2014 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament


The 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 18, 2014, and concluded with the UConn Huskies winning the championship game on April 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The East Regional semifinals and final were held in Madison Square Garden, the first time that arena has been used as an NCAA Tournament venue and the first time in 63 years that tournament games have been held in New York City.
With No. 7 seed UConn and No. 8 seed Kentucky reaching the championship game, this tournament's final was the first ever not to include at least one 1, 2, or 3 seed. It is also only the third final not to feature a 1 or 2 seed. UConn was the first 7 seed ever to reach and win the championship game. The two teams combined for the highest seed total in championship game history with 15. The previous record was held by UConn and Butler in 2011.
The next day, the UConn Huskies women's team won the women's NCAA basketball tournament, only the second time that a school has won both the men's and women's Division I national basketball championships in the same year; UConn first accomplished this in 2004.
The previous season, UConn was academically ineligible for the postseason.

Tournament procedure

For 2014 the selection committee picked a total of 68 teams that would enter the 2014 tournament, of which 32 were "automatic bids" while the remaining 36 were "at large" bids which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee on the Sunday preceding the First Four play-in tournament and dubbed Selection Sunday by the media and fans. The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.
Eight teams – the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams – played in the First Four. The winners of those games advanced to the main draw of the tournament.

Notables

became the first team since UNLV in 1991 to go into the tournament undefeated. The Shockers entered the tournament 34-0. Their perfect record of 35-0 would be spoiled by Kentucky in the third round. Kentucky would set an NCAA-men's-record 38 straight wins to start a season the next year.
Kentucky became the first team to field all-freshman starters at the Final Four and championship games since the 1991–92 Michigan Wolverines under the Fab Five. The 1992 Final Four and championship appearances by Michigan were subsequently vacated.
MEAC champion North Carolina Central University and Big West champion Cal Poly made their first NCAA Division I tournament appearances.
For only the second time since 1973 no teams from the state of Indiana were in the tournament.
There were five overtime games in the Second Round of the tournament, the most overtime games ever in tournament history. In contrast, the previous two tournaments had two overtime games combined.
North Dakota State's victory against Oklahoma secured the first tournament win for the state of North Dakota. Mercer, Stephen F. Austin, Albany, and Cal Poly had their first NCAA tournament wins. Cal Poly's victory over Texas Southern marked only the third time a team with a losing record won a game in the tournament.
Notable upsets included: Mercer over Duke; Dayton over Ohio State and, later, over Syracuse; North Dakota State over Oklahoma; Stephen F. Austin over VCU; Harvard over Cincinnati ; Stanford over Kansas; Kentucky over previously unbeaten Wichita State and, later, over Michigan; and UConn over Villanova and, later, over #1 overall seed Florida.

2014 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2014 tournament:
First Four
Second and third rounds
Regional semifinals and finals
National semifinals and championship
The city of Arlington became the 29th individual host city, and the AT&T Stadium became the 38th host venue, for the Final Four. The tournament featured three new venues in cities that had previously hosted tournament games. For the first time, games were played at the fourth Madison Square Garden, marking the first time in Manhattan since 1961, and the first time in any borough of New York City since being played at Alumni Hall on the campus of St. John's University in Queens in 1974. The tournament also returned to Orlando for the first time since 2004, playing for the first time at the Amway Center, the arena that replaced the former Amway Arena. And for the first time, the tournament was played at the AT&T Center, San Antonio's home to the Spurs. As of 2018, this marks the most recent time the tournament has been played at either the AT&T Stadium or the AT&T Center, with the latter scheduled to host games again in 2022. The BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee held its last tournament ever; future tournament games will be played at the Fiserv Forum.

Qualified teams

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams are automatic qualifiers for the 2014 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.
ConferenceTeamAppearanceLast bid
ACCVirginia18th2012
America EastAlbany4th2013
AmericanLouisville40th2013
Atlantic 10St. Joseph's20th2008
Atlantic SunMercer3rd1985
Big 12Iowa State16th2013
Big EastProvidence16th2004
Big SkyWeber State15th2007
Big SouthCoastal Carolina3rd1993
Big TenMichigan State28th2013
Big WestCal Poly1stNever
ColonialDelaware5th1999
C-USATulsa15th2003
HorizonMilwaukee4th2006
Ivy LeagueHarvard4th2013
MAACManhattan7th2004
MACWestern Michigan4th2004
MEACNorth Carolina Central1stNever
Missouri ValleyWichita State11th2013
Mountain WestNew Mexico15th2013
NortheastMount St. Mary's4th2008
Ohio ValleyEastern Kentucky8th2007
Pac-12UCLA46th2013
PatriotAmerican3rd2009
SECFlorida19th2013
SouthernWofford3rd2011
SouthlandStephen F. Austin2nd2009
SWACTexas Southern5th2003
SummitNorth Dakota State2nd2009
Sun BeltLouisiana–Lafayette6th2000
West CoastGonzaga17th2013
WACNew Mexico State21st2013

Tournament seeds

Florida was the overall 1 seed for the second time, the other being 2007 when they repeated as national champions. Arizona was a 1 seed for the 6th time in school history. They lost in the West regional final for the 3rd straight time as a 1 seed, all games being played in Anaheim. Virginia was a 1 seed for the 4th time in school history, their first since three straight 1 seeds in 1981, 1982, and 1983.

Bracket

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

First Four – Dayton, Ohio

South Regional – Memphis, Tennessee

Regional Final summary

South Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Michael Frazier II, Florida; Devin Oliver, Dayton; Dyshawn Pierre, Dayton; Dwight Powell, Stanford
Regional most outstanding player: Scottie Wilbekin, Florida

East Regional – New York City, New York

Regional Final summary

East Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: DeAndre Daniels, UConn; Gary Harris, Michigan State; Dustin Hogue, Iowa State; Adreian Payne, Michigan State
Regional most outstanding player: Shabazz Napier, UConn

West Regional – Anaheim, California

Regional Final summary

West Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Aaron Gordon, Arizona; Traevon Jackson, Wisconsin; Nick Johnson, Arizona; Xavier Thames, San Diego State
Regional most outstanding player: Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin

Midwest Regional – Indianapolis, Indiana

Regional Final summary

Midwest Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Aaron Harrison, Kentucky; Marcus Lee, Kentucky; Caris LeVert, Michigan; Nik Stauskas, Michigan
Regional most outstanding player: Julius Randle, Kentucky

Final four

During the Final Four round, regardless of the seeds of the participating teams, the champion of the top overall top seed's region plays against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region, and the champion of the second overall top seed's region plays against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region. Florida was selected as the top overall seed, and Virginia was named as the #4 overall seed. Thus, the South champion played the East Champion in one semifinal game, and the West Champion faced the Midwest Champion in the other semifinal game. The overall No. 1 seed Florida lost only two games during the regular season: to West Champion Wisconsin and to East Champion UConn; Florida also played and beat Midwest Champion Kentucky twice during the regular season and again in the conference championship game.

Final Four – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Game summaries

Final four

National Championship

Final Four all-tournament team

Television

The year 2014 marked the fourth 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. TBS aired the Final Four for the first year since CBS' 32 consecutive years of airing. The tournament was considered a ratings success. Tournament games averaged 10.5 million viewers, and the championship game garnered an average of 21.2 million viewers and a peak viewership of 24.3 million.
Kerr joined Nantz and Anthony during the Final Four and National Championship games
For the first time in the history of the tournament, Turner broadcast the semifinals. TBS aired the traditional neutral broadcast. However, Turner also distributed team-centered broadcasts for the Final Four broadcasts on TNT and truTV. The announcers for these broadcasts are as follows:
distributes broadcast rights to the tournament outside the United States, and will produce separate international broadcasts of the semi-final and championship games with announcers Dan Shulman, 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.
In Canada, the broadcasting rights are with TSN. In The Philippines it's aired on TV5.

Radio

has exclusive national radio rights to the entire tournament. Team radio networks also hold the rights to broadcast their teams through their entire progression within the tournament and no flagship restrictions. However men's team radio networks cannot stream the games online during the NCAA tournament. WestwoodOne is the only group authorized to stream the tournament online.

First Four