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The 1979 Final Four was the first in which all four schools came from east of the Mississippi River. This was the first NCAA tournament where three officials were assigned to all games. Several conferences, including the Big Ten and Southeastern , used three officials for its regular season games prior to the NCAA adopting it universally.
The 1979 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game was the final of the 1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament and determined the national champion for the 1978–79 season. [a] The game was held on March 26, at the Special Events Center (now the Jon M. Huntsman Center) at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. [5] [6]
The Trans America Athletic Conference began play, with eight original members. It was renamed the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001.; Indiana State senior forward Larry Bird and Michigan Spartans sophomore point guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson emerged as two highly popular and successful players during the season, and their rivalry — culminating in a meeting in the national championship game ...
This table shows non-vacated Final Four appearances and victories by school; vacated records are shown in parentheses. The Third Place column is blank for schools whose Final Four appearances were from 1939 to 1946 or after 1981 when there was no national third place game.
The team was led by head coach Lute Olson and played their home games at the Iowa Field House. They finished with a 23–10 (10–8 Big Ten) record, and reached the Final Four of the NCAA tournament as champions of the East Region. To date, this is Iowa's most recent appearance in the NCAA Final Four in men's basketball.
Penn won the Ivy League regular season championship for the eighth time in 10 years and participated in the 1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament. There, as the ninth seed in the 10-team East region, the Quakers defeated Iona, number one seed North Carolina, Syracuse, and St. John's to reach the Final Four.
For the first time, none of the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament advanced to the Final Four. [4] Louisville's "doctors of dunk" brought Denny Crum his first NCAA title with a 59–54 win over surprise finalist UCLA and coach Larry Brown. Wooden Award winner Darrell Griffith was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
Michigan State advanced to the Final Four by defeating Lamar, LSU and No. 1-seeded Notre Dame. In the Final Four, the second Final Four appearance in school history, they faced Penn, blowing them out 101–67 to earn a trip to the Championship. There, the Spartans faced No. 1-ranked and undefeated Indiana State led by senior Larry Bird.