1995 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament explained

The 1995 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 1995, and ended with the championship game on April 3 at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington. This Final Four would be the last time that the Final Four was hosted in the Western United States until the 2017 edition of the tournament where Glendale, Arizona was the host. A total of 63 games were played.

The Final Four consisted of UCLA, making their fifteenth appearance and first since the 1980 team that eventually saw their appearance vacated, Oklahoma State, making their fifth appearance and first since 1951, North Carolina, making their twelfth appearance and second in three years, and Arkansas, the defending national champions.

The championship game saw UCLA win their eleventh national championship and first (and only) national title under Jim Harrick by defeating Arkansas 89–78, foiling the Razorbacks' hopes of back to back national titles.

UCLA's Ed O'Bannon was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1995 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

• March 16 and 18
  • East Region
    • Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, Maryland (Host: University of Maryland Baltimore County)
  • Midwest Region
    • University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
  • Southeast Region
    • Memphis Pyramid, Memphis, Tennessee (Host: University of Memphis)
  • West Region
    • Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah)
• March 17 and 19
  • East Region
    • Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, New York (Hosts: Siena College, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
  • Midwest Region
    • Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin)
  • Southeast Region
    • Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center, Tallahassee, Florida (Host: Florida State University)
  • West Region
    • BSU Pavilion, Boise, Idaho (Host: Boise State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 23 and 25
  • Southeast Regional, BJCC Coliseum, Birmingham, Alabama (Host: Southeastern Conference)
  • West Regional, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, California (Host: University of California, Berkeley)
• March 24 and 26
  • East Regional, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference)
  • Midwest Regional, Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

• April 1 and 3
  • Kingdome, Seattle, Washington (Hosts: Seattle University, University of Washington)

Teams

There were 29 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 26 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while three were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference (Big Ten, Ivy League and Pac-10).

Four conferences, the American West Conference,^[1] Big South Conference,^[2] Great Midwest Conference,^[3] and Mid-Continent Conference,^[4] did not receive automatic bids to the tournament.

Five conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Colgate (Patriot), FIU (TAAC), Gonzaga (West Coast), Mount St. Mary's (NEC), and Nicholls State (Southland).

Automatic qualifiers

Automatic qualifiers

Conference	Team	Appearance	Last bid
ACC	Wake Forest	13th	1994
Atlantic 10	UMass	5th	1994
Big East	Villanova	21st	1991
Big Eight	Oklahoma State	14th	1994
Big Sky	Weber State	11th	1983
Big Ten	Purdue	14th	1994
Big West	Long Beach State	4th	1993
CAA	Old Dominion	6th	1992
Ivy League	Penn	16th	1994
MAAC	Saint Peter's	2nd	1991
MAC	Ball State	6th	1993
MCC	Green Bay	3rd	1994
MEAC	North Carolina A&T	9th	1994
Metro	Louisville	25th	1994
Missouri Valley	Southern Illinois	4th	1994
NAC	Drexel	3rd	1994
NEC	Mount St. Mary's	1st
Ohio Valley	Murray State	7th	1992
Pac-10	UCLA	30th	1994
Patriot	Colgate	1st
SEC	Kentucky	36th	1994
Southern	Chattanooga	7th	1994
Southland	Nicholls State	1st
Sun Belt	Western Kentucky	15th	1994
SWAC	Texas Southern	3rd	1994
SWC	Texas	14th	1994
TAAC	FIU	1st
WAC	Utah	17th	1993
West Coast	Gonzaga	1st

Tournament seeds

valign=top	East Regional – Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Wake Forest ACC 24–5 Automatic 2 UMass Atlantic 10 26–4 Automatic 3 Villanova Big East 25–7 Automatic 4 Oklahoma State Big Eight 23–9 Automatic 5 Alabama SEC 22–9 At-Large 6 Tulsa Missouri Valley 22–7 At-Large 7 UNC Charlotte Metro 19–8 At-Large 8 Minnesota (vacated) Big Ten 19–11 At-Large 9 Saint Louis Great Midwest 22–7 At-Large 10 Stanford Pac-10 19–8 At-Large 11 Illinois Big Ten 19–11 At-Large 12 Penn Ivy League 22–5 Automatic 13 Drexel NAC 22–7 Automatic 14 Old Dominion CAA 20–11 Automatic 15 Saint Peter's MAAC 19–10 Automatic 16 North Carolina A&T MEAC 15–14 Automatic	valign=top	Southeast Regional – BJCC Coliseum, Birmingham, Alabama Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Kentucky SEC 25–4 Automatic 2 North Carolina ACC 24–5 At-Large 3 Michigan State Big Ten 22–5 At-Large 4 Oklahoma Big Eight 23–8 At-Large 5 Arizona State (vacated) Pac-10 22–8 At-Large 6 Georgetown Big East 19–9 At-Large 7 Iowa State Big Eight 22–10 At-Large 8 BYU WAC 22–9 At-Large 9 Tulane Metro 22–9 At-Large 10 Florida SEC 17–12 At-Large 11 Xavier MCC 23–4 At-Large 12 Ball State MAC 19–10 Automatic 13 Manhattan MAAC 25–4 At-Large 14 Weber State Big Sky 20–8 Automatic 15 Murray State Ohio Valley 21–8 Automatic 16 Mount St. Mary's NEC 17–12 Automatic
valign=top	West Regional – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, California Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 UCLA Pac-10 25–2 Automatic 2 Connecticut Big East 25–4 At-Large 3 Maryland ACC 24–7 At-Large 4 Utah WAC 27–5 Automatic 5 Mississippi State SEC 20–7 At-Large 6 Oregon Pac-10 19–8 At-Large 7 Cincinnati Great Midwest 21–11 At-Large 8 Missouri Big Eight 19–8 At-Large 9 Indiana Big Ten 19–11 At-Large 10 Temple Atlantic 10 19–10 At-Large 11 Texas SWC 22–6 Automatic 12 Santa Clara West Coast 21–6 At-Large 13 Long Beach State Big West 20–9 Automatic 14 Gonzaga West Coast 21–8 Automatic 15 Chattanooga Southern 19–10 Automatic 16 FIU TAAC 11–18 Automatic	valign=top	Midwest Regional – Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Kansas Big Eight 23–5 At-Large 2 Arkansas SEC 27–6 At-Large 3 Purdue Big Ten 24–6 Automatic 4 Virginia ACC 22–8 At-Large 5 Arizona Pac-10 23–7 At-Large 6 Memphis Great Midwest 22–9 At-Large 7 Syracuse Big East 19–9 At-Large 8 Western Kentucky Sun Belt 26–3 Automatic 9 Michigan Big Ten 17–13 At-Large 10 Southern Illinois Missouri Valley 23–8 Automatic 11 Louisville Metro 19–13 Automatic 12 Miami (OH) MAC 22–6 At-Large 13 Nicholls State Southland 24–5 Automatic 14 Green Bay MCC 22–7 Automatic 15 Texas Southern SWAC 22–6 Automatic 16 Colgate Patriot 17–12 Automatic

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

1. Minnesota vacated its NCAA Tournament appearance from the 1994–95 season due to an academic fraud scandal.

Game summaries

East first round

At Albany, New York

East second round

At Albany, New York

National Championship

See main article: article and 1995 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game.

Final Four All-Tournament Team^[5]

Player	Team
Ed O'Bannon	UCLA
	UCLA
	Arkansas
	Arkansas
	Oklahoma State

*Named Most Outstanding Player

See also

• 1995 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1995 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 1995 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 1995 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 1995 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 1995 National Invitation Tournament
• 1995 National Women's Invitation Tournament
• 1995 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1995 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1995 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 1995 NAIA Division II women's basketball tournament

Notes

• March 19, 1995 – A final shot in the second round at The Boise State Pavilion is one of the most memorable moments in NCAA history. UCLA's Tyus Edney dashed the length of the 94-foot court in just over 4 seconds to make a layup that gave the Bruins a 75–74 win over Missouri, which sustained UCLA's run to a national title that year.^[6]
• April 3, 1995 – Ed O'Bannon scored 30 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and is named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player as the Bruins win the championship 89–78 over Arkansas.^[7] Cameron Dollar played 36 minutes and contributed eight assists and four steals while filling in for an injured Edney, who did not return after leaving with 17:23 left in the first half.^[8] The Bruins enjoyed the biggest lead 34–26 in the first half, but led only by a point at halftime 40–39.
• To date, this is the last NCAA men's basketball tournament in which no team seeded lower than #6 reached the Sweet Sixteen.
• Five teams - Colgate, FIU, Gonzaga, Mount St. Mary's and Nicholls State - made their debut in this tournament, all as conference winners. Only FIU has failed to return to the tournament since; Gonzaga would miss the next three tournaments before starting their current streak of making every tournament since 1999.
• The 1995 tournament was the last to feature teams from the Metro and Great Midwest Conferences, as the two would merge later that year to form Conference USA.
  • Tulane, a charter member of the Metro (expelled from the conference from 1985 to 1989 when the Green Wave shuttered their men's basketball program in the wake of a point shaving scandal), has not returned to the NCAA tournament since.

Announcers

Television

Once again, CBS served as broadcasters on television for the tournament.

• Studio: Pat O'Brien (daytime) First round, Regional, Final Four, Jim Nantz (primetime) First round & all of Second Round, and Clark Kellogg.
• Dick Stockton/Jim Nantz and Billy Packer – Stockton/Packer, First & Second Round at Baltimore, Maryland; Nantz/Packer, Midwest Regional at Kansas City, Missouri; Final Four at Seattle, Washington
• Sean McDonough and Bill Raftery – First & Second Round at Dayton, Ohio; Southeast Regional at Birmingham, Alabama
• Verne Lundquist and Quinn Buckner – First & Second Round at Tallahassee, Florida; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Tim Ryan and Al McGuire – First & Second Round at Boise, Idaho; West Regional at Oakland, California
• Mike Gorman and Ann Meyers – First & Second Round at Memphis, Tennessee
• Mike Emrick and George Raveling – First & Second Round at Albany, New York
• Ted Robinson and Derrek Dickey – First & Second Round at Salt Lake City, Utah
• Dave Sims and Dan Bonner – First & Second Round at Austin, Texas

Radio

CBS Radio was once again the radio home for the tournament.

First and second rounds

• John Rooney
• Marty Brennaman
• Gary Cohen and Dave Gavitt – 1st & 2nd Round at Albany, New York
• Wayne Larrivee
• Brad Sham
• Gus Johnson and Reggie Theus

Regionals

• John Rooney
• Marty Brennaman
• Gary Cohen and Dave Gavitt – East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Wayne Larrivee

Final Four

• John Rooney and Bill Raftery – (UCLA-Oklahoma State and championship Game) Final Four at Seattle, Washington
• Marty Brennaman and Ron Franklin – (Arkansas-North Carolina) Final Four at Seattle, Washington

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tournament Is Academic, Off-Season Is Automatic . Hiserman . Mike . . March 10, 1995 . May 21, 2023.
2. Web site: MAYBE BIG SOUTH HASN'T SEEN THE LAST OF CAMPBELL ONE COACH PRIVATELY QUESTIONS MOVE TO NEW LEAGUE . Atkinson . Charlie . . February 24, 1994 . May 21, 2023.
3. Web site: BASKETBALL; If It's Tournament Time, Then It's Time for Duke . . March 10, 1995 . May 21, 2023 . limited.
4. Web site: 1995 men's hoops championship initiated years of success at Valparaiso University . Jankowski . Paul . . March 2, 2012 . May 21, 2023.
5. News: NCAA All-Tournament Teams . April 9, 2013 . FoxNews.com . Associated Press . https://web.archive.org/web/20130411164441/http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/04/09/ncaa-all-tournament-teams/ . April 11, 2013 . live .
6. News: Friend . Tom . N.C.A.A. TOURNAMENT: WEST; U.C.L.A. Dash Knocks Wind Out of Missouri . New York Times . March 20, 1995 . U.C.L.A.'s Tyus Edney ran a 94-foot dash in 4.7 seconds today. That he also managed to toss in a swooping layup left Missouri with its hands over its face . https://web.archive.org/web/20121105141847/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/20/sports/ncaa-tournament-west-ucla-dash-knocks-wind-out-of-missouri.html . November 5, 2012 . live .
7. News: Penner . Mike . Sweetness in Seattle . April 4, 1995 . . https://archive.today/20120701123543/http://articles.latimes.com/print/1995-04-04/sports/sp-50913_1_championship-game . July 1, 2012 . live .
8. News: Dufresne . Chris . A Big Return From Dollar . April 4, 1995 . . https://archive.today/20120710144534/http://articles.latimes.com/print/1995-04-04/sports/sp-50898_1_guard-ucla . July 10, 2012 . live .