1996 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Season	1995–96
Teams	64
Finals site	Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Champions	Kentucky Wildcats (6th title, 8th title game, 11th Final Four)
Runner-up	Syracuse Orangemen (2nd title game, 3rd Final Four)
Semifinalists	UMass Minutemen (Vacated) (1st Final Four) Mississippi State Bulldogs (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Rick Pitino (1st title)
MOP	Tony Delk (Kentucky)
Attendance	631,834
Top scorer	John Wallace (Syracuse) (131 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1995 1997»

The1996NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing insingle-elimination play to determine the national champion of men'sNCAA Division Icollege basketball. The 58th annual edition of the tournament began on March 14, 1996, and ended with thechampionship game on April 1 atContinental Airlines Arena (now known as Meadowlands Arena) in theMeadowlands Sports Complex inEast Rutherford, New Jersey. A total of 63 games were played.^[1]

The Final Four venue was notable for several reasons:

• This marked the first time that the NCAA finals had been held inGreater New York since1950.
• This was also the last (men's) Final Four to be held in a basketball/hockey-specific facility. Every Final Four since has been held in a domed stadium (usually built for football) because of NCAA venue capacity requirements. Therefore, this was also thelast time the NCAA finals have been held in the Greater New York area and theNortheastern United States (for the time being).

The Final Four consisted ofKentucky, making its first appearance in the Final Four since 1993 and eleventh overall,Massachusetts, making its first ever appearance in the Final Four,Syracuse, making its third appearance in the Final Four and first since 1987, andMississippi State, also making its first appearance.

Kentucky, coached byRick Pitino, won its sixth national championship by defeating Syracuse in the final game 76–67. It was the Orangemen's second championship game loss under coachJim Boeheim, joining a 74–73 defeat vs.Indiana in1987 (Boeheim and Syracuse finally won the championship in2003).

The championship game the second Final Four meeting between Pitino and Boeheim. Boeheim's Orangemen defeated Pitino'sProvidence Friars in the 1987 semifinals.

Tony Delk of Kentucky was named the tournament'sMost Outstanding Player. Kentucky's run to the championship was one of the most dominant in NCAA tournament history, as the Wildcats won each of their first four games by at least 20 points and won every game by at least 7 points.

Massachusetts, coached byJohn Calipari, was later stripped of its wins, including the UMass Minutemen's Final Four appearance, by the NCAA because UMass starMarcus Camby had accepted illegal gifts from agents. Connecticut, coached byJim Calhoun, was additionally punished monetarily due to players accepting illegal gifts from agents.^[2]

The 1996 tournament was the last to feature teams from the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences; later four teams from the SWC would merge with the Big Eight to form theBig 12 Conference. Through 2025, they were the last Division I conferences to disband and/or merge after sending teams to the NCAA tournament. (In 2024, thePac-12 sent four teams to the tournament before it nearly disintegrated, with all but two members--Oregon State and Washington State--leaving for other conferences. The Beavers and Cougars played in theWest Coast Conference during the 2024–25 season.)

This is also one of only two Final Fours between 1986 and 2001 (1987 being the other) to include neither Duke nor North Carolina.

As of 2025, this is the earliest tournament from which all four Final Four coaches (Pitino, Boeheim, Calipari and Mississippi State'sRichard Williams) are still living.

This was the last tournament in which officials wore collared shirts. A v-neck shirt, already worn in several conferences during the regular season, was adopted association-wide in 1996–97.

Providence

Richmond

Indianapolis

Orlando

Milwaukee

Dallas

Albuquerque

Tempe

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1996 first and second rounds

Denver

Minneapolis

Lexington

Atlanta

E. Rutherford

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1996 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1996 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

• March 14 and 16
  • East Region
    • Providence Civic Center,Providence, Rhode Island (Host:Providence College)
  • Midwest Region
    • Reunion Arena,Dallas, Texas (Host:Southwest Conference)
  • Southeast Region
    • RCA Dome,Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts:Butler University,Midwestern Collegiate Conference)
  • West Region
    • University Arena ("The Pit"),Albuquerque, New Mexico (Host:University of New Mexico)
• March 15 and 17
  • East Region
    • Richmond Coliseum,Richmond, Virginia (Hosts:University of Richmond,Virginia Commonwealth University)
  • Midwest Region
    • Bradley Center,Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Host:Marquette University)
  • Southeast Region
    • Orlando Arena,Orlando, Florida (Host:Stetson University)
  • West Region
    • ASU Activity Center,Tempe, Arizona (Host:Arizona State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 21 and 23
  • East Regional,Georgia Dome,Atlanta, Georgia (Host:Georgia Institute of Technology)
  • Midwest Regional,Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome,Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host:University of Minnesota)
• March 22 and 24
  • Southeast Regional,Rupp Arena,Lexington, Kentucky (Host:University of Kentucky)
  • West Regional,McNichols Sports Arena,Denver, Colorado (Host:University of Colorado)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

• March 30 and April 1
  • Continental Airlines Arena,East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts:Seton Hall University,Big East Conference)

There were 30 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 27 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while three were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference (Big Ten,Ivy League andPac-10).

Two conferences, theAmerican West Conference andConference USA, did not receive automatic bids to the tournament.^[3]

Four conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances:Monmouth (NEC),UNC Greensboro (Big South),Valparaiso (Mid-Continent), andWestern Carolina (Southern).

• Marcus Camby –Massachusetts (MOP)
• Allen Iverson –Georgetown
• Donta Bright – Massachusetts
• Carmelo Travieso – Massachusetts
• Jason Sasser –Texas Tech

Michigan's appearance in the 1996 NCAA tournament along with 20 regular season wins were vacated on November 7, 2002, as part of the settlement of theUniversity of Michigan basketball scandal. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with the removal of any Michigan wins from all records.

• Tony Delk –Kentucky (MOP)
• Derek Anderson – Kentucky
• Anthony Epps – Kentucky
• Antoine Walker – Kentucky
• Tim Duncan –Wake Forest

• Dontae' Jones –Mississippi State (MOP)
• Darnell Burton –Cincinnati
• Danny Fortson – Cincinnati
• Erick Dampier – Mississippi State
• Darryl Wilson – Mississippi State

• John Wallace –Syracuse (MOP)
• Pertha Robinson –Georgia
• Shandon Anderson – Georgia
• Jacque Vaughn –Kansas
• Otis Hill –Syracuse

On May 8, 1997, the NCAA Executive Committee voted to negate the Minutemen's 1996 NCAA Tournament record, forMarcus Camby's acceptance of agents' improper gifts. The team's 35–2 season record was reduced to 31–1, and the UMass slot in the Final Four is officially marked as "vacated". The Final Four trophy, banner, and 45% of tournament revenue were returned to the NCAA. Camby reimbursed the school for the lost revenue. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with UMass removing the wins from its own record.

• Tony Delk –Kentucky (MOP)
• Ron Mercer – Kentucky
• Marcus Camby –Massachusetts
• Todd Burgan –Syracuse
• John Wallace – Syracuse

• Jim Nantz/Bob Rathbun andBilly Packer – First & Second Round at Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Southeast Regional at Lexington, Kentucky; Final Four at East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Sean McDonough/Bill Raftery/Michele Tafoya – First & Second Round at Orlando, Florida; Midwest Regional at Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Tim Ryan andAl McGuire – First & Second Round at Providence, Rhode Island; West Regional at Denver, Colorado
• Gus Johnson/Quinn Buckner/Andrea Joyce – First & Second Round at Indianapolis; East Regional at Atlanta, Georgia
• Mike Gorman andGeorge Raveling – First & Second Round at Dallas, Texas
• Ted Robinson andLarry Farmer – First & Second Round at Richmond, Virginia
• Tim Brando andDerrek Dickey – First & Second Round at Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Bill Macatee andDan Bonner – First & Second Round at Tempe, Arizona

Note: During the Midwest Regional Final in Minneapolis; sideline reporterMichele Tafoya temporarily substituted for Sean McDonough in the play-by-play booth when McDonough became ill; calling about 10 minutes of the first half before McDonough felt well enough to resume play-by-play; in the process making her the first woman to call part of an NCAA Men's Division I Tournament game.

• 1996 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1996 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 1996 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 1996 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 1996 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 1996 National Invitation Tournament
• 1996 National Women's Invitation Tournament
• 1996 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1996 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1996 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 1996 NAIA Division II women's basketball tournament

• NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
• Basketball in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
• 1996 in sports in New Jersey
• March 1996 sports events in the United States
• April 1996 sports events in the United States

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• Use mdy dates from August 2023