The Final Four consisted of Louisville, Wichita State (second appearance), Syracuse (first appearance since their 2003 national championship), and Michigan, returning for the first time since the Fab Five's second appearance in 1993 (later vacated). By winning the West Region, Wichita State became the first #9 seed and first Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) team to reach the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last #9 seed to reach the Final Four was Penn, and the last MVC team to do so was Indiana State, both in 1979. Louisville defeated Michigan in the championship game by a final score of 82–76, winning their first national title since 1986. On February 20, 2018, the NCAA vacated Louisville's entire tournament run, including its national title, due to a 2015 sex scandal.[4]
The tournament featured several notable upsets. For the first time since 1991, at least one team seeded #9 through #15 won at least once in the tournament. The most notable was Florida Gulf Coast University of the Atlantic Sun Conference, who made their tournament debut in only their second year of Division I eligibility. They upset Georgetown and San Diego State in their first two games, becoming the first #15 seed to advance to the regional semifinals (where they were defeated by Florida). For the first time since 2010, a #14 seed won as Harvard defeated New Mexico in the West Region. The same region saw #13 La Salle, who won in the opening round, defeat #4 Kansas State and #12 Mississippi defeat #5 Wisconsin. In addition to that, the region's top seed, Gonzaga, was defeated in the round of 32 by eventual region winner Wichita State, who defeated La Salle in the Sweet Sixteen.
A total of 68 teams entered the 2013 tournament. A total of 32 automatic bids are awarded to each program that won a conference tournament. The remaining 36 bids are issued "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The Selection Committee also seeds the entire field from 1 to 68.
Eight teams—the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams—played in the First Four (the successor to what had been popularly known as "play-in games" through the 2010 tournament). The winners of these games advanced to the main tournament bracket.
Atlanta hosted the Final Four for the sixth time, having previously hosted in 2007. As of 2024, this is the most recent Final Four to be held in Atlanta (The 2020 edition, which was to be held in Atlanta, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2013 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).
During the Final Four round, the champion of the top overall top seed's region was to play against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region, and the champion of the second overall top seed's region was to play against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region.[17]Louisville (placed in the Midwest Regional) was selected as the top overall seed, and Gonzaga (in the West Regional) was named as the final top seed.[18] Thus, the Midwest champion played the West Champion in one semifinal game, and the South Champion faced the East Champion in the other semifinal game.
Wichita State surprised the college basketball world by reaching the Final Four from the West region. They lost to Louisville in the first semifinal game, 72–68. Michigan defeated Syracuse 61–56 in the second semifinal.[19]
National Semifinals Final Four Saturday, April 6
National Championship Game Monday, April 8
MW1
Louisville#
72
W9
Wichita State
68
MW1
Louisville#
82
S4
Michigan
76
S4
Michigan
61
E4
Syracuse
56
# — On February 20, 2018, the NCAA announced that the wins and records for Louisville's 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, and 2014–15 seasons were vacated due to the sex scandal at Louisville.[20] Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Louisville removing the wins from its own record.
Georgia Dome – Atlanta, GA Attendance: 74,326 Referees: John Cahill, John Higgins, Tony Greene
Louisville defeated Michigan 82–76 in the championship game. The win gave Louisville its first championship since 1986, and third overall.[22] It became the eighth school to win at least three championships [22] until vacated by the NCAA on February 20, 2018, due to a 2015 sex scandal.[4]
Head coach Rick Pitino became the first coach to win an NCAA championship with two different schools.[23][a] Michigan fell to 1–5 all time in championship games (including two losses vacated because of sanctions against the university).[22]
Michigan's Trey Burke scored seven quick points to get Michigan out to a 7–3 lead, but also picked up two quick fouls and sat during much of the first half.[23] With Burke on the bench, Michigan got a spark from freshman Spike Albrecht, a minor role player during the regular season. Albrecht hit four straight 3-pointers en route to a 17-point first half performance, easily surpassing his previous single game best of 7.[23] Louisville trailed Michigan 35–23 late in the first half, before going on a run fueled by four straight three-pointers by Luke Hancock.[23] At halftime, Michigan led 38–37.[23]
The second half featured several lead changes before Louisville pushed the margin to 10 on a three-pointer by Hancock with 3:20 remaining in the game. Michigan fought back, closing the gap to four points in the last minute, but ran out of time in its comeback effort.[23]
Hancock hit all five three-point shots he attempted in the game and led Louisville with 22 points, while teammate Peyton Siva scored 18 and had a game high 4 steals.[22][23] Chane Behanan pulled down 12 rebounds to go with 15 points. Burke led Michigan with 24 points.[23]Russ Smith, Louisville's leading scorer on the season, struggled in the game, shooting 3-for-16.[22] Hancock was named as the game's most outstanding player.[23]
The R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the round of 64 (second round), round of 32 (third round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.
The Big South and NEC each had one representative, eliminated in the first round with a record of 0–1.
The Sun Belt Conference had two representatives, one eliminated in the first round and the other in the second round, with a record of 0–2.
Other events surrounding the tournament
On May 10, 2012, the NCAA announced that as part of the celebration of the 75th Division I tournament, it would hold all three of its men's basketball championship games in Atlanta. The finals of the Division II and Division III tournaments were held at Philips Arena on April 7, the day between the Division I semifinals and final.[24] In addition, Atlanta-based tournament broadcaster TBS announced that Conan O'Brien would tape his Conan talk show at The Tabernacle, located a few blocks from the Georgia Dome and Philips Arena, in the week leading up to the Final Four. March Madness studio analyst Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale were among the guests who appeared.[25]
Media
U.S. television
The year 2013 marked the third year of a 14-year partnership between CBS and Turner cable networks TBS, TNT and truTV to cover the entire tournament under the NCAA March Madness banner. CBS aired the Final Four and championship rounds for the 32nd consecutive year.[26][27] The tournament was considered a ratings success. Tournament games averaged 10.7 million viewers, and the championship game garnered an average of 23.4 million viewers and a peak viewership of 27.1 million.
Studio hosts
Greg Gumbel (New York City and Atlanta) – second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Ernie Johnson Jr. (New York City and Atlanta) – First Four, second round, third round and Regional Semi-Finals
Matt Winer (Atlanta) – First Four, second round and third round
Studio analysts
Greg Anthony (New York City and Atlanta) – First Four, second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Charles Barkley (New York City and Atlanta) – First Four, second round, third round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game
Rex Chapman (Atlanta) – First Four and Second Round
Seth Davis (Atlanta) – First Four, second round, third round and Regional Semi-Finals
Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg/Steve Kerr/Tracy Wolfson – First Four at Dayton, Ohio; Second and third round at Dayton, Ohio; Midwest Regional at Indianapolis, Indiana; Final Four at Atlanta, Georgia Kerr joined Nantz and Kellogg during the Final Four and national championship games
Marv Albert/Steve Kerr/Craig Sager – First Four at Dayton, Ohio; Second and third round at Kansas City, Missouri; South Regional at Arlington, Texas
ESPN International held broadcast rights to the tournament outside of the United States: it produced its own broadcasts of the semi-final and championship game, called by ESPN College Basketball personalities Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Dick Vitale (analyst for the final and one semi-final), and Jay Bilas (analyst for the other semi-final).[30] For the initial rounds, they use CBS/Turner coverage with an additional host to transition between games, with whiparound coverage similar to the CBS-only era. ESPN also has exclusive digital rights to the NCAA tournament outside of North America.[31]
Canada
In Canada, the TSN family of media outlets (including TSN2, RDS, and TSN Radio), which are part-owned by ESPN, own broadcast rights to the tournament. TSN produces separate studio coverage with Kate Beirness, Jack Armstrong, Dan Shulman and Sam Mitchell,[32] but simulcasts CBS/Turner game coverage for the first five rounds (and ESPN International coverage for the Final Four).
As in past years, TSN and TSN2 carry whiparound coverage (often in parallel) during the second, third and fourth rounds, in 2013 focusing when possible on games not being broadcast on CBS (as that network, but not the Turner channels, is also widely available in Canada).
^"Archived copy". www.ncaa.org. Archived from the original on December 3, 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP – PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHING THE BRACKET"(PDF). NCAA. Retrieved March 28, 2011. The committee will then place the four "top seed" teams ranked 1 through 4 in each of the four regions, then determine the Final Four semifinals pairings, making best effort to pair the top no. 1 rank's region against the fourth no. 1 rank's region and the second no. 1 rank's region against the third no. 1 rank's region.
