1979 NCAA Tournament

Kronish Sports

1979 NCAA Tournament (March Madness)

Play In Round Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet 16 Elite 8 Final 4

Winning Team highlighted in Green Box

It began on March 9 and ended with the championship game on March 26 in Salt Lake City. A total of 40 games were played, including a national third-place game.

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1979 tournament:

First Year of Regional Seeding

First Round

945

East REGIONAL March 9
Favorite	Site	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score
	Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North C	7	Temple	10	St. John's	75-70
	Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North C	8	Iona	9	Penn	73-69

Mideast REGIONAL March 9
Favorite	Site	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score
	Murphy Center, Murfreesboro, Tennessee	7	Detroit	10	Lamar	95-87
	Murphy Center, Murfreesboro, Tennessee	8	Tennessee	9	Eastern Kentucky	97-81

Midwest REGIONAL March 9
Favorite	Site	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score
	Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas	7	Weber State	10	New Mexico State	81-78 (OT)
	Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas	8	Virginia Tech	9	Jacksonville	70-53

West REGIONAL March 9
Favorite	Site	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score
	Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles	7	Southern Cal	10	Utah State	86-67
	Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles	8	Utah 88 (OT)	9	Pepperdine	92-88 (OT)

Round of 32

East REGIONAL
Favorite	Site	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
March 11	Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North C	1	#9 72, #1 No. Carolina 71	9	Penn	72-71
March 11	Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North C	2	#10 80, #2 Duke 78	10	St. John's	80-78
March 10	Providence Civic Center	3	#6 64, #3 Georgetown 58	6	Rutgers	64-58
March 10	Providence Civic Center	4	#4 Syracuse 89, #5 81	5	Connecticut	89-81

Mideast REGIONAL
Favorite	Site	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
March 11	Murphy Center, Murfreesboro, Tennessee	1	Notre Dame	8	Tennessee	73-67
March 11	Murphy Center, Murfreesboro, Tennessee	2	Michigan State	10	Lamar	95-64
March 10	Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana	3	Louisiana State	6	Appalachian State	71-57
March 10	Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana	4	Iowa	5	Toledo	74-72

Midwest REGIONAL
Favorite	Site	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
March 11	Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas	1	Indiana State	8	Virginia Tech	86-69
March 11	Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas	2	Arkansas	7	Weber State	74-63
March 10	Moody Coliseum, Dallas, Texas	3	Louisville	6	South Alabama	69-66
March 10	Moody Coliseum, Dallas, Texas	4	Texas	5	Oklahoma	90-76

West REGIONAL
Favorite	Site	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
March 10	Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles	1	UCLA	9	Pepperdine	7671
March 10	Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles	2	DePaul	7	Southern Cal	89-78
March 10	McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona	3	Marquette	6	Pacific	73-48
March 10	McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona	4	San Francisco	5	Brigham Young	86-63

Sweet 16

East REGIONAL at Greensboro Memorial Coliseum March 16
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	4	Syracuse	9	Penn	84-76
	6	Rutgers	10	St. John's	67-65

Mideast REGIONAL at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IndianaMarch 16
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	1	Notre Dame	5	Toledo	79-71
	2	Michigan State	3	Louisiana State	87-71

Midwest REGIONAL at Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OhioMarch 15
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	1	Indiana State	5	Oklahoma	93-72
	2	Arkansas	3	Louisville	73-62

West REGIONAL at Marriott Center, Provo, UtahMarch 15
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	1	UCLA	4	San Francisco	62-56
	2	DePaul	3	Marquette	99-81

Elite 8

East REGIONAL at March 18
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	9	Penn	10	St. John's	64-62

Mideast REGIONAL atMarch 18
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	1	Notre Dame	2	Michigan State	80-68

Midwest REGIONAL at March 17
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	1	Indiana State	2	Arkansas	73-71

West REGIONAL at March 17
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	1	UCLA	2	DePaul	95-91

Final 4

at Salt Lake City, UTMarch 24 and 26

NATIONAL SEMI-FINALS
Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	2	Michigan State	9	Penn	101-67
	1	Indiana State	2	DePaul	76-74

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

at Salt Lake City, UT

National Third Place
DePaul 96, Penn 93 (OT)

Favorite	Seed	Team	Seed	Team	Score	Star Efforts
	1	Indiana State	2	Michigan State	75-64

Michigan State leaders: Greg Kelser, Sr., F; Earvin Johnson, So., G; Jay Vincent, So., C; Ron Charles, Jr., F; Mike Brkovich, So., F

Top 10 Teams

Rank	Team	W-L	Post-Season Result
1.	Indiana State	33-1	NCAA 2nd Place
2.	UCLA	25-5	Lost NCAA regionals
3	Michigan State	26-6	NCAA 1st Place
4.	Notre Dame	25-6	Lost NCAA regionals
5.	Arkansas	25-5	Lost NCAA regionals
6.	DePaul	26-6	NCAA 3rd Place
7.	LSU	23-6	Lost NCAA regionals
8.	Syracuse	26-4	Lost NCAA regionals
9.	North Carolina	23-6	Lost NCAA regionals
10.	Marquette	22-7	Lost NCAA regionals

All-America Team

Pos	Name	Cl.	School
F	David Greenwood	Sr.	UCLA
F-C	Larry Bird	Sr.	Indiana State
C	Mike Gminski	Jr.	Duke
G-F	Sidney Moncrief	Sr.	Arkansas
G	Earvin “Magic” Johnson	So.	Michigan State

All NCAA Tournament Team

Name	Cl.	Pos	Team
Mark Aguirre	Fr.	F	DePaul
Greg Kelser	Sr.	F	Michigan State
Larry Bird	Sr.	F-C	Indiana State
Gary Garland	Sr.	G	DePaul
Earvin “Magic” Johnson	So.	G	Michigan State

Team Offense

UNLV, 93.1

Notes

The NCAA final, featuring Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, generated the largest basketball game rating (24.1) and share (38) in television history. Johnson outscored Bird, 24-19.
Indiana def. state rival and 15th-ranked Purdue (27-8).

Team Defense

Princeton, 55.8

Individual Scoring

1. Lawrence Butler	Idaho State	30.1
2. Larry Bird	Indiana State	28.6
3. Nick Galis	Seton Hall	27.5
4. James Tillman	Eastern Kentucky	26.9
5. Paul Dawkins	Northern Illinois	26.7
6. John Gerdy	Davidson	26.7

Individual Rebounding

1. Monti Davis	Tennessee State	16.2
2. Bill Cartwright	San Francisco	15.7
3. Lionel Garrett	Southern	15.5