2015 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 2015 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 2014–15 season. The 77th edition of the tournament began on March 17, 2015, and concluded with the championship game on April 6, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Final Four consisted of [2014–15 2014–15 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky], [2014–15 2014–15 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team|Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team|Wisconsin], making their second consecutive trip to the Final Four, [2014–15 2014–15 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team|Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team|Michigan State], making their first Final Four since 2010 and the 7th under head coach Tom Izzo, and [2014–15 2014–15 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team|Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team|Duke], making their first appearance since their 2010 national championship. Duke defeated Wisconsin in the championship game, 68–63, clinching their 5th national championship under Mike Krzyzewski. Tyus Jones of Duke was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Unlike the past three tournaments, this tournament featured fewer upsets, with 7. However, for the first time since the 1995 tournament, two of the No. 14 seeds won in the same tournament. In the West Region, #14 [2014–15 Georgia State Panthers men's basketball|Georgia State Panthers men's basketball team|Georgia State] of the Sun Belt Conference defeated #3 [2014–15 2014–15 Baylor Bears basketball team|Baylor Bears basketball team|Baylor]. In the South Region, #14 [2014–15 2014–15 UAB Blazers men's basketball team|UAB Blazers men's basketball team|UAB] of Conference USA defeated #3 [2014–15 2014–15 Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team|Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team|Iowa State].
Three teams made their NCAA tournament debuts, North Florida from the Atlantic Sun Conference, UC Irvine from the Big West Conference, and [2014–15 2014–15 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team|Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team|Buffalo] from the Mid-American Conference.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2015 tournament:
[|First Four]

March 17 and 18
*[UD Arena|University of 2014–15 Dayton Flyers men's basketball team|Dayton Arena], Dayton, Ohio

First and Second rounds

March 19 and 21
*Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida
*KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
*Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
*Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
March 20 and 22
*Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
*Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
*CenturyLink Center Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska
*KeyArena, Seattle, Washington

Regional semifinals and Finals

March 26 and 28
*Midwest Regional, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
*West Regional, Staples Center, Los Angeles
March 27 and 29
*East Regional, Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York
*South Regional, NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas

National semifinals and championship

April 4 and 6
*Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis hosted the Final Four for the seventh time, having previously hosted in 2010, and also the second Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Qualifying and selection procedure

Out of 333 eligible Division I teams, 68 participated in the tournament. Eighteen Division I teams were ineligible due to failing to meet APR requirements, self-imposed postseason bans, or reclassification from a lower division.
Of the 32 automatic bids, 31 were given to programs that won their conference tournaments. The Ivy League did not hold a tournament, but held a one-game playoff to break a tie in the regular season conference standings, with the winner receiving the automatic bid. The remaining 36 bids were granted on an "at-large" basis, which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee to the teams it deemed to be the best 36 teams that did not receive automatic bids.
Eight teams—the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams—played in the First Four. The winners of these games advanced to the main tournament bracket.
The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 68.

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams are automatic qualifiers for the 2015 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's automatic bid.

Conference	Team	Appearance	Last bid
ACC	[2014–15 2014–15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team\|Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team\|Notre Dame]	34th	2013
America East	Albany	5th	2014
A–10	VCU	14th	2014
American	[2014–15 2014–15 SMU Mustangs men's basketball team\|SMU Mustangs men's basketball team\|SMU]	11th	1993
Atlantic Sun	North Florida	1st	Never
Big 12	[2014–15 2014–15 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team\|Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team\|Iowa State]	17th	2014
Big East	[2014–15 2014–15 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team\|Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team\|Villanova]	34th	2014
Big Sky	Eastern Washington	2nd	2004
Big South	Coastal Carolina	4th	2014
[2015 2015 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament\|Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament\|Big Ten]	Wisconsin	21st	2014
Big West	UC Irvine	1st	Never
Colonial	Northeastern	8th	1991
C-USA	UAB	15th	2011
Horizon	Valparaiso	9th	2013
Ivy League	[2014–15 2014–15 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team\|Harvard Crimson men's basketball team\|Harvard]	5th	2014
MAAC	Manhattan	8th	2014
MAC	Buffalo	1st	Never
MEAC	Hampton	5th	2011
Missouri Valley	Northern Iowa	7th	2010
Mountain West	Wyoming	15th	2002
Northeast	Robert Morris	8th	2010
Ohio Valley	Belmont	7th	2013
Pac-12	[2014–15 2014–15 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team\|Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team\|Arizona]	30th	2014
Patriot	Lafayette	4th	2000
SEC	Kentucky	55th	2014
Southern	Wofford	4th	2014
Southland	Stephen F. Austin	3rd	2014
SWAC	Texas Southern	6th	2014
Summit	North Dakota State	3rd	2014
[2015 2015 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament\|Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament\|Sun Belt]	Georgia State	3rd	2001
West Coast	[2014–15 2014–15 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team\|Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team\|Gonzaga]	18th	2014
WAC	New Mexico State	22nd	2014

Tournament seeds

Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Overall rank
1	Wisconsin	Big Ten	31–3	Auto	4
2	Arizona	Pac-12	31–3	Auto	6
3	Baylor	Big 12	24–9	At-large	10
4	[2014–15 2014–15 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team\|North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team\|North Carolina]	ACC	24–11	At-large	13
5	Arkansas	SEC	26–8	At-large	18
6	Xavier	Big East	21–13	At-large	24
7	VCU	Atlantic 10	26–9	Auto	28
8	[2014–15 2014–15 Oregon Ducks men's basketball team\|Oregon Ducks men's basketball team\|Oregon]	Pac-12	25–9	At-large	30
9	Oklahoma State	Big 12	18–13	At-large	34
10	Ohio State	Big Ten	23–10	At-large	39
11*	Mississippi	SEC	20–12	At-large	43
11*	BYU	West Coast	25–9	At-large	44
12	Wofford	Southern	28–6	Auto	49
13	Harvard	Ivy	22–7	Auto	52
14	Georgia State	Sun Belt	24–9	Auto	55
15	Texas Southern	SWAC	22–12	Auto	61
16	Coastal Carolina	Big South	24–9	Auto	64

Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Overall rank
1	Duke	ACC	29–4	At-large	3
2	Gonzaga	West Coast	32–2	Auto	7
3	Iowa State	Big 12	25–8	Auto	9
4	Georgetown	Big East	21–10	At-large	16
5	Utah	Pac-12	24–8	At-large	17
6	SMU	American	27–6	Auto	21
7	Iowa	Big Ten	21–11	At-large	27
8	San Diego State	Mountain West	26–8	At-large	32
9	St. John's	Big East	21–11	At-large	33
10	Davidson	Atlantic 10	24–7	At-large	38
11	[2014–15 2014–15 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team\|UCLA Bruins men's basketball team\|UCLA]	Pac-12	20–13	At-large	42
12	Stephen F. Austin	Southland	29–4	Auto	50
13	Eastern Washington	Big Sky	26–8	Auto	53
14	UAB	C-USA	19–15	Auto	57
15	North Dakota State	Summit	23–9	Auto	62
16*	North Florida	Atlantic Sun	23–11	Auto	65
16*	Robert Morris	NEC	19–14	Auto	66

*See First Four
Since the 2004 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the four 1 seeds have been seeded overall. This was the third time Kentucky was the overall top seed. The previous time was in the 2012 tournament. Duke was the overall 3 seed for the fourth time, previously advancing to the Final Four in two of those years: 2004 and 2010. Villanova was a 1 seed for the second time in school history; 2006 was the other time. This was the first 1 seed for Wisconsin.

Bracket

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.

Midwest Regional – Cleveland, Ohio

Midwest Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Pat Connaughton, Notre Dame; Zach Auguste, Notre Dame; Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky; Andrew Harrison, Kentucky
Regional most outstanding player: Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky

West Regional – Los Angeles, California

West Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin; Josh Gasser, Wisconsin; T. J. McConnell, Arizona; Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Arizona
Regional most outstanding player: Sam Dekker, Wisconsin

East Regional – Syracuse, New York

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.

East Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Denzel Valentine, Michigan State; Terry Rozier, Louisville; Montrezl Harrell, Louisville; Wayne Blackshear, Louisville
Regional most outstanding player: Travis Trice, Michigan State.

South Regional – Houston, Texas

South Regional all-tournament team

Regional all-tournament team: Matt Jones, Duke; Justise Winslow, Duke; Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga; Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga
Regional most outstanding player: Tyus Jones, Duke

Final Four

[file:04062015 Duke Wisconsin Pregame.jpg|thumb|250px|Lucas Oil Stadium before the national championship game between Duke and Wisconsin]
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.

Game summaries

Final Four all-tournament team

Sam Dekker, Wisconsin
Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
Grayson Allen, Duke
Justise Winslow, Duke
Tyus Jones, Duke, Most Outstanding Player

Tournament notes

Kentucky entered the tournament unbeaten. After 22 years without an unbeaten team in the tournament, following UNLV in 1991, this is the second consecutive tournament with an unbeaten team. The Wildcats, by beating Cincinnati in the third round, set an NCAA men's record with 36 straight wins to start a season. They would win two more before Wisconsin upset them in the Final Four.
Defending national champion UConn did not qualify.
[2014–15 2014–15 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team|Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team|Kansas] extended its streak of consecutive tournament appearances to 26 in a row. They have made each NCAA Tournament dating back to 1990. Kansas would qualify again the next two seasons to set the record for consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances formerly held by North Carolina.
With both Buffalo and Albany winning their respective conferences and reaching the tournament, this is the first time two schools in the State University of New York system have reached the Division I tournament in the same year.
Two teams broke appearance droughts of over 20 years with their bids: Colonial Athletic Association champion Northeastern made its first NCAA appearance since 1991, and American champion Southern Methodist made its first NCAA appearance since 1993.
Harvard and Yale played a one-game playoff at the Palestra. Harvard won in dramatic fashion.
Dayton played a First Four game at their home arena, which is usually not allowed during the men's tournament. The NCAA selection committee indicated that putting Dayton in its home arena "falls within the context" of the committee's procedures.
Of the sixteen games played on March 19, five were decided by one point, a single-day record.
For the first time since 2007 and the fourth time since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, all four 5 seeds won their Second Round games. This was also the first time since 2007 that there were four 4 vs. 5 matchups in the third round.
On March 20, all but one "chalk" team won their game, compared to the four upsets the previous day.
Michigan State reached its seventh Final Four in the last 18 seasons—the best mark in the nation during that time span.
For the first time since 2009, multiple 1 seeds reached the Final Four.
For the first time since 2008, two 1 seeds reached the Championship, between Kansas and Memphis.
Wisconsin was in its first final since 1941, and lost; and Duke in its first final since 2010, and won.
The Wisconsin loss extended the Big Ten Conference's losing streak in national championship games to six. As of 2015, Michigan State is the last Big Ten team to win a National Championship, having done so in 2000.

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 2015 tournament saw a total of 7 upsets; 4 of them were in the first round and 3 of them were in the second round.

Round	Midwest	West	East	South
First round	None	No. 14 Georgia State defeated No. 3 Baylor, 57–56	No. 11 Dayton defeated No. 6 Providence, 66–53
Second Round	No. 7 Wichita State defeated No. 2 Kansas, 78–65	None		None
Sweet 16	None	None	None	None
Elite 8	None	None	None	None

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 Four for Atlantic 10, MEAC, NEC, and SEC.
The Atlantic Sun and MAAC each had one representative, eliminated in the First Four with a record of 0-1.
The America East, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon League, Ivy, MAC, OVC, Patriot League, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, and WAC each had one representative, eliminated in the second round with a record of 0–1.

Media coverage

Story headlines

The round of 64 started off with multiple upsets with majority of the upsets coming out of the Big 12 conference. The television coverages of CBS and Turner had one of the best overall ratings on March 20, 2015. According to Nielsen estimates, exclusive coverage of the opening full round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV averaged a 6.6 overnight household rating/14 share — up 10% from last year and the highest since the tournament expanded to four telecast windows for the entire day.
One of the upsets that happened was UAB upsetting No. 3 seed Iowa State 60–59. The 19-15 UAB Blazers qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011 by winning three-straight to earn the Conference USA tournament title and an automatic bid.
Baylor, a No. 3 seed, took on No. 14 seed Georgia State and with less than three minutes to go, Georgia State staged a 13–0 run to beat Baylor. "The comeback was punctuated with a three by R. J. Hunter, son of stool-bound coach Ron Hunter, that has already produced a moment sure to go down in history – the elder Hunter, who already tore his Achilles celebrating the team's Sun Belt conference tourney victory, fell off that stool in ecstasy after his son's three dropped to give the Panthers the 57-56 lead that would be the final margin," according to Andy Hutchins.
However, the most talked about headline was UCLA not only making the tournament despite a poor performance in the Pac-12, but also with a call with 13 seconds left when UCLA took on SMU and coach Larry Brown. A late second goaltending that cost SMU the game sparked a lot of attention in sports media and social media. The Bruins moved on to play UAB in the round of 32. Both teams played each other earlier in the season, when UCLA beat the Blazers 88–76 in the Bahamas back in November. Sam Vecenie a CBS writer, was quoted saying, "Funny part of that story? It was the last-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Cool to see how these two teams have turned around their season."

Television

The year 2015 marked the fifth 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 second consecutive year.

First Four – truTV
Second and third rounds – CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV
Regional semifinals and Finals – CBS and TBS/2015 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament National Championship – CBS
National semifinals – TBS, TNT, truTV
*TBS provided traditional coverage; TNT and truTV each gave [|team-specific broadcasts].
National Championship – CBS
Reese's College Basketball All Star Game– 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 – First Four, second round and third round
Seth Davis – First Four, second round, third round, regional semi-finals, Final Four and national championship game
Jamie Dixon – second round
Doug Gottlieb – Regionals
Anthony Grant – second round
Ron Hunter – regional semi-finals
Clark Kellogg – second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Reggie Miller – Final Four and national championship game
Wally Szczerbiak – First Four and Second Round
Kenny Smith – second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Steve Smith – regional semi-finals, Final Four and national championship game
Buzz Williams – second round

Commentary teams

Jim Nantz/Bill Raftery/Grant Hill/Tracy Wolfson – First and Second Rounds at Charlotte, North Carolina; South Regional at Houston, Texas; Final Four and National Championship at Indianapolis, Indiana
Marv Albert or Brian Anderson/Chris Webber/Len Elmore/Lewis Johnson – First and Second Rounds at Omaha, Nebraska; Midwest Regional at Cleveland, Ohio
*Anderson called the Midwest Regional final after Albert withdrew from the game due to illness.
Verne Lundquist/Jim Spanarkel/Allie LaForce – First and Second Rounds at Louisville, Kentucky; East Regional at Syracuse, New York
Kevin Harlan/Reggie Miller/Dan Bonner/Rachel Nichols – First and Second Rounds at Portland, Oregon; West Regional at Los Angeles, California
Ian Eagle/Doug Gottlieb/Evan Washburn – First Four at Dayton, Ohio; First and Second Rounds at Columbus, Ohio
Brian Anderson/Steve Smith/Lewis Johnson or Dana Jacobson – First Four at Dayton, Ohio; First and Second Rounds at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Spero Dedes/Mike Gminski/Jaime Maggio – First and Second Rounds at Seattle, Washington
Andrew Catalon/Steve Lappas/Jamie Erdahl – First and Second Rounds at Jacksonville, Florida

Sources:

''Team Stream'' broadcasts

For the second consecutive year, the semifinals were exclusive to cable, with TBS airing the standard broadcast with Nantz, Raftery, Hill, and Wolfson. TNT and TruTV aired Team Stream by Bleacher Report broadcasts, which featured localized commentary and features with specific focuses on each participating team.

Tom Werme/Alaa Abdelnaby/Chris Spatola – Duke Team Stream on TNT
Brian Anderson/Mateen Cleaves/Shireen Saski – Michigan State Team Stream on truTV
Dave Baker/Rex Chapman/Michael Eaves – Kentucky Team Stream on TNT
Wayne Larrivee/Mike Kelley/Phil Dawson – Wisconsin Team Stream on truTV

Radio

Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the entire tournament.

First Four

Brandon Gaudin and Alaa Abdelnaby – at Dayton, Ohio

Second and Third rounds

Tom McCarthy and Donny Marshall – Jacksonville, Florida
John Sadak and Bill Frieder – Louisville, Kentucky
Scott Graham and Kevin Grevey – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Wayne Larrivee and Mike Montgomery – Portland, Oregon
Gary Cohen and Kelly Tripucka – Charlotte, North Carolina
Dave Sims and Jim Jackson – Columbus, Ohio
Kevin Kugler and Will Perdue – Omaha, Nebraska
Kevin Calabro and P. J. Carlesimo – Seattle, Washington

Regionals

Ian Eagle and P. J. Carlesimo – East Regional at Syracuse, New York
Gary Cohen and Bill Frieder – Midwest Regional at Cleveland, Ohio
Kevin Kugler and Will Perdue – South Regional at Houston, Texas
Wayne Larrivee and Donny Marshall – West Regional at Los Angeles, California

Final Four

Kevin Kugler, Clark Kellogg, and Jim Gray – Indianapolis, Indiana