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 Texas Western, national champions | |||||
| Season | 1965–66 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 22 | ||||
| Finals site | Cole Field House, College Park, Maryland | ||||
| Champions | Texas Western Miners (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Kentucky Wildcats (5th title game, 6th Final Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
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| Winning coach | Don Haskins (1st title) | ||||
| MOP | Jerry Chambers (Utah) | ||||
| Attendance | 140,925 | ||||
| Top scorer | Jerry Chambers (Utah) (143 points) | ||||
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The1966 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 22 schools playing insingle-elimination play to determine the national men'sbasketball champion of theNCAAUniversity Division, nowDivision I. The 28th annual edition of the tournament began on March 7, and ended with thechampionship game on March 19, atCole Field House, located on the campus of theUniversity of Maryland inCollege Park. A total of 26 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
Third-rankedTexas Western (nowUTEP), coached byDon Haskins, won the national title with a 72–65 victory in thefinal over top-rankedKentucky, led by head coachAdolph Rupp. Haskins started five black players for the first time in NCAA Championship history.Jerry Chambers ofUtah was named the tournament'sMost Outstanding Player.
The2006 filmGlory Road is based on the story of the 1966 Texas Western team. Their tournament games against fourth-rankedKansas and Kentucky are depicted in the film.
The tournament is also significant in that it was the last tournament until2021, and one of two since the league's official founding, that theIvy League did not send a representative to the tournament. The league champion,Penn, refused to comply with an NCAA edict that all teams must certify a 1.6 GPA for all student-athletes; the Ivy League and the university did not believe that the NCAA had the power to dictate such things, and as such the team was banned. They would have played Syracuse in the East regional at Blacksburg.[1]
This was the only NCAA tournament between 1961 and 1982 which did not includeUCLA.
| Round | Region | Site | Venue | Host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Round | East | Blacksburg, Virginia | Cassell Coliseum | Virginia Tech |
| Mideast | Kent, Ohio | Memorial Gymnasium | Kent State | |
| Midwest & West | Wichita, Kansas | WSU Field House | Wichita State | |
| Regionals | East | Raleigh, North Carolina | Reynolds Coliseum | N.C. State |
| Mideast | Iowa City, Iowa | Iowa Field House | Iowa | |
| Midwest | Lubbock, Texas | Lubbock Municipal Coliseum | Texas Tech | |
| West | Los Angeles, California | Pauley Pavilion | UCLA | |
| Final Four | College Park, Maryland | Cole Field House | Maryland | |
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Duke | 76 | |||||||||||||
| Saint Joseph's | 74 | |||||||||||||
| Saint Joseph's | 65 | |||||||||||||
| Providence | 48 | |||||||||||||
| Duke | 91 | |||||||||||||
| Syracuse | 81 | |||||||||||||
| Syracuse | 94 | |||||||||||||
| Davidson | 78 | |||||||||||||
| Davidson | 96 | |||||||||||||
| Rhode Island | 65 | |||||||||||||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 86 | |||||||||||||
| Dayton | 79 | |||||||||||||
| Dayton | 58 | |||||||||||||
| Miami (OH) | 51 | |||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 84 | |||||||||||||
| Michigan | 77 | |||||||||||||
| Michigan | 80 | |||||||||||||
| Western Kentucky | 79 | |||||||||||||
| Western Kentucky | 105 | |||||||||||||
| Loyola–Chicago | 86 | |||||||||||||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Kansas | 76 | |||||||||||||
| SMU | 70 | |||||||||||||
| Kansas | 80** | |||||||||||||
| Texas Western | 81 | |||||||||||||
| Cincinnati | 76* | |||||||||||||
| Texas Western | 78 | |||||||||||||
| Texas Western | 89 | |||||||||||||
| Oklahoma City | 74 | |||||||||||||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Utah | 83 | |||||||||||||
| Pacific | 74 | |||||||||||||
| Utah | 70 | |||||||||||||
| Oregon State | 64 | |||||||||||||
| Oregon State | 63 | |||||||||||||
| Houston | 60 | |||||||||||||
| Houston | 82 | |||||||||||||
| Colorado State | 76 | |||||||||||||
| National Semifinals | National Championship Game | ||||||||
| E | Duke | 79 | |||||||
| ME | Kentucky | 83 | |||||||
| ME | Kentucky | 65 | |||||||
| MW | Texas Western | 72 | |||||||
| MW | Texas Western | 85 | |||||||
| W | Utah | 78 | |||||||
| National Third Place Game[2] | ||||
| E | Duke | 79 | ||
| W | Utah | 77 | ||
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The Tournament is most remembered for the all-black starting five of Texas Western defeating an all-white starting five for Kentucky in thechampionship game.[3]
Clem Haskins and Dwight Smith became the first black athletes to integrate theWestern Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball program in the Fall of 1963.[4] This put Western Kentucky at the forefront to integrate college basketball in the Southeast.[5] The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers were 2 points away from defeating Michigan and meeting the University of Kentucky Wildcats in the Mideast regional final. A controversial foul called against Smith during a jump ball putCazzie Russell on the free throw line for Michigan, where he scored the tying and winning baskets.[6]