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1987 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Season	1986–87
Teams	64
Finals site	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana
Champions	Indiana Hoosiers (5th title, 5th title game, 6th Final Four)
Runner-up	Syracuse Orangemen (1st title game, 2nd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Providence Friars (2nd Final Four) UNLV Runnin' Rebels (2nd Final Four)
Winning coach	Bob Knight (3rd title)
MOP	Keith Smart (Indiana)
Attendance	654,744
Top scorers	Steve Alford (Indiana) Rony Seikaly (Syracuse) (138 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1986 1988»

The 1987 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 12, 1987, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A total of 63 games were played.

Indiana, coached by Bob Knight, won the national title with a 74–73 victory in the final game over Syracuse, coached by Jim Boeheim. Keith Smart of Indiana, who hit the game-winner in the final seconds, and intercepted the full court pass at the last second, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The tournament also featured a "Cinderella team" in the Final Four, as Providence College, led by a then-unknown Rick Pitino, made their first Final Four appearance since 1973.

One year after reaching the Final Four as a #11 seed, LSU made another deep run as a #10 seed in the Midwest region. The Tigers ousted #2 seed Temple in the second round and #3 seed DePaul in the Sweet 16 before losing 77–76 to top seeded Indiana in the Elite Eight.

This was the last tournament in which teams were allowed to have home court advantage: national runner-up Syracuse (2E), DePaul (3MW), Arizona (10W) and UAB (11SE) all opened the tournament playing on their home courts. UAB and Arizona each lost in the first round, while DePaul won twice at the Rosemont Horizon. Under rules adopted in 1988, teams cannot play in a facility in which they play four or more regular season games.

The 1987 NCAA men's basketball tournament was also the first tournament to use the three-point shot.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1987 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

• March 12 and 14
  • East Region
    • Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
  • Midwest Region
    • Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Butler University, Midwestern Collegiate Conference)
  • Southeast Region
    • Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum, Birmingham, Alabama (Host: Southeastern Conference)
  • West Region
    • Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah)
• March 13 and 15
  • East Region
    • Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York (Host: Syracuse University)
  • Midwest Region
    • Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois (Host: DePaul University)
  • Southeast Region
    • Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Tech)
  • West Region
    • McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 19 and 21
  • East Regional, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference)
  • Southeast Regional, Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
• March 20 and 22
  • Midwest Regional, Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio (Hosts: University of Cincinnati, Xavier University)
  • West Regional, Kingdome, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

• March 28 and 30
  • Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (Host: Tulane University)

Teams

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

Regional Final Summary

Southeast Regional – Louisville, Kentucky

Regional Final Summary

Midwest Regional – Cincinnati, Ohio

West Regional – Seattle, Washington

Final Four – New Orleans, Louisiana

Game summaries

National Championship

Trivia

• The 59th Academy Awards show was broadcast on the ABC network at the same time as CBS network broadcast of the championship game between Indiana and Syracuse. Oscars show host Chevy Chase quipped later in the evening, "Is the game over yet?" The Oscars show would subsequently be scheduled around the tournament broadcast by moving it later in April for two years.
• Tenth seeded LSU reached the Elite Eight for the second straight year without being favored to win a game. This time, the Tigers did not have the advantage of playing their first- and second-round games on their home court. They had previously reached the Final Four as an 11-seed in 1986, losing to eventual national champion Louisville Cardinals. The Tigers missed a shot at the buzzer and fell short of another trip to the Final Four, losing 77–76 to eventual national champion Indiana. It marked the fifth time in seven tournament appearances between 1979 and 1987 LSU was eliminated by the eventual national champion. The Tigers did not reach the Elite Eight again until 2006.
• Years after the end of the tournament, Alabama, DePaul, Florida, Marshall, and North Carolina State all had their tournament spots vacated by the NCAA retroactively.
• This marked the first time that CBS Sports used "One Shining Moment" during their tournament epilogue. Initially, the song was supposed to have been played after Super Bowl XXI (which was also aired on CBS), but due to time constraints, its debut was delayed until the national championship game. The opening words for the football version were "The ball is kicked"; in the reworked version, the word "kicked" was changed to "tipped" to suit the tournament.
• The three losing coaches in the Final Four all eventually won national titles. Jerry Tarkanian was the first to do so, winning in 1990 with UNLV defeating Duke 103–73. Rick Pitino followed in 1996 with Kentucky, defeating Jim Boeheim's Syracuse in the final. Boeheim would win in 2003 with Syracuse by defeating Kansas.
• There were no teams from the Metro Conference, Big South Conference or Gulf Star Conference in the tournament. The Metro Conference allowed Memphis State, which was serving an NCAA tournament ban that year, to compete in its conference tournament, which it won by defeating the defending 1986 National Champion Louisville Cardinals by the lopsided score 75 to 52 on the Cardinals' home court, Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The NCAA basketball tournament committee said as the conference had committed its automatic berth would go to its conference tournament winner, the conference lost its automatic berth that year, and no other schools received an at-large entry. Most conferences now prohibit teams on postseason bans from participating in conference tournaments as a result, or have provisional automatic bids awarded to the eligible team that advanced the most. The Gulf Star and Big South did not have automatic bids to the tournament because many of the schools in these conferences were transitioning from other divisions.
• During the selection show, there was a spot left open for the #12 seed in the Southeast Region. Kansas, the 5th seed in the region, was due to face either Washington or Houston in the first round. Washington was facing UCLA in the finals of the Pac-10 tournament at the time the selections were announced. UCLA held on to defeat Washington 76–62, putting Houston into the field of 64.
• Florida made the NCAA Tournament for the first time, making it to the Sweet Sixteen. Coincidentally, Providence was led to the Final Four by Billy Donovan, who would go on to coach the Gators to multiple Final Fours and 2 national titles.
• For the second time in 5 years, a rule involving how the clock would run after a made basket played a massive role at the end of a title game. In 1983, N.C. State won the title on a dunk with 1 second left, as the clock ran through the dunk and ran out before Houston could do anything. In 1987, Syracuse players (either unaware of the clock-running post basket or freezing under pressure) let 4 seconds run off the clock after Keith Smart's made jumper; only 1 second was left when a timeout was called, and the Orangemen's last shot was missed to give Indiana the national title. For the 1993–94 season, the rules were permanently changed, so with 1 minute or less in a half or overtime the clock stops when a basket is made and doesn't start again until the ball is inbounded by the other team (regardless of whether they use a timeout first or not).

Announcers

CBS Studio Hosts:

• Jim Nantz and James Brown

ESPN studio hosts:

• John Saunders (daytime), Bob Ley (primetime) and Dick Vitale
• Brent Musburger and Billy Packer – first round (Virginia–Wyoming) at Salt Lake City, Utah; Second Round at Indianapolis, Indiana and Rosemont, Illinois; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey; Midwest Regional Final at Cincinnati, Ohio; Final Four at New Orleans, Louisiana
• Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn – First (Oklahoma–Tulsa) and Second Rounds at Tucson, Arizona; Southeast Regional semifinal (Georgetown–Kansas) and Regional Final at Louisville, Kentucky
• Verne Lundquist and Billy Cunningham – second round at Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia; Midwest Regional semifinal (Duke-Indiana) at Cincinnati, Ohio; West Regional Final at Seattle, Washington
• Tom Hammond and Larry Conley – Southeast Regional semifinal (Alabama–Providence) at Louisville, Kentucky
• Mike Patrick and Jack Givens - Midwest Regional semifinal (LSU-DePaul) at Cincinnati, Ohio
• Tim Brant and Bill Raftery – second round at Syracuse, New York; West Regional semifinals at Seattle, Washington
• Mike Patrick and Larry Conley – first (Alabama–North Carolina A&T, Providence–UAB) and second rounds at Birmingham, Alabama
• Gary Bender and Hubie Brown – second round at Salt Lake City, Utah
• Jim Thacker and Jack Givens – first round (North Carolina–Pennsylvania, TCU–Marshall) at Charlotte, North Carolina
• Frank Herzog and Bucky Waters – first round (Notre Dame–Middle Tennessee State, Navy–Michigan) at Charlotte, North Carolina
• Mike Gorman and Ron Perry – first round (Syracuse–Georgia Southern, Purdue–Northeastern) at Syracuse, New York
• Phil Stone and Bill Raftery – first round (Florida–N.C. State, West Virginia–Western Kentucky) at Syracuse, New York
• John Sanders and Joe Dean – first round (Georgetown–Bucknell) at Atlanta, Georgia
• John Sanders and Dave Gavitt – first round (Kentucky–Ohio State) at Atlanta, Georgia
• Fred White and Joe Dean – first round (Kansas–Houston) at Atlanta, Georgia
• Fred White and Dave Gavitt – first round (Clemson–SW Missouri State) at Atlanta, Georgia
• Bob Rathbun and Dan Bonner – first round (Illinois–Austin Peay, New Orleans–Brigham Young) at Birmingham, Alabama
• Tom Hammond and Jim Gibbons – first round (Indiana–Fairfield, Missouri–Xavier) at Indianapolis, Indiana
• Ralph Hacker and John Laskowski – first round (Duke–Texas A&M, Auburn–San Diego) at Indianapolis, Indiana
• Mick Hubert and Gary Thompson – first round (Temple–Southern, DePaul–Louisiana Tech) at Rosemont, Illinois
• Wayne Larrivee and Bob Ortegel – first round (St. John's–Wichita State, Georgia Tech–LSU) at Rosemont, Illinois
• Frank Fallon and Lynn Shackelford – first round (UNLV–Idaho State) at Salt Lake City, Utah
• Bob Carpenter and Irv Brown – first round (UCLA–Central Michigan, Georgia–Kansas State) at Salt Lake City, Utah
• Pete Solomon and Bruce Larson – first round (Iowa–Santa Clara) at Tucson, Arizona
• Ted Robinson and Dan Belluomini – first round (Pittsburgh–Marist, UTEP–Arizona) at Tucson, Arizona

See also

• 1987 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1987 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 1987 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 1987 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 1987 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 1987 National Invitation Tournament
• 1987 National Women's Invitation Tournament
• 1987 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1987 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament

References

1. "2015 MEN'S FINAL FOUR RECORDS BOOK" (PDF). Retrieved June 5, 2024.

• NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1986–87 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
• Basketball competitions in New Orleans
• March 1987 sports events in the United States
• 1987 in sports in Louisiana
• 1980s in New Orleans
• College basketball tournaments in Louisiana