Global Information1966 NCAA University Division basketball tournament information
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| 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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The 1966 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 22 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national men's basketball champion of the NCAA University Division, now Division I. It began on March 7 and ended with the championship game on March 19 in College Park, Maryland. A total of 26 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
Third-ranked Texas Western (now UTEP), coached by Don Haskins, won the national title with a 72–65 victory in the final over top-ranked Kentucky, led by head coach Adolph Rupp. Haskins started five black players for the first time in NCAA Championship history. Jerry Chambers of Utah was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
The 2006 film Glory Road is based on the story of the 1966 Texas Western team. Their tournament games against fourth-ranked Kansas and Kentucky are depicted in the film.
The tournament is also significant in that it was the last tournament until 2021, and one of two since the league's official founding, that the Ivy 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 include UCLA.
- ^ Fifty years ago, Penn was banned from the NCAA tournament because of...grades?, Justin Feil, Philly Voice, March 10, 2016, last accessed April 17, 2022