Today, we begin to look at the evolution of the NCAA Tournament as we know it today.
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In 1974, only conference champions (or tournament champions in the case of conferences who held a tournament to determine their champion). One of those teams was North Carolina State, champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They were 24-1 going into ACC Tournament play with their only loss coming against 7-time defending champion UCLA.
The most notable team that did not make the NCAA field were the #4 Maryland Terrapins. Led by John Lucas, Tom McMillen and Len Elmore, the Terps faced the Wolfpack in the ACC Championship in Greensboro that season. Neither NC State nor Maryland committed a turnover in regulation of the ACC Championship, and the Wolfpack would ultimately win 103-100 in overtime. This was probably Lefty Driesell’s finest team at Maryland, but they would not play in any postseason, not even the NIT.
Back in 1974, only 25 teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament. For the most part, teams were placed in their natural regions (East, Mideast, Midwest and West). This was also the 2nd to last year that featured “3rd-place games” in each region; it was conceivable that a team could go 0-2 in tournament play if it received a bye into the round of 16. There was no seeding of the teams like there are today; seeds were not implemented until 1979.
In the East regional, NC State (led by David Thompson, Tom Burleson and Monte Towe) would defeat Providence and Pittsburgh to earn a return trip to Greensboro. In the Mideast regional, Marquette would defeat the Ohio Bobcats, Vanderbilt and Michigan en route to Al McGuire’s first trip to the Final Four. In the Midwest regional, Kansas would defeat Creighton and the hometown Oral Roberts Eagles to advance to Greensboro. In the West regional, UCLA had the easiest route in defeating Dayton and San Francisco to advance to the Final Four.
When the Final Four commenced in Greensboro, NC State would end UCLA’s reign of terror in an 80-77 double-overtime win. Marquette would defeat Kansas in the other half of the Final Four. On Monday night, UCLA defeated Kansas for 3rd place in the opening game. In the championship game, NC State defeated Marquette 76-64 before a national television audience on NBC for their first national title. David Thompson would be named Most Outstanding Player for the tournament.
At the Division II level, there were 44 teams selected for the tournament. As is the case today, the teams were split into 8 regions and the champions would advance to the “Elite Eight” played in Evansville, Indiana. Much like their big brother in Division I, the regionals in Division II also featured 3rd-place games in each region. The regional champions were Norfolk State, Assumption, Morgan State, Bloomsburg (PA), St. Joseph’s (IN), Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State), New Orleans and UC-Riverside. Assumption College defeated New Orleans for 3rd place overall and Morgan State won the national title with a 67-52 win over Southwest Missouri State.
Click for a video recap of the 1974 NCAA Final Four