2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament: A Season of Familiar Faces and Few Upsets

The 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was a captivating event that culminated in a repeat champion and a bracket relatively devoid of major upsets. Featuring 65 teams vying for the national title, the tournament ultimately saw the Florida Gators successfully defend their championship, solidifying their place in college basketball history.

Tournament Overview

The tournament structure was a single-elimination format, pitting teams against each other in a series of high-stakes games. Thirty teams earned automatic bids by winning their respective conference tournaments, while the remaining slots were filled with at-large selections. The Ivy League's automatic bid was awarded to its regular-season champion, Penn, as the conference did not hold a post-season tournament.

The tournament officially commenced with the opening-round game, often called the "play-in game," on March 13. This game featured Niagara, the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament champion, against Florida A&M, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament champion. The winner earned the right to face top-seeded Kansas in the first round.

Fewer Upsets

One of the most notable aspects of the 2007 tournament was the distinct lack of major upsets. In total, there were only 12 games where a lower-seeded team defeated a higher-seeded team. Of these, eight were decided by a single seed difference. This tournament stands as the last one, as of 2025, in which no team seeded 12 or lower managed to win a game in the round of 64. The lowest-seeded team to reach the Sweet Sixteen was UNLV, a No. 7 seed. This was only the second time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams that no team seeded No. 8 or lower advanced to the Sweet Sixteen; the other instance was in 1995.

First Round Highlights

Despite the overall lack of significant upsets, the first round did have its share of memorable moments. Two games stood out as the major upsets of the round:

#11 Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) vs. #6 Duke: VCU emerged victorious with a 79-77 win over Duke, thanks to a game-winning shot by Eric Maynor with just 1.8 seconds remaining. This marked Duke's first first-round exit since 1996.
#11 Winthrop vs. #6 Notre Dame: Winthrop, known for their high-powered offense, built a commanding 21-point lead in the second half and held on to defeat Notre Dame 74-64, securing their first-ever tournament victory.

The only overtime game of the first round occurred in the South Regional, where #7 Nevada edged out #10 Creighton 77-71. Other closely contested games included #3 Oregon's narrow 58-56 win over #14 Miami (Ohio), #5 Virginia Tech's 54-52 victory over #12 Illinois, and #9 Xavier's 79-77 triumph over #8 BYU.

Tennessee set a school record in the first round, accumulating 121 points over Long Beach State in the South Regional. This was the first year since 1993 that a #10 seed did not advance to the second round. It was also only the second time in the last 17 years that a #12 seed failed to advance against a #5 seed.

Second Round Showdowns

The second round featured a few notable upsets and several tightly contested matchups:

#6 Vanderbilt vs. #3 Washington State: Vanderbilt pulled off a thrilling 78-74 double-overtime victory.
#7 UNLV vs. #2 Wisconsin: UNLV secured a significant 74-68 win, their biggest since the 1990s.

Other overtime games included #1 Ohio State's 78-71 win over #9 Xavier and #3 Pittsburgh's 84-79 victory over #11 Virginia Commonwealth. Ohio State's Ron Lewis hit a clutch three-pointer with two seconds left to force overtime against Xavier, while Pittsburgh overcame a 19-point deficit to defeat Virginia Commonwealth.

The Ohio State-Xavier game was marred by controversy as Greg Oden appeared to shove a Xavier player, Justin Cage, before Lewis's game-tying shot. Had an intentional foul been called, Xavier would have been awarded two free throws and possession of the ball.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

Close games also included #3 Texas A&M's 72-69 win over #6 Louisville, #5 Butler's 62-59 victory over #4 Maryland, and #5 Tennessee's 77-74 defeat of #4 Virginia.

Sweet Sixteen Drama

The Sweet Sixteen round was largely devoid of upsets and overtime games, although several contests were decided by narrow margins. In the South Region, #2 Memphis narrowly defeated #3 Texas A&M after Aggies senior Acie Law missed a layup with under a minute left. A controversial clock situation with 3.1 seconds remaining added to the tension.

1 Ohio State rallied from a 20-point deficit to defeat #5 Tennessee 85-84, with Greg Oden blocking a shot with 0.2 seconds left. In the East Region, #2 Georgetown won a controversial game against #6 Vanderbilt, 66-65, on a shot by Jeff Green with 2.5 seconds remaining.

Elite Eight Clashes

The Elite Eight teams consisted of four #1 seeds, three #2 seeds, and one #3 seed.

#1 Ohio State vs. #2 Memphis: Ohio State defeated Memphis to advance to the Final Four. Although Greg Oden got into early foul trouble, the Buckeyes went on a 20-8 run to win. Jeremy Hunt of Memphis led all scorers with 26 points, while Robert Dozier had 11 rebounds.
#2 UCLA vs. #1 Kansas: UCLA defeated top-seeded Kansas. After a tight first half, the Bruins slowly put away the Jayhawks in the second half using their 2006 national championship game experience, along with a strong defense. UCLA shot 53% to Kansas's 41%. UCLA's Arron Afflalo led all scorers with 24 points while Brandon Rush of Kansas led the Jayhawks with 18.
#2 Georgetown vs. #1 North Carolina: North Carolina led for most of the game and the entire second half, but Georgetown rallied from ten points down with six minutes remaining to force overtime, outscoring the Tar Heels 15-3 in the extra session. Georgetown reached its first Final Four since 1985, and John Thompson III became the first coach to succeed his father in coaching a team to the Final Four. This marked the first time since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams that no ACC team made it to the Final Four for two consecutive years.
#1 Florida vs. #3 Oregon: Florida defeated Oregon. In what was actually a close game for most of regulation, Florida's three-point shots, along with a 20-9 run in the second half, amounted to a Gator win.

Final Four: A Reunion of Champions

All of the 2007 Final Four teams had participated in the 2006 tournament. Florida would go on to defeat UCLA in the championship game. The four teams were all previous champions as well-Ohio State (1960), Georgetown (1984), UCLA (several), and Florida (2006)-marking the fourth time that all of the Final Four teams were past champions (joining 1993, 1995 and 1998 Final Fours).

Championship Game: Florida Defeats Ohio State

The championship game was played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, between the South Regional Champion, Ohio State Buckeyes, and the Midwest Regional Champion, Florida Gators. This was the second time in three years that the national title game was played between two No. 1 seeds.

In a rematch of a regular season meeting, won 86-60 by Florida in Gainesville, the Gators survived 25 points and 12 rebounds from Buckeyes center Greg Oden with stellar play from guards Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green with inside contributions coming from Al Horford (18 points) and tourney Most Outstanding Player Corey Brewer. Billy Donovan became the third-youngest coach (at age 41) to win two titles.

Florida defeated Ohio State 84-75, marking the second time in 2007 that a Florida team beat an Ohio State team to win a national championship, as Florida's football team won the BCS National Championship Game over Ohio State in January. The Gators became the first team ever to hold the NCAA Division I college football and basketball titles in the same academic year (2006-07) and calendar year (2006 and 2007). Coincidentally, Florida also beat Ohio State (by a score of 41-14) in the College Football Championship, the first time in college sports history that identical matchups and results have occurred in both football and basketball championships.

This was also the first time in NCAA D-I men's basketball history that exactly the same starting five were able to win back-to-back titles (Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Lee Humphrey, Al Horford, Taurean Green). Florida's Lee Humphrey also set the all-time NCAA Tournament record for three-point field goals made with 47.

Broadcast Information

For the 26th consecutive year, CBS Sports telecast the tournament, broadcasting every game from the first round to the championship. Jim Nantz and Billy Packer called the Final Four. James Brown and Len Elmore covered the First & Second Round at Sacramento, California; and the Midwest Regional at St. Louis.

CSTV, owned by CBS, telecast the George Washington-Vanderbilt and the Virginia-Albany contests (in addition to the local CBS affiliates nearest to the participating teams in those games, and those using their digital subchannels for simulcasting). Those games served as the first-ever live tourney telecasts on CSTV, which also provided a highlights show after each day of competition. Westwood One once again had the live radio coverage. Kevin Harlan once again served as the play-by-play man at the Final Four with Bill Raftery and John Thompson on color.

Additional Notes

During the first- and second-round games in New Orleans, the NCAA allowed an additional floor decal recognizing the work of Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge and the NCAA Home Team program through Tulane University. This marked the first time that a logo other than that of the NCAA or an NCAA member school has been allowed at an NCAA-sanctioned championship event. Also, for the first time, custom-made, identical courts were used at all four regional sites in San Jose, St. Louis, San Antonio and East Rutherford.

tags: #ncaa #basketball #tournament #2007 #results