2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

2006 NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Tournament

2006 Final Four logo
Season	2005–06
Teams	65
Finals site	RCA Dome Indianapolis, Indiana
Champions	Florida (1st title, 2nd title game, 3rd Final Four)
Runner-up	UCLA (13th title game, 16th Final Four)
Semifinalists	George Mason (1st Final Four) LSU (4th Final Four)
Winning coach	Billy Donovan (1st title)
MOP	Joakim Noah (Florida)
Attendance	70,254
Top scorers	Glen Davis LSU Joakim Noah Florida (97 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «2005 2007»

The 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2005–06 basketball season. It began on March 14, 2006, and concluded on April 3 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.

None of the tournament's top seeds advanced to the Final Four, the first time since 1980 that this occurred. For the second time in history, a team seeded eleventh advanced to the Final Four as George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association won the Washington, DC region. They were joined by Atlanta region winner LSU, who were the first team to advance to the Final Four as an eleventh-seed in their most recent appearance there in 1986, Oakland region winner UCLA, who had not made the Final Four since they won the national championship in 1995, and Minneapolis region winner Florida, who had not made the Final Four since their runner-up finish in 2000 in Indianapolis.

Florida won their first ever national basketball championship by defeating UCLA 73-57 in the final game.

Florida's Joakim Noah was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament.

George Mason's run was one of several upsets by lower-seeded teams in the tournament. For the second consecutive year a #14 seed beat a #3 seed as Northwestern State defeated Iowa. In the same sub-regional pod, #13 seed Bradley defeated #4 seed Kansas and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by defeating #5 seeded Pittsburgh in the second round. Two #12 seeds won as well, as Montana and Texas A&M both won their respective first round matchups. For the second straight year, Wisconsin-Milwaukee won as a double-digit seed, as the #11 seed Panthers defeated Oklahoma in the first round.

Tournament procedure

San Diego

Salt Lake City

Dallas

Auburn Hills

Dayton

Jacksonville

Greensboro

Philadelphia

2006 first and second rounds (note: the play-in game was held in Dayton, OH)

Oakland

Minneapolis

Atlanta

Washington D.C.

Indianapolis

2006 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

A total of 65 teams were selected to participate in the tournament. 31 of the teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. Pennsylvania earned an automatic bid by winning the regular-season title of the Ivy League, which does not conduct a conference tournament. The remaining 34 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.

The initial game on March 14, popularly called the "play-in game," had Monmouth, winner of the Northeast Conference tournament, facing Hampton, who won the automatic bid from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship, for a chance to play top seed Villanova in the first round of the tournament. Monmouth defeated Hampton, 71–49, to earn that right.

All 64 teams were seeded from 1 to 16 within their regionals; the winner of the play-in game automatically received a 16 seed. The Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 65. In a practice since 2004, the ranking of the four top seeds against each other would determine the pairings in the Final Four. The top overall seed would be seeded to play the fourth overall seed in the national semifinals, should both teams advance that far. In 2006, these rankings were as follows: No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Connecticut, No. 3 Villanova, and No. 4 Memphis. [1]

The four regionals were officially named after the four host cities, a practice which also began in 2004. However, in 2007, the NCAA returned to naming regionals by their geographic location. The 2006 regionals were:

• March 23 / 25:

Atlanta Regional, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology)

Oakland Regional, Oakland Arena, Oakland, California (Host: University of San Francisco)

• March 24 / 26:

Minneapolis Regional, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)

Washington, D.C. Regional, Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. (Host: Georgetown University)

The first and second round games were played at the following sites:

• March 16 / 18:

Cox Arena, San Diego, California (Host: San Diego State University)

Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference)

Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida (Host: Jacksonville University)

Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah)

• March 17 / 19:

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas (Host: Big 12 Conference)

The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan (Host: Oakland University)

University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Host: Atlantic 10 Conference)

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held on April 1 and 3 in Indianapolis, hosted by Butler University and the Horizon League.

Qualifying teams

Atlanta Regional
Seed	School	Conference	Coach	Record	Berth Type
#1	Duke	ACC	Mike Krzyzewski	30–3	Tournament Champion
#2	Texas	Big 12	Rick Barnes	27–6	At-Large Bid
#3	Iowa	Big Ten	Steve Alford	25–8	Tournament Champion
#4	LSU	SEC	John Brady	23–8	At-Large Bid
#5	Syracuse	Big East	Jim Boeheim	23–11	Tournament Champion
#6	West Virginia	Big East	John Beilein	20–10	At-Large Bid
#7	California	Pac-10	Ben Braun	20–10	At-Large Bid
#8	George Washington	Atlantic 10	Karl Hobbs	26–2	At-Large Bid
#9	UNC-Wilmington	CAA	Brad Brownell	25–7	Tournament Champion
#10	North Carolina State	ACC	Herb Sendek	21–9	At-Large Bid
#11	Southern Illinois	Missouri Valley	Chris Lowery	22–10	Tournament Champion
#12	Texas A&M	Big 12	Billy Gillispie	21–8	At-Large Bid
#13	Iona	MAAC	Jeff Ruland	23–7	Tournament Champion
#14	Northwestern State	Southland	Mike McConathy	25–7	Tournament Champion
#15	Pennsylvania	Ivy	Fran Dunphy	20–8	Regular Season Champion
#16	Southern	SWAC	Rob Spivery	19–12	Tournament Champion

Oakland Regional
Seed	School	Conference	Coach	Record	Berth Type
#1	Memphis	C-USA	John Calipari	30–3	Tournament Champion
#2	UCLA	Pac-10	Ben Howland	27–6	Tournament Champion
#3	Gonzaga	WCC	Mark Few	27–3	Tournament Champion
#4	Kansas	Big 12	Bill Self	25–7	Tournament Champion
#5	Pittsburgh	Big East	Jamie Dixon	24–7	At-Large Bid
#6	Indiana	Big Ten	Mike Davis	18–11	At-Large Bid
#7	Marquette	Big East	Tom Crean	20–10	At-Large Bid
#8	Arkansas	SEC	Stan Heath	22–9	At-Large Bid
#9	Bucknell	Patriot	Pat Flannery	26–4	Tournament Champion
#10	Alabama	SEC	Mark Gottfried	17–12	At-Large Bid
#11	San Diego State	Mountain West	Steve Fisher	24–8	Tournament Champion
#12	Kent State	Mid-American	Jim Christian	25–8	Tournament Champion
#13	Bradley	Missouri Valley	Jim Les	20–10	At-Large Bid
#14	Xavier	Atlantic 10	Sean Miller	21–10	Tournament Champion
#15	Belmont	Atlantic Sun	Rick Byrd	20–10	Tournament Champion
#16	Oral Roberts	Mid-Continent	Scott Sutton	21–11	Tournament Champion

Washington, D.C. Regional
Seed	School	Conference	Coach	Record	Berth Type
#1	Connecticut	Big East	Jim Calhoun	27–3	At-Large Bid
#2	Tennessee	SEC	Bruce Pearl	21–7	At-Large Bid
#3	North Carolina	ACC	Roy Williams	23–8	At-Large Bid
#4	Illinois	Big Ten	Bruce Weber	25–6	At-Large Bid
#5	Washington	Pac-10	Lorenzo Romar	24–6	At-Large Bid
#6	Michigan State	Big Ten	Tom Izzo	22–11	At-Large Bid
#7	Wichita State	Missouri Valley	Mark Turgeon	24–8	At-Large Bid
#8	Kentucky	SEC	Tubby Smith	21–12	At-Large Bid
#9	UAB	C-USA	Mike Anderson	24–6	At-Large Bid
#10	Seton Hall	Big East	Louis Orr	18–11	At-Large Bid
#11	George Mason	CAA	Jim Larranaga	25–7	At-Large Bid
#12	Utah State	WAC	Stew Morrill	23–8	At-Large Bid
#13	Air Force	Mountain West	Jeff Bzdelik	24–6	At-Large Bid
#14	Murray State	Ohio Valley	Mick Cronin	24–6	Tournament Champion
#15	Winthrop	Big South	Gregg Marshall	23–7	Tournament Champion
#16	Albany	America East	Will Brown	21–10	Tournament Champion

Minneapolis Regional
Seed	School	Conference	Coach	Record	Berth Type
#1	Villanova	Big East	Jay Wright	25–4	At-Large Bid
#2	Ohio State	Big Ten	Thad Matta	25–5	At-Large Bid
#3	Florida	SEC	Billy Donovan	27–6	Tournament Champion
#4	Boston College	ACC	Al Skinner	26–7	At-Large Bid
#5	Nevada	WAC	Mark Fox	27–5	Tournament Champion
#6	Oklahoma	Big 12	Kelvin Sampson	20–8	At-Large Bid
#7	Georgetown	Big East	John Thompson III	21–9	At-Large Bid
#8	Arizona	Pac-10	Lute Olson	19–12	At-Large Bid
#9	Wisconsin	Big Ten	Bo Ryan	19–11	At-Large Bid
#10	Northern Iowa	Missouri Valley	Greg McDermott	23–9	At-Large Bid
#11	UW-Milwaukee	Horizon	Rob Jeter	21–8	Tournament Champion
#12	Montana	Big Sky	Larry Krystkowiak	23–6	Tournament Champion
#13	Pacific	Big West	Bob Thomason	24–7	Tournament Champion
#14	South Alabama	Sun Belt	John Pelphrey	24–6	Tournament Champion
#15	Davidson	Southern	Bob McKillop	18–10	Tournament Champion
Play-in Winner	Monmouth	Northeast	Dave Calloway	18–14	Tournament Champion
Play-in Loser	Hampton	MEAC	Bobby Collins	16–15	Tournament Champion

Bids by conference

Bids by Conference
Bids	Conference(s)
8	Big East
6	SEC, Big Ten
4	ACC, Big 12, Pac-10, Missouri Valley
2	Atlantic 10, CAA, C-USA, Mountain West, WAC
1	19 others

Bracket

Atlanta Regional

(*)-Denotes an Overtime Game

	First round					Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Duke	70
	16	Southern	54
						1	Duke	74
	Greensboro
						8	George Washington	61
	8	George Washington	88*
	9	UNC-Wilmington	85
											1	Duke	54
											4	LSU	62
	5	Syracuse	58
	12	Texas A&M	66
						12	Texas A&M	57
	Jacksonville
						4	LSU	58
	4	LSU	80
	13	Iona	64
																4	LSU	70*
																2	Texas	60
	6	West Virginia	64
	11	Southern Illinois	46
						6	West Virginia	67
	Auburn Hills
						14	Northwestern State	54
	3	Iowa	63
	14	Northwestern State	64
											6	West Virginia	71
											2	Texas	74
	7	California	52
	10	North Carolina State	58
						10	North Carolina State	54
	Dallas
						2	Texas	75
	2	Texas	60
	15	Pennsylvania	52

Oakland Regional

	First round					Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Memphis	94
	16	Oral Roberts	78
						1	Memphis	72
	Dallas
						9	Bucknell	56
	8	Arkansas	55
	9	Bucknell	59
											1	Memphis	80
											13	Bradley	64
	5	Pittsburgh	79
	12	Kent State	64
						5	Pittsburgh	66
	Auburn Hills
						13	Bradley	72
	4	Kansas	73
	13	Bradley	77
																1	Memphis	45
																2	UCLA	50
	6	Indiana	87
	11	San Diego State	83
						6	Indiana	80
	Salt Lake City
						3	Gonzaga	90
	3	Gonzaga	79
	14	Xavier	75
											3	Gonzaga	71
											2	UCLA	73
	7	Marquette	85
	10	Alabama	90
						10	Alabama	59
	San Diego
						2	UCLA	62
	2	UCLA	78
	15	Belmont	44

Minneapolis Regional

	First round					Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Villanova	58
	16	Monmouth	45
						1	Villanova	82
	Philadelphia
						8	Arizona	78
	8	Arizona	94
	9	Wisconsin	75
											1	Villanova	60*
											4	Boston College	59
	5	Nevada	79
	12	Montana	87
						12	Montana	56
	Salt Lake City
						4	Boston College	69
	4	Boston College	88**
	13	Pacific	76
																1	Villanova	62
																3	Florida	75
	6	Oklahoma	74
	11	UW–Milwaukee	82
						11	UW–Milwaukee	60
	Jacksonville
						3	Florida	82
	3	Florida	76
	14	South Alabama	50
											3	Florida	57
											7	Georgetown	53
	7	Georgetown	54
	10	Northern Iowa	49
						7	Georgetown	70
	Dayton
						2	Ohio State	52
	2	Ohio State	70
	15	Davidson	62

Washington, D.C. Regional

	First round					Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Connecticut	72
	16	Albany	59
						1	Connecticut	87
	Philadelphia
						8	Kentucky	83
	8	Kentucky	69
	9	UAB	64
											1	Connecticut	98*
											5	Washington	92
	5	Washington	75
	12	Utah State	61
						5	Washington	67
	San Diego
						4	Illinois	64
	4	Illinois	78
	13	Air Force	69
																1	Connecticut	84
																11	George Mason	86*
	6	Michigan State	65
	11	George Mason	75
						11	George Mason	65
	Dayton
						3	North Carolina	60
	3	North Carolina	69
	14	Murray State	65
											11	George Mason	63
											7	Wichita State	55
	7	Wichita State	86
	10	Seton Hall	66
						7	Wichita State	80
	Greensboro
						2	Tennessee	73
	2	Tennessee	63
	15	Winthrop	61

Final Four – Indianapolis, Indiana

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	AT4	LSU	45
	OA2	UCLA	59
						OA2	UCLA	57
						MI3	Florida	73
	MI3	Florida	73
	WA11	George Mason	58

Record by conference

Conference	# of Bids	Record	Win %	R32	S16	E8	F4	CG
Big East	8	11–8	.579	5	4	2	–	–
SEC	6	13–5	.722	5	2	2	2	1
Big Ten	6	3–6	.333	3	–	–	–	–
ACC	4	6–4	.600	4	2	–	–	–
Big 12	4	4–4	.500	2	1	1	–	–
Pac-10	4	8–4	.667	3	2	1	1	1
Missouri Valley	4	4–4	.500	2	2	–	–	–
Atlantic 10	2	1–2	.333	1	0–	–	–	–
CAA	2	4–2	.667	1	1	1	1	0–
C–USA	2	3–2	.600	1	1	1	0–	–
MWC	2	0–2	.000	0–	–	–	–	–
WAC	2	0–2	.000	0–	0–	–	–	–
Southland Conference	1	1–1	.500	1	0–	–	–	–
WCC	1	2–1	.667	1	1	–	–	–
Patriot League	1	1–1	.500	1	0–	–	–	–
Horizon League	1	1–1	.500	1	0–	–	–	–
Big Sky Conference	1	1–1	.500	1	0–	–	–	–
Northeast Conference	1	1–1*	.500	–	–	–	–	–

*Monmouth University won the Opening Round game.

The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, Ivy, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Ohio Valley, SoCon, SWAC, Mid-Continent, and Sun Belt conferences all went 0–1.

The columns R32, S16, E8, F4, and CG respectively stand for the Round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and Championship Game.

Announcers

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer – 1st/2nd rounds at Philadelphia, PA; Minneapolis Regional at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome; Final Four at Indianapolis, IN
• Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas – 1st/2nd rounds at San Diego, CA; Atlanta Regional at the Georgia Dome
• Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery – 1st/2nd rounds at Auburn Hills, MI; Washington, D.C. Regional at the Verizon Center
• Gus Johnson and Len Elmore – 1st/2nd rounds at Dayton, OH; Oakland Regional at the Oakland Arena
• Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner – 1st/2nd rounds at Greensboro, NC
• Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel – 1st/2nd rounds at Salt Lake City, UT
• Craig Bolerjack and Bob Wenzel – 1st/2nd rounds at Dallas, TX
• Tim Brando, Stephen Bardo, and Mike Gminski – 1st/2nd rounds at Jacksonville, FL

Greg Gumbel once again served as the studio host, joined by analysts Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis.

See also

• 2006 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
• 2006 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

Notes

• The futures of two of this year's Final Four teams would be polar opposites of the other two in 2007. Both George Mason and LSU would fail to receive a bid to either the NCAA tournament or the NIT, while both Florida and UCLA would return to the Final Four (the two teams would have a rematch, this time in the semifinals, with the same results, a Florida victory).
• George Mason became the first team from a "mid-major" conference to reach the Final Four since the UNLV's loss to Duke in 1991.
• This was the second of three Final Fours to feature no number 1 seeds (1980 and 2011 being the others).
• Duke was the last team before Florida to win back-to-back titles, and like Florida, they won their first of the two in Indianapolis at the RCA Dome.