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Season | 2018–19 | ||||
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Teams | 68 | ||||
Finals site | U.S. Bank Stadium Minneapolis, Minnesota | ||||
Champions | Virginia Cavaliers (1st title, 1st title game, 3rd Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | Texas Tech Red Raiders (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
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Winning coach | Tony Bennett (1st title) | ||||
MOP | Kyle Guy (Virginia) | ||||
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The 2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2018–19 season. The 81st annual edition of the tournament began on March 19, 2019, and concluded with the championship game on April 8, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Virginia Cavaliers, with Virginia winning 85–77 in overtime.[1][2]
Two schools made their first appearances in the tournament: Big South champion Gardner–Webb and Southland champion Abilene Christian.
For the first time since 2001, no #8 seed survived the first round of the tournament. This was also the first time since the First Four was established in 2011 that no team in the First Four advanced past the first round of the tournament.[a] As of the 2024 tournament, this was the only Final Four since 2012 that did not include at least one team seeded #7 or higher.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
This tournament marked the first time that the Auburn Tigers of the Southeastern Conference and the Texas Tech Red Raiders of the Big 12 Conference made the Final Four. This also marked the third Final Four appearance for the Virginia Cavaliers of the Atlantic Coast Conference, but their first since 1984.
The championship game was the first time since 1979 to see two first-time participants playing in the championship, and the first since 2006 to have a first-time national champion.[13] As a result of a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic that started in late 2019 and subsequently forced the cancellation of the 2020 tournament, this would be the last tournament held until 2021, and this would be also the last tournament held across the United States until 2022.
Carsen Edwards of Purdue was the leading scorer, with 139 points in only 4 games—producing an average of 34.8 points per game. Edwards also set the record for most made three-point shots in a tournament, with 28. The previous record holder, Glen Rice of Michigan in 1989, made 27, but did so in 6 games.
In the previous year's tournament, Virginia had infamously become the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed. At the conclusion of this year's title game, CBS announcer Jim Nantz dubbed Virginia's win the "all-time turnaround title."[14]
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