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1979 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

ohstuskaterpunk

ohstuskaterpunk

The 1979 event took place from March 9 to March 26, 1979. 40 teams participated. The first time teams were seeded (1-10 in each of the four regions). The top six seeds in each regional received byes to the second round, while seeds 7-10 played in the first round.

NBC Sports covered the NCAA basketball tournament. Here was the schedule:

1. March 10--Two second-round games at 2 and 4 pm ET.
2. March 11--Two second-round games at 1 and 3 pm ET.
3. March 17--Midwest Regional Final at 2 pm ET and the West Regional Final at 4 pm ET.
4. March 18--East Regional Final at 1 pm ET and the Mideast Regional Final at 3 pm ET.
5. March 24--The Final Four was played in Salt Lake City, Utah at 2 and 4 pm ET.
6. March 26--The national championship game was played in Salt Lake City, Utah at 9 pm ET.

Here's the schedule (all from the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch):

Friday, March 9

First round

East Regional, Raleigh, N.C.

7) St. John's vs 10) Temple, 7.06 pm
8) Iona vs 9) Penn, 9.36 pm

Mideast, Murfreesboro, Tenn

7) Detroit at 10) Lamar, 8.06 pm
8) Tennessee vs 9) Eastern Kentucky, 10.36 pm

Midwest, Lawrence, Kansas

8) Virginia Tech vs 9) Jacksonville, 8.06 pm
7) Weber St. vs 10) New Mexico St., 10.36 pm

West, Los Angeles

8) Utah vs 9) Pepperdine, 10.06 pm
7) USC vs 10) Utah St., 12.36 am

Saturday, March 10

Second Round

East, Providence, R.I.

6) Rutgers vs 3) Georgetown, 2.06 pm
5) Connecticut vs 4) Syracuse, 4.36 pm

Mideast, Bloomington, Ind.

4) Iowa vs 5) Toledo, 2.06 pm
3) LSU vs 6) Appalachian St., 4.36 pm

Midwest, Dallas

4) Texas vs 5) Oklahoma, 2.06 pm
3) Louisville vs 6) South Alabama, 4.36 pm

West, Tucson, Ariz.

4) San Francisco vs 5) BYU, 2.06 pm
3) Marquette vs 6) Pacific, 4.36 pm

Sunday, March 11

Second round

East, Raleigh, N.C.

9) Penn vs 1) North Carolina, 1.06 pm
10) St. John's vs 2) Duke, 3.36 pm

Mideast, Murfreesboro, Tenn.

10) Lamar vs 2) Michigan St., 1.06 pm
8) Tennessee vs 1) Notre Dame, 3.36 pm

Midwest, Lawrence, Kansas

8) Virginia Tech vs 1) Indiana St., 1.06 pm
7) Weber St. vs 2) Arkansas, 3.36 pm

West, Los Angeles

9) Pepperdine vs 1) UCLA, 3.06 pm
7) USC vs 2) DePaul, 5.36 pm

Thursday, March 15

Midwest Regional semifinals, Cincinnati, Ohio

2) Louisville vs 3) Arkansas, 7.06 pm
5) Oklahoma vs 1) Indiana St., 9.36 pm

West Regional semifinals, Provo, Utah

3) Marquette vs 2) DePaul, 9.06 pm
4) San Francisco vs 1) UCLA, 11.36 pm

Friday, March 16

East Regional semifinals, Greensboro, N.C.

4) Syracuse vs 9) Penn, 7.06 pm
6) Rutgers vs 10) St. John's, 9.36 pm

Mideast Regional semifinals, Indianapolis, Ind.

5) Toledo vs 1) Notre Dame, 7.06 pm
3) LSU vs 2) Michigan St., 9.36 pm

Saturday, March 17

Midwest Regional final, Cincinnati, Ohio

2) Arkansas vs 1) Indiana St., 2.07 pm

West Regional final, Provo, Utah

2) DePaul vs 1) UCLA, 4.14 pm

Sunday, March 18

East Regional final, Greensboro, N.C.

10) St. John's vs 9) Penn, 1.07 pm

Mideast Regional final, Indianapolis, Ind.

2) Michigan St. vs 1) Notre Dame, 3.14 pm

Saturday, March 24

Final Four, Salt Lake City, Utah

Penn vs Michigan St., 2.06 pm
Indiana St. vs DePaul, 4.36 pm

Monday, March 26

National championship, Salt Lake City, Utah

Michigan St. vs Indiana St., 9.07 pm

Other than the championship game, I don't know what cable or analog TV stations carried the night tournament games.
 
Interesting to see the number of future Big East teams in the tournament the year before the Big East came into being...Some wouldn't join until many years later (ND, Rutgers, DePaul, and now former Big East member Virginia Tech).
 
I consider myself very fortunate to have been present for the Midwest Regional semi-finals and finals on March 15th and 17th at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum (now called the U. S. Bank Arena). In addition to Larry Bird of Indiana State, there were some very good basketball players in that tournament: Darrel Griffith of Louisville, Sidney Moncrief & U. S. Reed of Arkansas as well as a nice Oklahoma team.
 
I can't figure out how to edit a post for some reason, but I just noticed 2 other current Big East members, Louisville and Marquette. Couple other thoughts: One of Arkansas' bench warmers at that time was a guy I got to see play when he was in high school, Mike Young from Central Noble HS in Indiana. Also, was Detroit's coach at that time a guy by the name of Dick Vitale?
 
No. By this time (1978-79) Dick Vitale had left the University of Detroit as both Head Basketball Coach and Athletic Director and was the Head Coach of the Detroit Pistons.
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
In addition to Larry Bird of Indiana State, there were some very good basketball players in that tournament: Darrel Griffith of Louisville, Sidney Moncrief & U. S. Reed of Arkansas as well as a nice Oklahoma team.
Click to expand...
Aren't we forgetting Earvin "Magic" Johnson (Michigan State)?

But the 1979 NCAA Final Four thanks to Bird and Magic proved to be a wake-up call to the NBA -- the league was in trouble by the late '70s -- when they were drafted to the Celtics and Lakers respectively. And even though he was a TV reporter at the time, one other person joined them for the ride when CBS Sports hired him in 1981 (he later jumped to "Access Hollywood" and now "The Insider"): PAT O'BRIEN!!!!

Jonathan Allen
 
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