2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament


The 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2011-12 season. The 74th edition of the tournament began on March 13, 2012, and concluded with the championship game on April 2, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Final Four consisted of Kentucky, making their second appearance in the Final Four under John Calipari, Louisville, making their second appearance under Rick Pitino and first since 2005, Kansas, making their first appearance since winning the 2008 national championship under head coach Bill Self by defeating Calipari's Memphis team, and Ohio State, making their first appearance since their runner-up finish in 2007 and second under coach Thad Matta. This was the first tournament that both national semifinals and the national championship game were regular season rematches. Kentucky defeated Kansas in the championship game 67–59 to win their first national championship since Tubby Smith led the team there in 1998. This was Calipari's first national championship in four trips to the Final Four, having previously gone there with Kentucky in 2011, Memphis in 2008 and Massachusetts in 1996.
Upsets were once again the story of the tournament in 2012, and for the first time ever two #15 seeds won in the same tournament. In the South Region, #15 Lehigh of the Patriot League defeated #2 Duke. In the West Region, #15 Norfolk State of the MEAC, making their first ever NCAA tournament appearance, defeated #2 Missouri as a 21.5 point underdog, the second biggest upset in terms of point spread in NCAA tournament history, behind Fairleigh Dickinson's defeat of Purdue in 2023, where Purdue was a 23.5 point favorite.
In addition to this, Ohio won a game as a double digit seed for the second time in four tournaments as the #13 seed Bobcats defeated #4 seed Michigan to advance to the third round of the Midwest Region. A team from the First Four games also won in the Round of 64 for the second consecutive year as South Florida defeated Midwest #5 seed Temple, setting up a #12 vs. #13 matchup that Ohio won.
Virginia Commonwealth, a Final Four team from 2011 as an #11 seed, made the 2012 tournament as a #12 seed and once again made the round of 32 by defeating South #5 seed Wichita State. The South Region saw four double digit seeds win in their opening games, as Colorado and Xavier joined VCU and Lehigh as victors. Xavier advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, where they were defeated by Baylor.
Despite the upsets, all four top seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2009. Three made it to the Elite Eight, as only Michigan State of the West Region lost. Kentucky was the only one to advance to the Final Four as Syracuse and North Carolina lost in their regional finals. This would end up being the last Final Four until 2019 that did not include at least one team seeded #7 or higher, and still is the last Final Four to not include at least one team seeded #5 or higher as of the conclusion of the 2024 season.
Two teams made their first NCAA tournament appearances in school history: MEAC champion Norfolk State and Summit League champion South Dakota State. Ivy League champion Harvard made its first appearance since 1946, ending the longest tournament drought in NCAA history.
All four teams from the state of Ohio made it to the Sweet 16, marking the first time in tournament history any state has been represented by four teams in the round of 16. This tournament was also the first tournament since 1985 to feature no teams in the Sweet 16 from the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones.

Tournament procedure

A total of 68 teams entered the tournament. Thirty out of 31 automatic bids were given to the teams that won their conference tournament. The remaining automatic bid was awarded to the Ivy League regular season champion since they do not hold a conference tournament. The remaining 37 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee on March 11.
Eight teams played in the First Four. The winners of those games advanced to the main tournament bracket.
For the first time ever, the Selection Committee publicly disclosed the overall rankings for each team, which are listed below.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2012 tournament:
First Four
First and Second rounds
Regional semifinals and Finals
National semifinals and championship
  • March 31 and April 2
  • *Mercedes-Benz Superdome
New Orleans hosted the Final Four for the fifth time, having previously hosted in 2003.

Qualification and selection teams

Automatic bids

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2012 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.
ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bid
America EastVermont5th2010
Atlantic 10St. Bonaventure6th2000
ACCFlorida State14th2011
Atlantic SunBelmont5th2011
Big 12Missouri25th2011
Big EastLouisville38th2011
Big SkyMontana9th2010
Big SouthUNC Asheville3rd2011
Big TenMichigan State26th2011
Big WestLong Beach State6th2007
ColonialVCU12th2011
C-USAMemphis24th2011
HorizonDetroit6th1999
Ivy LeagueHarvard2nd1946
MAACLoyola 2nd1994
MACOhio12th2010
MEACNorfolk State1stNever
Missouri ValleyCreighton17th2007
Mountain WestNew Mexico13th2010
NortheastLong Island5th2011
Ohio ValleyMurray State15th2010
Pac-12Colorado11th2003
PatriotLehigh5th2010
SECVanderbilt13th2011
SouthernDavidson11th2008
SouthlandLamar6th2000
SWACMississippi Valley State5th2008
SummitSouth Dakota State1stNever
Sun BeltWestern Kentucky22nd2009
West CoastSaint Mary's7th2010
WACNew Mexico State19th2010

Tournament seeds (list by region)

*See First Four.

Bracket

Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight'' Time ''

First Four – Dayton, Ohio

The First Four games involved eight teams: the four overall lowest-ranked teams, and the four lowest-ranked at-large teams.
Both games on March 13 saw historic comebacks:
  • In the opener, Western Kentucky trailed by 16 points with 4:51 remaining before storming back to win 59–58. It was the largest comeback in the last five minutes of an NCAA tournament game; the previous record was 15 by Illinois against Arizona in the 2005 Elite Eight.
  • In the second game of the night, BYU set a record for the largest comeback in an NCAA tournament game, as they were down by 25 points at one point and came back to beat Iona 78–72. The largest previous deficit overcome in the tournament was 22 points by Duke against Maryland in the 2001 national semifinals.
In addition, the March 13 session was notable for the attendance of Barack Obama, president of the United States, and David Cameron, prime minister of Great Britain. Cameron was in the U.S. for bilateral political and economic talks with Obama.

South Regional – Atlanta, Georgia

South Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Quincy Acy, Baylor; Anthony Davis, Kentucky; Doron Lamb, Kentucky; Christian Watford, Indiana.
Regional most outstanding player: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kentucky

West Regional – Phoenix, Arizona

West Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Bradley Beal, Florida; Gorgui Dieng, Louisville; Draymond Green, Michigan State; Peyton Siva, Louisville.
Regional most outstanding player: Chane Behanan, Louisville

East Regional – Boston, Massachusetts