Final Four
The playoff term Final
Four was originally popularized to refer to the final four teams in
the annual
NCAA basketball tournament. These are the champions of the
tournament's four regional brackets, and the only teams remaining on the
tournament's final weekend. (The term has been applied retroactively to
include the last four teams in tournaments from earlier years, when only
two brackets existed.)
Currently, the men's
tournament begins with 65 teams. The two teams deemed weakest by the
NCAA Selection Committee play the first game (the "play-in game") in
Dayton, Ohio, and the field is narrowed down to 64 teams. The
women's tournament starts with 64 teams, with no play-in game. The
tournament proceeds by means of
single elimination play on consecutive weekends in March at
preselected sites in the
United States.
In the men's tournament,
all sites are at least nominally neutral: A school that hosts any
session of the tournament prior to the Final Four is prohibited from
playing in that session. This means, for instance, that a school that
hosts a regional final cannot play in the bracket leading to it.
However, the women's sites, though predetermined, are not normally
neutral; the women's tournament committee deliberately places host teams
on their home floors when possible. This practice is increasingly
controversial.
On the third weekend,
traditionally a Saturday and Monday for the men's tournament and a
Sunday and Tuesday for the women's tournament, the final four teams meet
in semifinals on the first day and the championship on the second. For
several years in the men's tournament, the teams eliminated in the
semifinals met in a consolation game prior to the championship; this was
discontinued in 1981.
See
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship and
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship for a list of NCAA
champions.
Final Four Records
Final Four Single Game -
Individual
Points
58, Bill Bradley, Princeton vs. Wichita St., N3d, 3-20-1965
Points by a Freshman
33, Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse vs. Texas, NSF, 4-5-2003
Field Goals
22, Bill Bradley, Princeton vs. Wichita St., N3d, 3-20-1965
Field Goals Attempted
42, Lennie Rosenbluth, North Carolina vs. Michigan St., NSF, 3-22-1957
Field-Goal Percentage (Min. 10 FGM)
95.5% (21-22), Bill Walton, UCLA vs. Memphis, CH, 3-26-1973
Three-Point Field Goals
10, Freddie Banks, UNLV vs. Indiana, NSF, 3-28-1987
Rebounds
27, Bill Russell, San Francisco vs. Iowa, CH, 3-23-1956
Assists
18, Mark Wade, UNLV vs. Indiana, NSF, 3-28-1987
Blocked Shots
6, Danny Manning, Kansas vs. Duke, NSF, 4-2-1988
Steals
7, Tommy Amaker, Duke vs. Louisville, CH, 3-31-1986
7, Mookie Blaylock, Oklahoma vs. Kansas, CH, 4-4-1988
Final Four
Triple-Doubles
Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati vs. Louisville, N3rd, 3-21-1959: 39
pts., 17 rebs. & 10 asts.
Magic Johnson, Michigan St. vs. Pennsylvania, NSF, 3-24-1979: 29
pts., 10 rebs. & 10 asts.
Other uses of the term
Starting from late 1990s,
the term Final Four is also being used for the final four teams
in other elimination tournaments. Tournaments which use "Final Four"
include
Euroleague in basketball, national basketball competitions in
several European countries and now-defunct European Hockey League.
Together with the name "Final Four", these tournaments have adopted NCAA
competition format where four best teams compete in a single-elimination
tournament held in one place, typically, during one weekend.
The similar term "Frozen
Four" is used by the NCAA to refer to the final rounds of the
Division I men's and women's ice
hockey tournaments.
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