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| Season | 1981–82 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 48 | ||||
| Finals site | Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||
| Champions | North Carolina Tar Heels (2nd title, 6th title game, 9th Final Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Georgetown Hoyas (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
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| Winning coach | Dean Smith (1st title) | ||||
| MOP | James Worthy (North Carolina) | ||||
| Attendance | 427,251 | ||||
| Top scorer | Rob Williams (Houston) (88 points) | ||||
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The 1982 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 48 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1982, and ended with the championship game on March 29 in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. A total of 47 games were played.
North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith, won the national title with a 63–62 victory in the final game over Georgetown, coached by John Thompson. James Worthy of North Carolina was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
This tournament was the first to eliminate the national third-place game, which had been held every year since the 1946 tournament. It was also the first tournament to be televised by CBS after it acquired the broadcasting rights from NBC. Gary Bender and Billy Packer (also from NBC Sports) called the Final Four and National Championship games. In addition, it was the first tournament to include the word "Men's" in its official title, as the NCAA began sponsoring national championships in women's sports (including basketball) in the 1981–82 school year.
This was the last NCAA tournament to grant automatic bids to the winners of ECAC regional tournaments for Northeastern Division I independents organized by the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a loose sports federation of Northeastern colleges and universities. The practice had begun with the 1975 tournament to ensure that Northeastern independents would not be excluded, but was discontinued when all remaining Northeastern independents formed new conferences or joined existing ones after this season.[1]
For the first time since 1966, the tournament field did not include UCLA.