2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

2021 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Season	2020–21
Teams	68 (including one that did not play)
Finals site	Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis, Indiana
Champions	Baylor Bears (1st title, 2nd title game, 3rd Final Four)
Runner-up	Gonzaga Bulldogs (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Houston Cougars (6th Final Four) UCLA Bruins (19th Final Four)
Winning coach	Scott Drew (1st title)
MOP	Jared Butler (Baylor)
Attendance	173,592[1]
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «2020 2022»

The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2020–21 season. The 82nd edition of the tournament began play on March 18, 2021, in sites around the state of Indiana,^[2] and concluded with the championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on April 5, with the Baylor Bears defeating the previously undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs 86–70 to earn the team's first ever title.

For logistical considerations surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (which resulted in the cancellation of the previous year's tournament), the NCAA announced in January 2021 that all tournament games would be held in Indiana rather than at sites across the country. This was the only time in the history of the tournament to date that a single state has hosted it in its entirety.^[3]

This marked the first time since 1976 that neither Duke or Kentucky qualified for the tournament.^[4] It was also the first time since 1995 that Duke failed to make the tournament, breaking a streak of 24 consecutive appearances. America East champion Hartford and WAC champion Grand Canyon made their NCAA Tournament debuts.

The tournament was marked by many upsets, with Yahoo Sports journalist Pete Thamel calling it "one of the most dizzying NCAA men's tournaments in history". With only half of the 16 second-round games having been played, there had been 11 upsets to that point, using the NCAA's definition of "upset" as a win by a team seeded five or more lines below its defeated opponent. This had already broken the record for most upsets prior to the round of 16; by the end of the second round, this number went up to 12. In addition, at least one team seeded #9 through #15 won a first-round game for the fourth time ever, and the first time since 2016. Also, a record four teams seeded 13 or lower won first-round games.^[5] Another notable mark set during the tournament was a record-breaking 14 upsets throughout the event, breaking the original record of 13 upsets from the 1985 and 2014 tournaments.

The Final Four game between UCLA and Gonzaga (the first semifinal game to go into overtime since 1998) saw a game-winning buzzer-beater by Jalen Suggs to take Gonzaga into the championship game, the first buzzer-beater in a national semifinal since 1977. By defeating Gonzaga in the championship game, the Baylor Bears became the second consecutive first-time NCAA champions, following the Virginia Cavaliers in 2019. The last time this happened was in 2002 and 2003, when the Maryland Terrapins and Syracuse Orange (then nicknamed Orangemen) won their first titles in their respective years. Baylor also joined Texas Western (now known as the University of Texas at El Paso) as the only two teams from the state of Texas to have won an NCAA Division I Basketball championship, the Miners having done so in 1966.