	96OT
											5	Michigan State	86
	5	Michigan State	72
	12	Washington	70
						5	Michigan State	80
	Dayton
						4	Georgetown	68
	4	Georgetown	70
	13	Texas Tech	64
																1	Kansas	75
																6	NC State	67
	6	NC State	66
	11	Iowa	64
						6	NC State	80OT
	Minneapolis
						14	Arkansas–Little Rock	66
	3	Notre Dame	83
	14	Arkansas–Little Rock	90
											6	NC State	70
											7	Iowa State	66
	7	Iowa State	81OT
	10	Miami (OH)	79
						7	Iowa State	72
	Minneapolis
						2	Michigan	69
	2	Michigan	70
	15	Akron	64

Southeast Regional – Atlanta, Georgia

	First round					Quarter-finals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Kentucky	75
	16	Davidson	55
						1	Kentucky	71
	Charlotte
						8	Western Kentucky	64
	8	Western Kentucky	67
	9	Nebraska	59
											1	Kentucky	68
											5	Alabama	63
	5	Alabama	97
	12	Xavier	80
						5	Alabama	58
	Charlotte
						4	Illinois	56
	4	Illinois	75
	13	Fairfield	51
																1	Kentucky	57
																11	LSU	59
	6	Purdue	87
	11	LSU	942OT
						11	LSU	83
	Baton Rouge
						3	Memphis State	81
	3	Memphis State	95
	14	Ball State	63
											11	LSU	70
											2	Georgia Tech	64
	7	Virginia Tech	62
	10	Villanova	71
						10	Villanova	61
	Baton Rouge
						2	Georgia Tech	66
	2	Georgia Tech	68
	15	Marist	53

Memphis State was forced to vacate its NCAA tournament appearance after a massive gambling scandal and a criminal investigation into head coach Dana Kirk. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Memphis removing the wins from its own record.^[3][4]

West Regional – Houston, Texas

	First round					Quarter-finals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	St. John's	83
	16	Montana State	74
						1	St. John's	65
	Long Beach
						8	Auburn	81
	8	Auburn	73
	9	Arizona	63
											8	Auburn	70
											4	UNLV	63
	5	Maryland	69
	12	Pepperdine	64
						5	Maryland	64
	Long Beach
						4	UNLV	70
	4	UNLV	74
	13	Northeast Louisiana	51
																8	Auburn	76
																2	Louisville	84
	6	UAB	66
	11	Missouri	64
						6	UAB	59
	Ogden
						3	North Carolina	77
	3	North Carolina	84
	14	Utah	72
											3	North Carolina	79
											2	Louisville	94
	7	Bradley	83
	10	UTEP	65
						7	Bradley	68
	Ogden
						2	Louisville	82
	2	Louisville	93
	15	Drexel	73

Final Four – Dallas, Texas

	National semifinals					National Championship Game
	E1	Duke	71
	MW1	Kansas	67
						E1	Duke	69
						W2	Louisville	72
	SE11	LSU	77
	W2	Louisville	88

Final Four Officials

• Joe Forte (LSU-Louisville)
• Dick Paparo (LSU-Louisville)
• Lenny Wirtz (LSU-Louisville)
• Paul Galvan (Kansas-Duke)
• John Clougherty (Kansas-Duke)
• Tom Fincken (Kansas-Duke)
• Hank Nichols (Louisville-Duke)
• Pete Pavia (Louisville-Duke)
• Don Rutledge (Louisville-Duke)

The 1986 Final Four was the first in which the NCAA assigned a separate three-man crew for the championship game. Previously, three of the six officials from the semifinals were melded into a crew for the championship.

The championship game was the last for future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Hank Nichols, who became the NCAA's national supervisor of officials. The Louisville-Duke matchup was Nichols' sixth championship game assignment.

Announcers

Studio Hosts:

CBS: Brent Musburger (First and Second Rounds), and Jim Nantz (Regional Semifinals to National Championship Game)

ESPN: Bob Ley and Dick Vitale

• Brent Musburger and Billy Packer – West Regional semifinal (Louisville–North Carolina) and Regional Final at Houston, Texas; Final Four at Dallas, Texas
• Gary Bender and Doug Collins – second round at Syracuse, New York and Dayton, Ohio; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Dick Stockton and Larry Conley – Southeast Regional at Atlanta, Georgia
• Verne Lundquist and James Brown – Midwest Regional semifinal (Kansas–Michigan State) and Regional Final at Kansas City, Missouri
• Fred White and Gary Thompson – Midwest Regional semifinal (N.C. State–Iowa State) at Kansas City, Missouri
• Tom Hammond and Irv Brown – West Regional semifinal (UNLV–Auburn) at Houston, Texas
• Jim Nantz and Bill Raftery – second round at Greensboro, North Carolina
• Mike Patrick and James Brown – second round at Charlotte, North Carolina
• Dick Stockton and Billy Packer – first round (North Carolina–Utah) at Ogden, Utah; Second Round at Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Tim Ryan and Lynn Shackleford – second round at Ogden, Utah
• Verne Lundquist and Larry Conley – first round (Auburn–Arizona) and Second Round (St. John's–Auburn) at Long Beach, California
• Mike Walden and Larry Conley – first round (Maryland–Pepperdine) and Second Round (UNLV–Maryland) at Long Beach, California
• Bob Rathbun and Bucky Waters – first round (Oklahoma–Northeastern) at Greensboro, North Carolina
• Ralph Hacker and Dan Bonner – first round (Indiana–Cleveland State, Navy–Tulsa) at Syracuse, New York
• Mike Patrick and Irv Brown – first round (Illinois–Fairfield, Kentucky–Davidson) at Charlotte, North Carolina
• Jim Thacker and Dave Gavitt – first round (Western Kentucky–Nebraska) at Charlotte, North Carolina
• Tom Hammond and Billy Cunningham – first round (Georgetown–Texas Tech) at Dayton, Ohio
• Frank Herzog and Gary Thompson – first round (N.C. State–Iowa) at Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Frank Fallon and Bob Ortegel – first round (Bradley–UTEP) at Ogden, Utah
• Bob Carpenter and Joe Dean – first round (LSU-Purdue) at Baton Rouge, Louisiana

See also

• 1986 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1986 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 1986 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 1986 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 1986 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 1986 National Invitation Tournament
• 1986 National Women's Invitation Tournament
• 1986 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1986 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament