2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament


The 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the men's National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college basketball national champion for the 2016–17 season. The 79th edition of the tournament began on March 14, 2017, and concluded with the championship game on April 3 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The championship game was the first to be contested in a Western state since 1995 when Seattle was the host of the Final Four for that year.
In the Final Four, North Carolina beat Oregon while Gonzaga defeated South Carolina. North Carolina then defeated Gonzaga 71–65 to win the national championship.

Tournament procedures

A total of 68 teams entered the 2017 tournament, with all 32 conference tournament winners receiving an automatic bid. The Ivy League, which previously granted its automatic tournament bid to its regular season champion, hosted a postseason tournament to determine a conference champion for the first time. In previous years, had the Ivy League had two schools tied for first in the standings, a one-game playoff determined the automatic bid. On March 10, 2016, the Ivy League's council of presidents approved a four-team tournament where the top four teams in the regular season would play on March 11 and 12 at Philadelphia's Palestra.
The remaining 36 teams received "at-large" bids which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. On January 24, 2016, the NCAA announced that the Selection Committee would, for the first time, unveil in-season rankings of the top four teams in each division on February 11, 2017.
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 draw of the tournament.
The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.
The committee's selections resulted in two historic milestones. The Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten Conference made their first-ever NCAA Tournament in school history, officially becoming the last "power conference" school to make the tournament.. The Wildcats' First Round opponent, the Vanderbilt Commodores of the Southeastern Conference, also made history: with a record of 19–15, they set the mark for the most ever losses for an at-large team in tournament history.
Four conference champions also made their first NCAA appearances: North Dakota, UC Davis, Jacksonville State, and first-year Division I school Northern Kentucky.

2017 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2017 tournament
First Four
First and Second Rounds
Regional Semifinals and Finals
National Semifinals and Championship
The city of Glendale, a Phoenix suburb, became the 30th host city, and the University of Phoenix Stadium became the 39th host venue, to host a Final Four. For the second straight year, no regional games were held in domed stadiums, a move dictated in 2013 by the NCAA to limit use of the stadiums for the regional rounds. The tournament featured two new arenas in previously visited markets. For the first time the tournament was held at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the home of the Indiana Pacers. This marks the first time since 1982 that a venue other than the RCA Dome or Lucas Oil Stadium hosted games within the city of Indianapolis. It also became the fifth venue within the city to host games, temporarily tying Indianapolis with Houston for the most different venues used within a city; Houston will add a sixth venue when the Toyota Center hosts games in the 2020 tournament. The tournament also returned to Sacramento, moving to the brand new Golden 1 Center, home of the Sacramento Kings, replacing Sleep Train Arena as the city's primary indoor sports venue. The 2017 tournament marked the last time that the Bradley Center will be used for tournament games, as it is being replaced by the Fiserv Forum in late 2018. The new Fiserv Forum is scheduled to host the tournament in 2022.
The tournament also saw a shift in location of first round games from Greensboro, North Carolina to Greenville, South Carolina. Greensboro originally was awarded First and Second Round games, but the games were relocated due to NCAA objections over North Carolina's passage of HB2. This was also the first time a South Carolina venue hosted the tournament in 15 years, after the state removed the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State House grounds in July 2015 and the NCAA implemented a policy of not hosting championship games in the state in response to the display in 2002.

Qualification and selection

Eight teams, out of 351 in Division I, were ineligible to participate in the 2017 tournament due to failing to meet APR requirements, self-imposed postseason bans, or reclassification from a lower division. Hawaii had previously been banned from entering the tournament as a penalty for infractions, but the NCAA later reversed its ban.

Automatic qualifiers

The following 32 teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2017 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's automatic bid.
ConferenceTeamAppearanceLast bid
America EastVermont6th2012
AmericanSMU12th2015
Atlantic 10Rhode Island9th1999
ACCDuke41st2016
Atlantic SunFlorida Gulf Coast3rd2016
Big 12Iowa State19th2016
Big EastVillanova37th2016
Big SkyNorth Dakota1stNever
Big SouthWinthrop10th2010
Big TenMichigan27th2016
Big WestUC Davis1stNever
CAAUNC Wilmington6th2016
C-USAMiddle Tennessee9th2016
HorizonNorthern Kentucky1stNever
Ivy LeaguePrinceton25th2011
MAACIona12th2016
MACKent State6th2008
MEACNorth Carolina Central2nd2014
Missouri ValleyWichita State14th2016
Mountain WestNevada7th2007
NECMount St. Mary's5th2014
Ohio ValleyJacksonville State1stNever
Pac-12Arizona34th2016
PatriotBucknell7th2013
SECKentucky57th2016
SouthernEast Tennessee State10th2010
SouthlandNew Orleans5th1996
SWACTexas Southern7th2015
Summit LeagueSouth Dakota State4th2016
Sun BeltTroy2nd2003
WCCGonzaga20th2016
WACNew Mexico State23rd2015

;Notes

Tournament seeds

SeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeOverall rank
1GonzagaWCC32–1Auto4
2ArizonaPac-1230–4Auto6
3Florida StateACC25–8At-Large10
4West VirginiaBig 1226–8At-Large15
5Notre DameACC25–9At-Large19
6MarylandBig Ten24–8At-Large23
7Saint Mary'sWCC28–4At-Large25
8NorthwesternBig Ten23–11At-Large32
9VanderbiltSEC19–15At-Large33
10VCUAtlantic 1026–8At-Large40
11XavierBig East21–13At-Large41
12PrincetonIvy League23–6Auto50
13BucknellPatriot26–8Auto51
14Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun26–7Auto56
15North DakotaBig Sky22–9Auto62
16South Dakota StateSummit League18–16Auto64

SeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeOverall rank
1KansasBig 1228–4At-Large2
2LouisvilleACC24–8At-Large8
3OregonPac-1229–5At-Large9
4PurdueBig Ten25–7At-Large16
5Iowa StateBig 1223–10Auto20
6CreightonBig East25–9At-Large24
7MichiganBig Ten24–11Auto27
8Miami ACC21–11At-Large30
9Michigan StateBig Ten19–14At-Large35
10Oklahoma StateBig 1220–12At-Large37
11Rhode IslandAtlantic 1024–9Auto44
12NevadaMountain West28–6Auto47
13VermontAmerica East29–5Auto53
14IonaMAAC22–12Auto58
15Jacksonville StateOhio Valley20–14Auto61
16*North Carolina CentralMEAC25–8Auto66
16*UC DavisBig West22–12Auto65

SeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeOverall rank
1North CarolinaACC27–7At-Large3
2KentuckySEC29–5Auto5
3UCLAPac-1229–4At-Large11
4ButlerBig East23–8At-Large13
5MinnesotaBig Ten24–9At-Large18
6CincinnatiAmerican29–5At-Large22
7DaytonAtlantic 1024–7At-Large28
8ArkansasSEC25–9At-Large31
9Seton HallBig East21–11At-Large34
10Wichita StateMissouri Valley30–4Auto38
11*Kansas StateBig 1220–13At-Large46
11*Wake ForestACC19–13At-Large43
12Middle TennesseeConference USA30–4Auto48
13WinthropBig South26–6Auto54
14Kent StateMAC22–13Auto57
15Northern KentuckyHorizon24–10Auto59
16Texas SouthernSWAC23–11Auto63

*See First Four

Bracket

All times are listed as Eastern Daylight Time

* – Denotes overtime period

First Four – Dayton, Ohio

Game Summaries

East Regional – New York City, New York

East Regional First Round

East Regional Final

East Regional all tournament team

West Regional First Round

West Regional Final

West Regional all tournament team

Midwest Regional First Round

Midwest Regional Final

Midwest Regional all tournament team

South Regional Final

South Regional all tournament team

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.

University of Phoenix Stadium – Glendale, Arizona

Final four

National Championship

Final Four all-tournament team

Television

and Turner Sports held joint U.S. television broadcast rights to the Tournament under the NCAA March Madness brand. As part of a cycle beginning in 2016, CBS held rights to the Final Four and championship game. As CBS did not want its audience to be diffused across multiple outlets, there were no localized "Team Stream" telecasts of the Final Four or championship games on Turner channels as in previous years.
Following criticism of the two-hour format of the 2016 edition, the Selection Sunday broadcast was shortened to 90 minutes. CBS Sports executive Harold Bryant promised that the unveiling of the bracket would be conducted in an "efficient" manner, and leave more time to discuss and preview the tournament.
had exclusive radio rights to the entire tournament. For the first time in the history of the tournament, broadcasts of the Final Four and championship game were available in Spanish.

First Four

Video

Live video of games was available for streaming through the following means:
Live audio of games was available for streaming through the following means: