The 1972 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of NCAA University Division (now Division I) college basketball. The 34th annual edition of the tournament began on Saturday, March 11, and ended with the championship game at the Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 25. A total of 29 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game.
Led by longtime head coach John Wooden, the undefeated UCLA Bruins won the national title with an 81–76 victory in the final game over Florida State, coached by Hugh Durham. Sophomore center Bill Walton of UCLA was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player; the first of two consecutive.
On a historically significant note, the Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns made the tournament in their first season of eligibility for postseason play; the next to achieve this feat was North Dakota State in 2009. SW Louisiana (renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1999; the school's athletic teams have been referred to as "Louisiana" since then) also made the tournament in 1973, but due to major infractions that resulted in the basketball program receiving the NCAA death penalty (and very nearly expelled from the NCAA altogether), both appearances have since been vacated and the records expunged.
This was the last year in which the championship game was played on Saturday; it moved to Monday night in 1973. This was also the last year the national semifinals were televised regionally on a Thursday or Friday night (The first game was televised to the Eastern and Central time zones and the second to the Mountain and Pacific time zones. Markets of participating teams were permitted to televise both games if the team of local interest was playing in the opposite window; in 1972, Louisville NBC affiliate WAVE broadcast both games live, as the Cardinals' semifinal vs. UCLA tipped off at 11:15 p.m. Eastern.).
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1972 tournament:
First round
Regional semifinals, 3rd-place games, and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)
<nowiki>*</nowiki> â Denotes overtime period
# - Minnesota vacated its appearance in the 1972 tournament.
Curt Gowdy, Tom Hawkins, and Jim Simpson (Final Four only) - First Round at Pocatello, Idaho (Long Beach State-BYU); East Regional Final at Morgantown, West Virginia; Final Four at Los Angeles, California