The 1992 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 19, 1992, and ended with the championship game on April 6 in Minneapolis. A total of 63 games were played.
Duke, coached by Mike Krzyzewski, defeated Michigan, coached by Steve Fisher, 71–51 to claim their second consecutive national championship.[1] Bobby Hurley of Duke was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Michigan subsequently vacated its final two tournament games due to issues with the eligibility of Chris Webber found in the University of Michigan basketball scandal.
This tournament is best remembered for the East regional final pitting Duke and Kentucky at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. With 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Duke trailed 103–102. Grant Hill threw a pass the length of the court to Christian Laettner, who dribbled once, turned, and hit a jumper as time expired for the 104–103 win. Sports Illustrated deemed it the greatest college basketball game of all time,[2] and ESPN ranked it No. 17 among the top 100 sports moments of the past 25 years (see ESPN25). In 2002, USA Today ranked it the greatest NCAA tournament game of all time.[3]
The tournament also saw dark horse Cincinnati crash the Final Four and return to national prominence.
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1992 tournament:
First and Second Rounds
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)
There were 30 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 27 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).
Three conferences, the East Coast Conference, Great Midwest Conference, and Metro Conference, did not receive automatic bids to the tournament. This meant that the play-in games played prior to the 1991 tournament were not necessary for the 1992 tournament.[4]
Three conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Campbell (Big South), Delaware (NAC), and Eastern Illinois (Mid-Continent). Additionally, Tulane received an at-large bid for its first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
# — New Mexico State vacated its appearance in the 1992 NCAA tournament due to sanctions from the Neil McCarthy scandal. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with New Mexico State removing the wins from its own record.
# — signifies Michigan's final two games, in the 1992 Final Four, were vacated on November 7, 2002, as part of the settlement of the University of Michigan basketball scandal. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with the removal of any Michigan wins from all records.
