The 1984

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

involved 53 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

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. It began on March 13, 1984, and ended with the championship game on April 2 in

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. A total of 52 games were played. This was the last tournament in which some teams earned first-round byes as the field expanded to 64 teams beginning in the 1985 tournament when each team played in the first round. It was also the second year with a preliminary round; preliminary games would not be played again until

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. Georgetown, coached by John Thompson, won the national title with an 84–75 victory in the final game over

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, coached by Guy Lewis.

Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is a basketball ambassador for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he played most o ...

of Georgetown was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Thompson became the first

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head coach to lead his team to any NCAA Division I title. Georgetown reached the

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for the third time in school history and second time in three years to face

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, a team that had never lost a national semifinal game and was led by the "Twin Towers", Sam Bowie and Melvin Turpin. Bowie and Turpin managed to get Ewing into foul trouble early, and with him on the bench and Reggie Williams shooting only 1-for-7 (14.3%) from the field during the game, the Wildcats raced out to a 27–15 lead with 3:06 left in the first half. After that, however, the Hoyas made a defensive stand still unequalled in college basketball: Kentucky scored only two more points in the first half; the Wildcats also did not score in the first 9 minutes 55 seconds of the second half, missing their first 12 shots and after that shooting 3-for-21 (14.3%) during the remainder of the game. Overall, Kentucky shot 3-for-33 (9.1 percent) from the field during the second half. Although he played for only 17 minutes and suffered a season-ending foot injury in the second half, Gene Smith had one of the best defensive games of his career. Bowie and Turpin finished the game a combined 5-for-21, Wingate scored 12 points and held Kentucky's Jim Master to 2-for-7 (28.6%) shooting from the field,

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scored 12 points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds, and Georgetown won 53–40 to advance to the national final for the third time in school history and second time in three years. In the first national semifinal, Houston, playing in its third consecutive Final Four, edged

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, which reached the Final Four as a No. 7 seed in the East region, 49–47. The Cavaliers reached the national semifinals despite the graduation of four-time All-American Ralph Sampson the previous season. Coincidentally, Houston's All-America center, Akeem Olajuwon, would soon become Sampson's teammate with the

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. In the NCAA final, Georgetown faced

on April 2. Reggie Williams demonstrated his true potential for the first time, putting in a strong defensive performance and shooting 9-for-18 (50.0%) from the field with 19 points and seven rebounds in the game, while David Wingate scored 16 points and Ewing managed 10 points and nine rebounds. Jackson scored 11 points and had six assists, two of which set up Ewing and Michael Graham for decisive baskets late in the game. The game was decided well before the final whistle, and the Hoyas won the school's first national championship 84–75. Late in the game, with Georgetown enjoying a comfortable lead, Thompson began to pull starters out and give bench players some time on the court; the game's enduring image came when senior guard Fred Brown came out of the game. Two years earlier, Brown had mistakenly passed the ball to

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's James Worthy in the last seconds of the 1982 championship game, ruining Georgetown's chances for a final game-winning shot and allowing North Carolina to take the national championship, and cameras had captured Thompson consoling a devastated Brown with a hug as the Tar Heels celebrated. As Brown left the 1984 championship game, cameras caught Brown and Thompson again embracing on the sideline, this time to celebrate a victory.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1984 tournament, and their host(s): Opening Round *March 13 **East/West Regions *** Palestra,

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(Hosts:

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Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

) **Mideast/Midwest Regions ***

University of Dayton Arena University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility hoste ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

(Host:

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...

) First/Second Rounds *March 15 and 17 **East Region *** Charlotte Coliseum,

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(Host:

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte, or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs thr ...

) **Mideast Region *** BJCC Coliseum,

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(Host:

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

) **Midwest Region *** Mid-South Coliseum,

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(Host: Memphis State University) **West Region *** Special Events Center,

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(Host:

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) *March 16 and 18 **East Region ***

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(Host:

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

) **Mideast Region *** MECCA Arena,

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(Hosts: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

) **Midwest Region *** Bob Devaney Sports Center,

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(Host:

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

) **West Region *** Beasley Coliseum,

Pullman, Washington Pullman is the most populous city in Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington within the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. The population was 32,901 at the 2020 census, and estimated to be 32,508 in 2022. Originally founded as ...

(Host:

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

) Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight) *March 22 and 24 **East Regional,

Omni Coliseum Omni Coliseum (often called The Omni) was an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378 for basketball and 15,278 for ice hockey, hockey. It was part of the Omni Complex, now known as the CNN Cente ...

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(Host:

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

) **Mideast Regional, Rupp Arena,

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

(Host:

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

) *March 23 and 25 **Midwest Regional, St. Louis Arena,

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

(Host:

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

) **West Regional, Pauley Pavilion,

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(Host:

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

) National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) *March 31 and April 2 **

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(Host:

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)

Teams

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

Preliminary round

East Regional – Atlanta, Georgia

Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri

# - Memphis State was forced to vacate its NCAA tournament appearance after a massive gambling scandal and criminal investigation into head coach Dana Kirk. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Memphis removing the wins from its own record.

Mideast Regional – Lexington, Kentucky

West Regional – Los Angeles

Final Four

Championship game

Broadcast information

Television

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served as Studio Host * Gary Bender and Billy Packer – first round (Dayton-LSU) at Salt Lake City, Utah; Second Round at Charlotte, North Carolina (North Carolina–Temple, Indiana–Richmond) and Lincoln, Nebraska (DePaul–Illinois State, Wake Forest–Kansas); East Regional semifinal (North Carolina–Indiana) and Regional Final at Atlanta, Georgia; West Regional Final at Los Angeles, California; Final Four at Seattle, Washington * Verne Lundquist and Steve Grote – second round at Memphis, Tennessee (Houston–Louisiana Tech, Memphis State–Purdue) and Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Tulsa–Louisville, Illinois–Villanova); Midwest Regional semifinal (DePaul–Wake Forest) and Regional Final at St. Louis, Missouri * Frank Glieber and Larry Conley – first (Miami of Ohio–SMU) and second (Georgetown–SMU, Duke–Washington) rounds at Pullman, Washington; Mideast Regional Final at Lexington, Kentucky * Dick Stockton and Bill Raftery – second round at East Rutherford, New Jersey (Arkansas–Virginia, Syracuse–VCU); West Regional semifinal (Georgetown–UNLV) at Los Angeles, California * Frank Herzog and

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– second round at Birmingham, Alabama (Kentucky–Brigham Young, Maryland–West Virginia) * Tim Ryan and Lynn Shackelford – second round at Salt Lake City, Utah (Oklahoma–Dayton, UTEP–UNLV) ESPN/ NCAA Productions * Bob Ley served as Studio host and

Dick Vitale Richard "Dick" John Vitale (; born June 9, 1939), also known as "Dickie V", is an American basketball sportscaster. A former head coach in the college and professional ranks, he is well known for his 41-year tenure as a college basketball broadc ...

as Studio analyst * Jim Thacker and Irv Brown – East Regional semifinal (Syracuse–Virginia) at Atlanta, Georgia * Tom Hammond and Larry Conley – preliminary round at Dayton, Ohio; Mideast Regional semifinals at Lexington, Kentucky * Fred White and Gary Thompson – Midwest Regional semifinal (Houston–Memphis State) at St. Louis, Missouri * Mike Walden and Bill Raftery – West Regional semifinal (Washington–Dayton) at Los Angeles, California * Jim Thacker and Jeff Mullins – first round at Charlotte, North Carolina (Temple–St. John's, Auburn–Richmond) * Jim Thacker and Bill Raftery – first round at East Rutherford, New Jersey (VCU–Northeastern, Virginia–Iona) * Fred White and Irv Brown – first round at Birmingham, Alabama (Oregon State–West Virginia, Brigham Young–UAB) * Tom Hammond and Wayne Larrivee – first round at Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Louisville–Morehead State, Villanova–Marshall) * John Sanders and Joe Dean – first round at Memphis, Tennessee (Fresno State–Louisiana Tech, Memphis State–Oral Roberts) * Frank Fallon and Gary Thompson – first round at Lincoln, Nebraska (Illinois State–Alabama, Kansas–Alcorn State) * Mike Walden and Larry Conley – first round at Pullman, Washington (Washington–Nevada) * John Sanders and Bill Raftery – preliminary round at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Local radio

References

{{1984 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball navbox NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

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Basketball competitions in Seattle

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, 1984

Schedule and venues

Teams

Bracket

Preliminary round

East Regional – Atlanta, Georgia

Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri

Mideast Regional – Lexington, Kentucky

West Regional – Los Angeles

Final Four

Championship game

Broadcast information

Television

Local radio

See also

References