1995 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament


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. The 57th annual edition of the tournament 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 [1994–95 1994–95 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team|UCLA Bruins men's basketball team|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 [1994–95 1994–95 Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team|Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team|Arkansas], the defending national champions.
The championship game saw UCLA win their eleventh national championship and first 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
Regional semifinals and finals
National semifinals and championship

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.
Four conferences, the American West Conference, Big South Conference, Great Midwest Conference, and Mid-Continent Conference, did not receive automatic bids to the tournament.
Five conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Colgate, FIU, Gonzaga, Mount St. Mary's, and Nicholls State.

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

# 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

PlayerTeam
Ed O'Bannon*UCLA
Toby BaileyUCLA
Corliss WilliamsonArkansas
Clint McDanielArkansas
Bryant ReevesOklahoma State

*Named Most Outstanding Player

Announcers

Television

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

Radio

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

First and second rounds

Regionals

Final Four