2013 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament


The 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was a single-elimination tournament that involved 68 teams playing to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 19, 2013, and concluded with the championship game on April 8, 2013, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. This was the 75th edition of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, dating to 1939.
The Final Four consisted of Louisville, Wichita State, Syracuse, and Michigan, returning for the first time since the Fab Five's second appearance in 1993. By winning the [|West] Region, Wichita State became the first #9 seed and first Missouri Valley Conference team to reach the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last #9 seed to reach the Final Four was Penn, and the last MVC team to do so was Indiana State, both in 1979.
Louisville defeated Michigan in the championship game by a final score of 82–76, winning their first national title since 1986. They also are the last team from the original Big East Conference to win a national championship. On February 20, 2018, the NCAA vacated Louisville's entire tournament run, including its national title, due to multiple recruiting violations.
The tournament featured several notable upsets: at least one team seeded #9 through #15 won at least once in the tournament, The most notable was Florida Gulf Coast University, who made their tournament debut in only their second year of Division I eligibility. They upset Georgetown and San Diego State in their first two games, becoming the first #15 seed to advance to the regional semifinals. For the first time since 2010, a #14 seed won as Harvard defeated New Mexico in the West Region. The same region saw #13 La Salle, who won in the opening round, defeat #4 Kansas State and #12 Mississippi defeat #5 Wisconsin. In addition to that, the region's top seed, Gonzaga, was defeated in the round of 32 by eventual region winner Wichita State, who defeated La Salle in the Sweet Sixteen.
Two other teams also earned their first ever NCAA Tournament victory: Ivy League champion Harvard and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion North Carolina A&T. Liberty became the first 20-loss team in five years to earn an NCAA bid, having finished its season with five consecutive wins to secure the Big South championship and its automatic qualification.

2013 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2013 tournament:
;First Four
;Second and third rounds
;Regional sites
;Final Four – Atlanta
For the third and final time, the Georgia Dome hosted the Final Four. The building was demolished in 2017 and replaced with Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which planned to host the 2020 Final Four before the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament saw two new venues being used for the first time. The City of Arlington, halfway between former host cities Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, hosted for the first time at what is now known as AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys. After a 19-year hiatus, the tournament returned to the city of Los Angeles, this time being played at the Staples Center, the city's major indoor sports venue, which replaced both the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and the Forum in Inglewood. As of 2018, this is the last tournament to feature the Frank Erwin Center, The Palace of Auburn Hills, Rupp Arena or what is now the Capital One Arena in Washington. Capital One Arena is scheduled to host in 2019, and Rupp in 2021. There is no future date set for the Frank Erwin Center to host, and the Palace closed in 2017, replaced with Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit, which will host early round games in 2018 and 2021. As of 2018, this is also the most recent year that UD Arena has hosted games after the First Four games.

Qualified teams

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2013 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.
ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bid
America EastAlbany3rd2007
Atlantic 10Saint Louis8th2012
ACCMiami6th2008
Atlantic SunFlorida Gulf Coast1stNever
Big 12Kansas42nd2012
Big EastLouisville39th2012
Big SkyMontana10th2012
Big SouthLiberty3rd2004
Big TenOhio State29th2012
Big WestPacific9th2006
ColonialJames Madison5th1994
C-USAMemphis25th2012
HorizonValparaiso8th2004
Ivy LeagueHarvard3rd2012
MAACIona10th2012
MACAkron4th2011
MEACNorth Carolina A&T10th1995
Missouri ValleyCreighton18th2012
Mountain WestNew Mexico14th2012
NortheastLong Island6th2012
Ohio ValleyBelmont6th2012
Pac-12Oregon11th2008
PatriotBucknell6th2011
SECMississippi7th2002
SouthernDavidson12th2012
SouthlandNorthwestern State3rd2006
SWACSouthern8th2006
SummitSouth Dakota State2nd2012
Sun BeltWestern Kentucky23rd2012
West CoastGonzaga16th2012
WACNew Mexico State20th2012

Tournament seeds


*See First Four.

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period
Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight Time

First Four – Dayton, Ohio

Midwest Regional – Indianapolis, Indiana

Midwest Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Seth Curry, Duke; Gorgui Dieng, Louisville; Mason Plumlee, Duke; Peyton Siva, Louisville
Regional most outstanding player: Russ Smith, Louisville

West Regional – Los Angeles, California

West Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Carl Hall, Wichita State; Mark Lyons, Arizona; LaQuinton Ross, Ohio State; Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State
Regional most outstanding player: Malcolm Armstead, Wichita State

South Regional – Arlington, Texas

South Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Mitch McGary, Michigan; Ben McLemore, Kansas; Mike Rosario, Florida; Nik Stauskas, Michigan
Regional most outstanding player: Trey Burke, Michigan

East Regional – Washington, D.C.

East Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Vander Blue, Marquette; C. J. Fair, Syracuse; Davante Gardner, Marquette; James Southerland, Syracuse
Regional most outstanding player: Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse

Final Four – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

During the Final Four round, the champion of the top overall top seed's region was to play against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region, and the champion of the second overall top seed's region was to play against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region. Louisville was selected as the top overall seed, and Gonzaga was named as the final top seed. Thus, the Midwest champion played the West Champion in one semifinal game, and the South Champion faced the East Champion in the other semifinal game.
Wichita State surprised the college basketball world by reaching the Final Four from the West region. They lost to Louisville in the first semifinal game, 72–68. Michigan defeated Syracuse 61–56 in the second semifinal.
On February 20, 2018, NCAA took away from Louisville the 2013 winning title and allowed them to pay the fines.

Final Four all-tournament team

Final Four all-tournament team: Spike Albrecht, Michigan; Trey Burke, Michigan; Mitch McGary, Michigan; Cleanthony Early, Wichita State; Peyton Siva, Louisville; Luke Hancock, Louisville; Chane Behanan, Louisville;
Final Four most outstanding player: Luke Hancock, Louisville

Game summaries

Elite Eight

Final Four

National Championship

Louisville defeated Michigan 82–76 in the championship game. The win gave Louisville its first championship since 1986, and third overall. It became the eighth school to win at least three championships. Head coach Rick Pitino became the first coach to win an NCAA championship with two different schools. Michigan fell to 1–5 all time in championship games.
Michigan's Trey Burke scored seven quick points to get Michigan out to a 7–3 lead, but also picked up two quick fouls and sat during much of the first half. With Burke on the bench, Michigan got a spark from freshman Spike Albrecht, a minor role player during the regular season. Albrecht hit four straight 3-pointers en route to a 17-point first half performance, easily surpassing his previous single game best of 7. Louisville trailed Michigan 35–23 late in the first half, before going on a run fueled by four straight three-pointers by Luke Hancock. At halftime, Michigan led 38–37.
The second half featured several lead changes before Louisville pushed the margin to 10 on a three-pointer by Hancock with 3:20 remaining in the game. Michigan fought back, closing the gap to four points in the last minute, but ran out of time in its comeback effort.
Hancock hit all five three-point shots he attempted in the game and led Louisville with 22 points, while teammate Peyton Siva scored 18 and had a game high 4 steals. Chane Behanan pulled down 12 rebounds to go with 15 points. Burke led Michigan with 24 points. Russ Smith, Louisville's leading scorer on the season, struggled in the game, shooting 3-for-16. Hancock was named as the game's most outstanding player.

Record by conference

On May 10, 2012, the NCAA announced that as part of the celebration of the 75th Division I tournament, it would hold all three of its men's basketball championship games in Atlanta. The finals of the Division II and Division III tournaments were held at Philips Arena on April 7, the day between the Division I semifinals and final. In addition, Atlanta-based tournament broadcaster TBS announced that Conan O'Brien would tape his Conan talk show at The Tabernacle, located a few blocks from the Georgia Dome and Philips Arena, in the week leading up to the Final Four. March Madness studio analyst Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale were among the guests who appeared.

Media

U.S. television

The year 2013 marked the third year of a 14-year partnership between CBS and Turner cable networks TBS, TNT and truTV to cover the entire tournament under the NCAA March Madness banner. CBS aired the Final Four and championship rounds for the 32nd consecutive year. The tournament was considered a ratings success. Tournament games averaged 10.7 million viewers, and the championship game garnered an average of 23.4 million viewers and a peak viewership of 27.1 million.

Studio hosts

Kerr joins Nantz and Kellogg during the Final Four and National Championship games
and SiriusXM have live broadcasts of all 67 games.

First four

held broadcast rights to the tournament outside of the United States: it produced its own broadcasts of the semi-final and championship game, called by ESPN College Basketball personalities Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale, and Jay Bilas. For the initial rounds, they use CBS/Turner coverage with an additional host to transition between games, with whiparound coverage similar to the CBS-only era. ESPN also has exclusive digital rights to the NCAA tournament outside of North America.

Canada

In Canada, the TSN family of media outlets, which are part-owned by ESPN, own broadcast rights to the tournament. TSN produces separate studio coverage with Kate Beirness, Jack Armstrong, Dan Shulman and Sam Mitchell, but simulcasts CBS/Turner game coverage for the first five rounds.
As in past years, TSN and TSN2 carry whiparound coverage during the second, third and fourth rounds, in 2013 focusing when possible on games not being broadcast on CBS.