2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2005–06 basketball season. It began on March 14, 2006, and concluded with the University of Florida winning its first-ever national title over UCLA 73-57 on April 3 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. Florida's Joakim Noah was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament. The 2006 tournament was notable for George Mason University, an 11 seed, defeating four consecutive higher seeds, including 1st-seeded Connecticut in a thrilling overtime regional final, to reach the Final Four, only the second time in tournament history that an 11 seed achieved this feat.

Tournament procedure

A total of 65 teams were selected to participate in the tournament. 31 of the teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. Pennsylvania earned an automatic bid by winning the regular-season title of the Ivy League, which does not conduct a conference tournament. The remaining 34 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.

The initial game on March 14, popularly called the "play-in game," had Monmouth, winner of the Northeast Conference tournament, facing Hampton, who won the automatic bid from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship, for a chance to play top seed Villanova in the first round of the tournament. Monmouth defeated Hampton, 71–49, to earn that right.

All 64 teams were seeded from 1 to 16 within their regionals; the winner of the play-in game automatically received a 16 seed. The Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 65. In a practice since 2004, the ranking of the four top seeds against each other would determine the pairings in the Final Four. The top overall seed would be seeded to play the fourth overall seed in the national semifinals, should both teams advance that far. In 2006, these rankings were as follows: #1 Duke, #2 Connecticut, #3 Villanova, and #4 Memphis. [1]

The four regionals were officially named after the four host cities, a practice which also began in 2004. However, in 2007, the NCAA returned to naming regionals by their geographic location. The 2006 regionals were:

• March 23 / 25:

Atlanta Regional, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology)

Oakland Regional, Oakland Arena, Oakland, California (Host: University of San Francisco)

• March 24 / 26:

Minneapolis Regional, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)

Washington, D.C. Regional, Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. (Host: Georgetown University)

The first and second round games were played at the following sites:

• March 16 / 18:

Cox Arena, San Diego, California (Host: San Diego State University)

Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference)

Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida (Host: Jacksonville University)

Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah)

• March 17 / 19:

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas (Host: Big 12 Conference)

The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan (Host: Oakland University)

University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Host: Atlantic 10 Conference)

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held on April 1 and 3 in Indianapolis, hosted by Butler University and the Horizon League.

Qualifying teams

Bids by conference

Brackets

Atlanta Regional

(*)-Denotes an Overtime Game

Oakland Regional

Minneapolis Regional

Washington, D.C. Regional

Final Four — Indianapolis, Indiana

Record by conference

*Monmouth University won the Opening Round game.

The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, Ivy, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Ohio Valley, SoCon, SWAC, Mid-Continent, and Sun Belt conferences all went 0–1.

The columns R32, S16, E8, F4, and CG respectively stand for the Round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and Championship Game.

Announcers

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer - 1st/2nd rounds at Philadelphia, PA; Minneapolis Regional at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome; Final Four at Indianapolis, IN
• Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas - 1st/2nd rounds at San Diego, CA; Atlanta Regional at the Georgia Dome
• Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery - 1st/2nd rounds at Auburn Hills, MI; Washington, D.C. Regional at the Verizon Center
• Gus Johnson and Len Elmore - 1st/2nd rounds at Dayton, OH; Oakland Regional at the Oakland Arena
• Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner - 1st/2nd rounds at Greensboro, NC
• Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel - 1st/2nd rounds at Salt Lake City, UT
• Craig Bolerjack and Bob Wenzel - 1st/2nd rounds at Dallas, TX
• Tim Brando, Stephen Bardo, and Mike Gminski - 1st/2nd rounds at Jacksonville, FL

Greg Gumbel once again served as the studio host, joined by analysts Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis.

Notes

• The futures of two of this year's Final Four teams would be polar opposites of the other two in 2007. Both George Mason and LSU would fail to receive a bid to either the NCAA tournament or the NIT, while both Florida and UCLA would return to the Final Four (the two teams would have a rematch, this time in the semifinals, with the same results, a Florida victory).
• This was the second of three Final Fours to feature no number 1 seeds (1980 and 2011 being the others).
• Duke was the last team before Florida to win back-to-back titles, and like Florida, they won their first of the two in Indianapolis at the RCA Dome.

See also

• 2006 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
• 2006 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

References

External links

• NCAA Men's Basketball
• Salaries of coaches participating in the 2006 NCAA Tournament