2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 2014 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 [2013–14 NCAA Division I men's College basketball|basketball season|2013-14 season]. The 76th annual edition of the tournament began on March 18, 2014, and concluded with the [2014 NCAA NCAA Division I|Division I men's basketball championship game|championship game] on April 7, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The East Regional semifinals and final were held in Madison Square Garden, the first time that arena has been used as an NCAA Tournament venue and the first time in 63 years that tournament games have been held in New York City.
The Final Four consisted of [2013–14 2013–14 Florida Gators men's basketball team|Florida Gators men's basketball team|Florida], making their first appearance since winning their second consecutive championship in 2007, [2013–14 UConn Huskies men's basketball|UConn Huskies men's basketball team|UConn], returning after winning their 2011 national championship, [2013–14 2013–14 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team|Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team|Wisconsin], making their first appearance since 2000, and [2013–14 2013–14 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky], back in the Final Four after winning their 2012 national championship.
With No. 7 seed UConn and No. 8 seed Kentucky reaching the championship game, this tournament's final was the first ever not to include at least one team seeded 1–3. It was also only the third final not to feature a 1 or 2 seed and is the fourth ever. UConn defeated Kentucky in the championship game 60–54, to claim their 4th national championship as in many attempts. UConn was also the first 7 seed ever to reach and win the championship game. The two teams combined for the highest seed total in championship game history with 15. The previous record was held by UConn and Butler in 2011.
The next day, the UConn Huskies women's team won the women's NCAA basketball tournament, only the second time that a school has won both the men's and women's Division I national basketball championships in the same year; UConn first accomplished this in 2004.

Tournament procedure

For 2014 the selection committee picked a total of 68 teams that would enter the 2014 tournament, of which 32 were "automatic bids" while the remaining 36 were "at large" bids which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee on the Sunday preceding the First Four play-in tournament and dubbed Selection Sunday by the media and fans. The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.
Eight teams – the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams – played in the First Four. The winners of those games advanced to the main draw of the tournament.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2014 tournament:
First Four

March 18 and 19
*University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio

First and Second rounds

March 20 and 22
*First Niagara Center, Buffalo, New York
*Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
*Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
*Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington
March 21 and 23
*PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
*AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
*Viejas Arena, San Diego, California
*Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri

Regional semifinals and finals

March 27 and 29
*South Regional, FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee
*West Regional, Honda Center, Anaheim, California
March 28 and 30
*East Regional, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
*Midwest Regional, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana

National semifinals and championship

April 5 and 7
*AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Qualified teams

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams are automatic qualifiers for the 2014 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.

Conference	Team	Appearance	Last bid
ACC	[2013–14 2013–14 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team\|Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team\|Virginia]	18th	2012
America East	Albany	4th	2013
American	[2013–14 2013–14 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team\|Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team\|Louisville]	40th	2013
Atlantic 10	Saint Joseph's	20th	2008
Atlantic Sun	Mercer	3rd	1985
Big 12	[2013–14 2013–14 Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team\|Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team\|Iowa State]	16th	2013
Big East	Providence	16th	2004
Big Sky	Weber State	15th	2007
Big South	Coastal Carolina	3rd	1993
Big Ten	[2013–14 2013–14 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team\|Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team\|Michigan State]	28th	2013
Big West	[2013–14 2013–14 Cal Poly Mustangs men's basketball team\|Cal Poly Mustangs men's basketball team\|Cal Poly]	1st	Never
Colonial	Delaware	5th	1999
C-USA	Tulsa	15th	2003
Horizon	[2013–14 2013–14 Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball team\|Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball team\|Milwaukee]	4th	2006
Ivy League	Harvard	4th	2013
MAAC	Manhattan	7th	2004
MAC	[2013–14 Western Michigan Wolverines men's basketball\|Michigan Broncos men's basketball team\|Western Michigan]	4th	2004
MEAC	North Carolina Central	1st	Never
Missouri Valley	Wichita State	11th	2013
Mountain West	New Mexico	15th	2013
Northeast	Mount St. Mary's	4th	2008
Ohio Valley	Eastern Kentucky	8th	2007
Pac-12	UCLA	46th	2013
Patriot	American	3rd	2009
SEC	Florida	19th	2013
[2014 2014 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament\|Southern Conference men's basketball tournament\|Southern]	Wofford	3rd	2011
Southland	Stephen F. Austin	2nd	2009
SWAC	[2013–14 2013–14 Texas Southern Tigers men's basketball team\|Texas Southern Tigers men's basketball team\|Texas Southern]	5th	2003
Summit	North Dakota State	2nd	2009
Sun Belt	Louisiana–Lafayette	6th	2000
West Coast	Gonzaga	17th	2013
WAC	New Mexico State	21st	2013

Tournament seeds

Florida was the overall 1 seed for the second time, the other being 2007 when they repeated as national champions. Arizona was a 1 seed for the 6th time in school history. They lost in the West regional final for the 3rd straight time as a 1 seed, all games being played in Anaheim. Virginia was a 1 seed for the 4th time in school history, their first since three straight 1 seeds in 1981, 1982, and 1983.

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.

South Regional – Memphis, Tennessee

South Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Michael Frazier II, Florida; Devin Oliver, Dayton; Dyshawn Pierre, Dayton; Dwight Powell, Stanford
Regional most outstanding player: Scottie Wilbekin, Florida

East Regional – New York City, New York

East Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: DeAndre Daniels, UConn; Gary Harris, Michigan State; Dustin Hogue, Iowa State; Adreian Payne, Michigan State
Regional most outstanding player: Shabazz Napier, UConn

West Regional – Anaheim, California

West Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Aaron Gordon, Arizona; Traevon Jackson, Wisconsin; Nick Johnson, Arizona; Xavier Thames, San Diego State
Regional most outstanding player: Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin

Midwest Regional – Indianapolis, Indiana

On February 20, 2018, the NCAA announced that the wins and records for Louisville's 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, and 2014–15 seasons were vacated due to the sex scandal at Louisville. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Louisville removing the wins from its own record.

Midwest Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Aaron Harrison, Kentucky; Marcus Lee, Kentucky; Caris LeVert, Michigan; Nik Stauskas, Michigan
Regional most outstanding player: Julius Randle, Kentucky

Final Four

During the Final Four round, regardless of the seeds of the participating teams, the champion of the top overall top seed's region plays against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region, and the champion of the second overall top seed's region plays against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region. Florida was selected as the top overall seed, and Virginia was named as the No. 4 overall seed. Thus, the South champion played the East Champion in one semifinal game, and the West Champion faced the Midwest Champion in the other semifinal game. The overall No. 1 seed Florida lost only two games during the regular season: to West Champion Wisconsin and to East Champion UConn; Florida also played and beat Midwest Champion Kentucky twice during the regular season and again in the conference championship game.

Game summaries

Final Four all-tournament team

Julius Randle, Kentucky
James Young, Kentucky
Ryan Boatright, UConn
DeAndre Daniels, UConn
Shabazz Napier, UConn, Most Outstanding Player

Tournament notes

Wichita State became the first team since UNLV in 1991 to go into the tournament undefeated. The Shockers entered the tournament 34–0. Their perfect record of 35–0 was spoiled by Kentucky in the second round. Kentucky in turn set an NCAA-men's-record 38 straight wins to start a season the next year.
Kentucky became the first team to field all-freshman starters at the Final Four and championship games since the 1991–92 Michigan Wolverines under the Fab Five. The 1992 Final Four and championship appearances by Michigan were subsequently vacated.
MEAC champion North Carolina Central University and Big West champion Cal Poly made their first NCAA Division I tournament appearances.
For only the second time since 1973 no teams from the state of Indiana were in the tournament.
There were five overtime games in the second round of the tournament, the most overtime games ever in tournament history. In contrast, the previous two tournaments had two overtime games combined.
North Dakota State's victory against Oklahoma secured the first tournament win for the state of North Dakota. Mercer, Stephen F. Austin, Albany, and Cal Poly had their first NCAA tournament wins. Cal Poly's victory over Texas Southern marked only the third time a team with a losing record won a game in the tournament.

Upsets

Per the NCAA, "Upsets are defined as when the winner of the game was seeded five or more places lower than the team it defeated." The 2014 tournament saw a total of 13 upsets; 6 of them were in the first round, 4 of them were in the second round, none in the Sweet Sixteen, one in the Elite Eight, and 2 in the Final Four.

Record by conference

The R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the round of 64, round of 32, Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.
The "Record" column includes wins in the first round for ACC, America East, Big West, and SEC.
The "Record" column also includes losses in the first round for Big East and Big 10.
The SWAC and NEC each had one representative, eliminated in the first round with a record of 0–1.
The MAAC, OVC, WAC, Patriot League, Colonial, Sun Belt, Big Sky, Horizon League, Big South, Southern Conference, MAC, C-USA, and MEAC each had one representative, eliminated in the second round with a record of 0–1.

Media coverage

Television

The year 2014 marked the fourth year of a 14-year partnership between CBS and Turner cable networks TBS, TNT and truTV to cover the entire tournament under the NCAA March Madness banner. TBS aired the Final Four for the first year since CBS' 32 consecutive years of airing. The tournament was considered a ratings success. Tournament games averaged 10.5 million viewers, and the championship game garnered an average of 21.2 million viewers and a peak viewership of 24.3 million.

First Four truTV
Second and third rounds CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV
Regional semifinals and Finals CBS and TBS
National semifinals TBS, TNT, truTV
*TBS provided traditional coverage; TNT and truTV each gave [|team-specific broadcasts].
National Championship CBS

Studio hosts

Greg Gumbel – second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Ernie Johnson Jr. – second round, third round, regional semi-finals, Final Four and national championship game
Matt Winer – First Four, second round and third round

Studio analysts

Charles Barkley – second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Mateen Cleaves – third round
Seth Davis – First Four, second round, third round, regional semi-finals, Final Four and national championship game
Doug Gottlieb – regional semi-finals
Grant Hill – First Four, second round, third round, regional semi-finals, Final Four and national championship game
Clark Kellogg – second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Reggie Miller – Final Four
Kenny Smith – second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Steve Smith – First Four, second round, third round and regional semi-finals
Buzz Williams – third round

Commentary teams

Jim Nantz/Greg Anthony/Steve Kerr/Tracy Wolfson – Second and third round at St. Louis, Missouri; Midwest Regional at Indianapolis, Indiana; Final Four at Arlington, Texas

Kerr joined Nantz and Anthony during the Final Four and national championship games

Marv Albert/Steve Kerr/Craig Sager – Second and third round at San Antonio, Texas; West Regional at Anaheim, California
Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery/Allie LaForce – Second and third round at Buffalo, New York; East Regional at New York City, New York
Kevin Harlan/Len Elmore/Reggie Miller/Rachel Nichols – First Four at Dayton, Ohio; Second and third round at Raleigh, North Carolina; South Regional at Memphis, Tennessee
Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel/Lewis Johnson – Second and third round at Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Brian Anderson/Dan Bonner/Kristine Leahy – First Four at Dayton, Ohio; Second and third round at Orlando, Florida
Spero Dedes/Doug Gottlieb/Jaime Maggio – Second and third round at Spokane, Washington
Andrew Catalon/Mike Gminski/Otis Livingston – Second and third round at San Diego, California
Team casts

For the first time in the history of the tournament, Turner broadcast the semifinals. TBS aired the traditional neutral broadcast. However, Turner also distributed team-centered broadcasts for the Final Four broadcasts on TNT and truTV. The announcers for these broadcasts are as follows:

David Steele/Mark Wise/James Bates Florida Teamcast on TNT
Eric Frede/Donny Marshall/Swin Cash UConn Teamcast on truTV
Rob Bromley/Rex Chapman/Dave Baker Kentucky Teamcast on TNT
Wayne Larrivee/Mike Kelley/Phil Dawson Wisconsin Teamcast on truTV

International

ESPN International distributes broadcast rights to the tournament outside the United States, and will produce separate international broadcasts of the semi-final and championship games with announcers Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale, and Jay Bilas. For the initial rounds, they use CBS/Turner coverage with an additional host to transition between games, with whiparound coverage similar to the CBS-only era. ESPN also has exclusive digital rights to the NCAA tournament outside of North America.
In Canada, the broadcasting rights are with TSN. In The Philippines it's aired on TV5.

Radio

Westwood One has exclusive national radio rights to the entire tournament. Team radio networks also hold the rights to broadcast their teams through their entire progression within the tournament and no flagship restrictions. However men's team radio networks cannot stream the games online during the NCAA tournament. WestwoodOne is the only group authorized to stream the tournament online.

First Four

John Tautges and Kyle Macy – at Dayton, Ohio

Second and Third rounds

Gary Cohen and Kevin Grevey – Buffalo, New York
Wayne Larrivee and Kelly Tripucka – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Tom McCarthy and Donny Marshall – Orlando, Florida
Ted Robinson and P. J. Carlesimo – Spokane, Washington
Scott Graham and John Thompson – Raleigh, North Carolina
Brad Sham and Will Perdue – San Antonio, Texas
Dave Sims and Bill Frieder – San Diego, California
Kevin Kugler and Jim Jackson – St. Louis, Missouri

Regionals

Ian Eagle and John Thompson – East Regional at New York City, New York
Kevin Kugler and P. J. Carlesimo – Midwest Regional at Indianapolis, Indiana
Gary Cohen and Will Perdue – South Regional at Memphis, Tennessee
Ted Robinson and Bill Frieder – West Regional at Anaheim, California

Final four

Kevin Kugler, John Thompson, Bill Raftery, and Jim Gray – Arlington, Texas