1974 NCAA Division I basketball tournament

The UCLA – North Carolina State semifinal game made USA Today's 2002 list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time at #13.^[1] NC State won the tap to start the second overtime. The Wolfpack looked to score first and then possibly apply the four corners stall offense, but they missed their first three shots, were unable to get an offensive rebound, and committed a goaltending. UCLA scored on its first three possessions, with Bill Walton's four points on two free throws and a turnaround jumper, and Keith Wilkes' layin, which became a three-point play, off a perfect bounce feed from Tommy Curtis. With 3:27 remaining, the Bruins led 74–67, by 7 points, and seemed to have the game won.

But State's pesky, diminutive point guard, Monte Towe, began to create havoc, and with it started a wave of momentum which swung in the direction of the Pack, along with a supportive Greensboro crowd. He dribbled quickly into the front court, then stopped on a dime, and was fouled by Curtis from behind. With his usual style of not bouncing the ball at the line, Towe converted both shots, a quick start of a rally for his team. He then fouled Curtis, who made the first of the one and one, but missed the second, UCLA's first miss from the line in the game. Tim Stoddard rebounded, then David Thompson drove through the lane and tapped in the rebound of his own miss off the glass. In the backcourt, Towe immediately drew another foul on Curtis, an offensive foul and turnover. After a rebound, John Wooden called a timeout, but it may have backfired. The Wolfpack tightened the backcourt pressure and Curtis threw it back to Greg Lee who, trapped, made an errant throw past half court which was lost by Dave Meyers out of bounds. Then State's towering 7'4" center, Tom Burleson, rose high above and behind Walton for a rebound putback, and UCLA's lead was two.

A Walton forced pass into the paint was stolen by Moe Rivers off a deflection. Burleson was fouled with 1:38 to play and made the first before missing the second. State missed two shot attempts to take the lead, then Stoddard fouled out. The future major league baseball pitcher and World Series winner was disconsolate on the bench, but his teammates would respond. Meyers missed the front end of the 1&1, and Thompson jumped high for the rebound. Then, from the left of the free throw circle, he drifted right, then drove left on Wilkes and banked in his shot behind a Burleson screen. NC State now led, 76–75, with under a minute to go.

Lee missed an outside jumper and Wilkes, called for pushing off on the rebound, fouled out. Thompson converted both ends of a 1&1 with 34 seconds left. A Lee long inbounds pass was knocked away by Burleson, for another Rivers steal. Curtis fouled out with 12 seconds to go and Towe hit both free throws. Walton's jumper in the final seconds was too little, too late.^[2] Walton later called the 80–77 semifinal game the most disappointing outcome of his entire basketball career, given how UCLA lost a 5-point lead late in regulation and a 7-point lead in the 2nd overtime, before NC State rallied to win. The game, played in Greensboro, was like a home game for the Wolfpack; UCLA had defeated NC State by 18 points in a neutral site game in St. Louis (where UCLA defeated Memphis State the previous March to win its seventh consecutive national championship) earlier in the season.

The Wolfpack became the fifth team in history to win the national championship playing in its home state. CCNY won the 1950 NCAA championship (as well as the NIT championship) at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Kentucky won the 1958 championship at Freedom Hall in Louisville, and UCLA won both the 1968 and 1972 championships at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. UCLA also would win the 1975 championship in its home state, at the San Diego Sports Arena. No team has accomplished the feat since then, although the Kansas Jayhawks won the 1988 championship in nearby Kansas City, Missouri, at Kemper Arena, which is closer to the KU campus in Lawrence, Kansas than Greensboro is to Raleigh.

This was the last Sweet Sixteen appearance for Creighton and Oral Roberts until the 2021 tournament, when both teams returned for the first time in 47 years.

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1974 tournament:

First round

• March 9
  • East Region
    • Alumni Hall, Jamaica, New York (Host: St. John's University)
    • WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia (Host: West Virginia University)
    • The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hosts: University of Pennsylvania, Ivy League)
  • Mideast Region
    • Hulman Center, Terre Haute, Indiana (Host: Indiana State University)
  • Midwest Region
    • UNT Coliseum, Denton, Texas (Host: North Texas State University)
  • West Region
    • ASISU Minidome, Pocatello, Idaho (Hosts: Idaho State University, Big Sky Conference)

Regional semifinals, 3rd-place games, and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 14 and 16
  • East Regional, Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
  • Mideast Regional, Memorial Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Host: University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa)
  • Midwest Regional, Mabee Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Host: Oral Roberts University)
  • West Regional, McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)

National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)

• March 23 and 25
  • Greensboro Memorial Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference)

* – Denotes overtime period

Curt Gowdy, Tom Hawkins, Charlie Jones, and Ross Porter - First Round at Terre Haute, Indiana (Marquette-Ohio, Notre Dame-Austin Peay)); Mideast Regional Final at Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Final Four at Greensboro, North Carolina; Jones was used as a sideline reporter for the first round and Porter was used for the Final Four.

• Charlie Jones and Ross Porter - West Regional Final at Tucson, Arizona
• Jay Randolph and Pat Hernon - Midwest Regional Final at Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Bill O'Donnell and Billy Packer - East Regional Final at Raleigh, North Carolina

• 1974 NCAA Division II basketball tournament
• 1974 National Invitation Tournament
• 1974 NAIA basketball tournament
• 1974 National Women's Invitation Tournament