NCAA Birmingham Regional History: A Deep Dive

The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament is a high-stakes, single-elimination competition featuring 68 teams vying for the national championship. While the tournament's history stretches back to 1939, Alabama schools didn't participate until 1975. This article explores the history of the NCAA Tournament, focusing on Alabama's participation, the Birmingham regional, and related events.

The NCAA Tournament: An Overview

The 2025 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament was a 68-team single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball national champion for the 2024-25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season.

The tournament field consists of 31 automatic bids, awarded to conference tournament winners, and 37 at-large bids, selected by the NCAA Selection Committee on Selection Sunday. The eight lowest-seeded teams participate in the First Four, a play-in round.

In 2025, Atlantic 10 champion George Mason, Big West champion UC San Diego, NEC champion Fairleigh Dickinson, Sun Belt champion Arkansas State, WAC champion Grand Canyon, and CAA champion William & Mary all made their NCAA tournament debuts.

The tournament has a rich broadcasting history, with ESPN holding exclusive rights, showcasing every game across its networks.

Alabama's Tournament History

No Alabama school has ever won a national championship. Auburn University was the first Alabama team to reach the Final Four in 2019. The UA Crimson Tide made its first tournament appearance in 1975 and has since led the state with 24 appearances through the 2023-24 season, including a Final Four trip. The UAB Blazers rank second with 17 tournament appearances.

Early Years

Before the mid-1970s, UA's Crimson Tide had only four Southeastern Conference (SEC) basketball championships and had never participated in the NCAA Tournament. In 1973, Coach Charles M. Newton led Alabama to its first post-season tournament, the National Invitation Tournament, and in 1975, he guided the Tide to the NCAA Tournament. Alabama lost in the first round of the West Regional to Arizona State University, 97-94.

In 1976, Alabama returned to the tournament and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time, defeating the University of North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith, 79-64 in the second round of the Mideast Regional.

The Wimp Sanderson Era

Longtime assistant coach Winfrey "Wimp" Sanderson replaced Newton as Alabama's head coach in 1981 and began a successful run. In 12 seasons, Sanderson led Alabama to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, including six Sweet 16 appearances.

Later Years

Under Coach David Hobbs, the Crimson Tide played twice in the tournament in 1994 and 1995 but was eliminated in the second round each year. After 1995, Alabama did not appear again in the tournament until 2002 under Coach Mark Gottfried. Gottfried guided Alabama to the tournament five consecutive seasons from 2002-2006. In 2004, Alabama made its deepest run in the tournament thus far, defeating Southern Illinois University (65-64), Stanford University (70-67), and Syracuse University (80-71) but losing to the University of Connecticut 87-71 in the Elite Eight.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

UA made it to the first round of 2012 NCAA Tournament, losing to Creighton University, 58-57. In 2018, under Coach Avery Johnson, the Tide defeated Virginia Tech 86-83 in the first round and lost to top-seeded and future champions Villanova 81-58 in the second round.

With Nate Oats taking over as coach in 2019, a highly ranked Tide team defeated Iowa 68-55 and Maryland 96-77 in the 2021 tournament before losing in the Sweet 16 to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in overtime 88-78. The team returned to the tournament in 2022 but lost to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 78-64 in the first round. In 2023, the Tide was the overall top seed in the tournament and breezed through the first two rounds against Texas A&M-Corpus Christie 96-75 and Maryland 73-51 before they were upset in the Sweet 16 by San Diego State 71-64. Notably, in 2024, the Crimson Tide made its first-ever Final Four appearance in the NCAA Tournament as the number four seed in the West.

Auburn University's Tournament History

Auburn University first made the NCAA post-season in 1984, led by future National Basketball Association (NBA) stars Charles Barkley and Chuck Person. Although the Tigers were upset 72-71 by the University of Richmond in the first round of the East Regional, the team began a streak of five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

In 1985, Auburn claimed its first SEC tournament title and returned to the NCAA Tournament, where it advanced to the Sweet 16 by beating Purdue University and the University of Kansas. In 1986, Charles H. (Sonny) Smith and the Tigers, led by senior Chuck Person, enjoyed their most successful run in the tournament until 2019. The Tigers advanced to the Elite Eight with victories against the University of Arizona (73-63), St. John's University (81-65), and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (70-63).

The Tigers advanced to the tournament again in 1987 and 1988 but were eliminated both years in the second round. Following their streak of five consecutive tournament appearances, the Auburn Tigers went 11 years before returning to the tournament in 1999. Auburn made it to Sweet 16 for the third time but lost to Ohio State University 72-64 in the South Regional semifinals. Auburn returned to the tournament the following season in 2000 but was knocked out in the second round by Iowa State University 79-60.

Auburn made it to the Sweet 16 in its next appearance in 2003 but was eliminated in the East Regional semifinals by eventual national champion Syracuse University and star freshman Carmelo Anthony. Auburn returned to the tournament in 2018 under Coach Bruce Pearl, advanced to the second round by defeating the College of Charleston 62-58 and lost to Clemson University 84-53.

The 2019 NCAA Tournament was Auburn's most successful. The SEC-champion Tigers bested New Mexico State in the first round 78-77, overwhelmed the University of Kansas 89-75, and then dominated the top-seeded University of North Carolina 97-80 in the Sweet 16. Auburn defeated conference rival Kentucky in overtime 77-71 in the Elite Eight to advance to the state's first ever Final Four appearance. There, against the University of Virginia, Auburn lost in the last second 63-62 to the eventual champion Cavaliers.

In the 2022 tournament, the highly ranked Tigers defeated Jacksonville State University 80-61 but lost to the University of Miami 79-61 in the second round. In 2023, Auburn again moved to the second round, defeating Iowa 83-75, and then fell in the second round to the University of Houston 81-64.

UAB Blazers' Tournament History

At the end of the 1977 season, UAB lured Coach Gene Bartow away from the University of California-Los Angeles. Bartow quickly brought the new UAB program to prominence. In 1981, just its third year of fielding a team, UAB won the Sun Belt Conference championship to reach the NCAA Tournament, the first of the Blazers' 13 appearances in the event. The Blazers defeated Western Kentucky University 93-68 in the first round and then upset highly ranked University of Kentucky 69-62 in the second round to reach the Sweet 16.

In the 1982 season, the Blazers avenged their 1981 loss to Indiana 80-70 in the second round, ending the Hoosiers' reign as national champs and earning a trip to their home court at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center for the Sweet 16. There, UAB upset the University of Virginia and NCAA Player of the Year center Ralph Sampson, 68-66, to become the first college basketball team from Alabama to advance to the Elite Eight.

UAB made it to the tournament for the next five seasons, extending its streak of consecutive appearances to seven, but the Blazers were eliminated in the first or second round each year. The Blazers made three trips to the tournament in 1990, 1994, and 1999, losing in the first round each year. After a five-year absence from the tournament, UAB made the first of three consecutive appearances under Coach Mike Anderson in 2004. Featuring twins Ronell and Donell Taylor from Montgomery's Sidney Lanier High School, the Blazers reached the Sweet Sixteen that season before being eliminated by the University of Kansas 100-74 in the St. Louis Regional semifinals. UAB made it to second round in 2005 and was knocked out in the first round in 2006. UAB, in 2011, lost in the first round to Clemson 70-52.

In 2015, the Blazers won their first Conference USA championship and returned to the NCAA Tournament, defeating Iowa State in the second round 60-59 and then losing to the University of California-Los Angeles 92-75. The Blazers again secured a tournament bid in 2022 with a conference championship under Coach Andy Kennedy but lost in the first round 82-68 to the University of Houston. After joining the American Athletic Conference in 2023, UAB secured another tournament championship in 2024, defeating Temple 85-69.

Other Alabama Schools

The University of South Alabama has made eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament but with little success, going 1-7 in the tournament thus far. South Alabama's lone victory came against UA in the first round in 1989. Alabama State University appeared in 2001, 2004, 2009, and 2011, and Samford University and Troy University have each played in two tournaments, in 1999 and 2000, and in 2003 and 2017, respectively.

Birmingham as a Host City

Teams have played the first and second rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at Birmingham's Legacy Arena. The NCAA tournament hadn’t been in Birmingham since 2008, but in 2023, the BJCC hosted round 2 games of the tournament.

David Galbaugh, the vice president of sports sales and marketing for the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the city was expecting a $10 million impact from the games in 2023.

Alabama's Performances in Birmingham

The Crimson Tide is 2-0 in NCAA Tournament games played in Birmingham. Alabama beat North Carolina A&T and New Orleans during the 1987 NCAA Tournament.

Is There a "Birmingham Curse"?

Alabama is 47-25 all-time in Birmingham. Experts have weighed in on whether there's a "Birmingham curse":

Passink: “No, not at all. The all-time record speaks for itself.”
Hendrix: “There’s something about it. For some reason, you just don’t seem to get the results and have the homecourt advantage you think you would have. But historically, there’s still a pretty good record of what Alabama has done.”
Sanderson: “I don’t think there’s any curse. I think we just got up there and didn’t play as well as we needed to play. We had some good wins there.”

The 2025 Tournament: A Closer Look

In the 2025 NCAA Tournament, No. 5 seed Tennessee (22-9) played No. EDT at Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio. The game was televised on ESPN. South Florida won the 2025 AAC Tournament as a No. 3 seed.

The 2024-25 season marks South Florida's 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulls have a 4-8 overall record in NCAA Tournament play. South Florida's last tournament appearance was in 2023 when the Bulls advanced to the second round before losing to South Carolina. South Florida defeated Marquette, 67-65, before losing to the Gamecocks. The Bulls have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2006, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025.

For the first time in NCAA women’s March Madness history since expanding to 64 teams, no team successfully completed an official upset. In addition, this was also the first time no team completed an upset in the Round of 64 alone, meaning no team seeded 11th or lower won in the first round.

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