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. It began on March 13, 1986, and ended with the championship game on March 31 in Dallas, Texas. A total of 63 games were played.
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. 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 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 Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, and further shortened to 30 seconds starting with the 2016 NCAA Men's Division I 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 to ever make the Final Four with the 2005–06 George Mason Patriots, the 2010–11 VCU Rams, and the 2017–18 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers. 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, 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. Indiana's stunning loss would be part of the climax in the best-selling book A Season On The Brink.
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.

Locations

First & Second Rounds

Regional Sites and Final Four

Dallas became the 22nd host city, and Reunion Arena the 24th host venue, for the Final Four. While the city itself has not hosted another Final Four, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex would host again in 2014 at AT&T Stadium. Three of the four venues used for regional sites, and all four host cities, were Final Four host cities; only The Summit did not host a Final Four. This also marked the first time that domed stadiums were used in the opening rounds, with Syracuse's Carrier Dome and the Metrodome in Minneapolis hosting games. The Metrodome and the Long Beach Arena were the only new venues this year. While the city of Long Beach itself had not hosted games before, it is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area which has hosted multiple times. Since 1986, every tournament has included at least one domed stadium, something that had only happened five times beforehand. LSU's Assembly Center, renamed for NCAA career scoring leader and LSU legend Pete Maravich in 1988, hosted for the third and final time, having previously hosted the Mideast regional semifinals and finals in 1976 and the Mideast regional quarterfinals in 1977.

Teams

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

Midwest Regional – Kansas City, Missouri

Southeast Regional – Atlanta, Georgia

West Regional – Houston, Texas

Final Four – Dallas, Texas

Final Four Officials

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