 | |||||
| Season | 2017–18 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 68 | ||||
| Finals site | Alamodome San Antonio, Texas | ||||
| Champions | Villanova Wildcats (3rd title, 4th title game, 6th Final Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Michigan Wolverines (7th title game, 8th Final Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
| ||||
| Winning coach | Jay Wright (2nd title) | ||||
| MOP | Donte DiVincenzo (Villanova) | ||||
| |||||
The 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball national champion for the 2017–18 season. The 80th annual edition of the tournament began on March 13, 2018, and concluded with the championship game on April 2, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
During the first round, UMBC became the first 16-seed to defeat a 1-seed in the men's tournament by defeating Virginia 74–54.[1][2] For the first time in tournament history, all four top-seeded teams in a single region (the South) failed to make the Sweet 16. The tournament also featured the first regional final matchup of a 9-seed (Kansas State) and an 11-seed (Loyola–Chicago).
Villanova (returning after their 2016 national championship), Michigan (making their first appearance since their runner-up finish in 2013), Kansas (returning after their runner-up finish in 2012), and Loyola–Chicago (the "Cinderella team" of the tournament, and the fourth 11-seed to reach the Final Four, after VCU in 2011), all reached the Final Four. Villanova defeated Michigan in the championship game, 79–62.
The 2018 tournament was the first time since 1978 that none of the six Division I college basketball-playing schools based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area – American, Georgetown, George Mason, George Washington, Howard, and Maryland – made the NCAA tournament.[3]
Atlantic Sun Conference champion Lipscomb made its NCAA tournament debut.
- ^ Wilco, Daniel (March 17, 2018). "Last perfect bracket busts after UMBC pulls off biggest upset in NCAA tournament history". NCAA.com. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
UMBC (The University of Maryland Baltimore County) scored the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA tournament, beating top overall seed Virginia 74-54 Friday night, and becoming the first 16 seed to win a game in 136 tries.
- ^ Bushnell, Henry (March 17, 2018). "UMBC shocks Virginia, first 16-seed ever to beat a 1". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- ^ "DC colleges will have a season without March Madness for the first time since 1978". Washington Post. March 10, 2018.