1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 17, 1994, and ended with the championship game on April 4 in Charlotte, North Carolina, played at Charlotte Coliseum. A total of 63 games were played.

The Final Four consisted of Arkansas, making their fifth trip and first since 1990, Arizona, Florida, making their first ever trip, and Duke, making their sixth trip in the last seven tournaments.

In the national championship game, Arkansas defeated Duke by a score of 76–72 and won their first ever national championship.

Schedule and venues
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1994 tournament:

First and Second Rounds
 * March 17 and 19
 * East Region
 * Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York (Hosts: St. John's University, Big East Conference)
 * Midwest Region
 * Kansas Coliseum, Wichita, Kansas (Host: Wichita State University)
 * Southeast Region
 * Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)
 * West Region
 * Dee Events Center, Ogden, Utah (Host: Weber State University)
 * March 18 and 20
 * East Region
 * USAir Arena, Landover, Maryland (Host: George Mason University)
 * Midwest Region
 * Myriad Convention Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Host: University of Oklahoma)
 * Southeast Region
 * Thunderdome, St. Petersburg, Florida (Host: University of South Florida)
 * West Region
 * ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California (Hosts: University of the Pacific, Big West Conference)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
 * March 24 and 26
 * Southeast Regional, Thompson–Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Hosts: University of Tennessee, Southeastern Conference)
 * West Regional, Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California (Hosts: University of Southern California, Pacific-10 Conference)
 * March 25 and 27
 * East Regional, Miami Arena, Miami, Florida (Host: University of Miami)
 * Midwest Regional, Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas (Host: Southwest Conference)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)
 * April 2 and 4
 * Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)

Teams
There were 30 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 27 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while three were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference (Big Ten, Ivy League and Pac-10).

Three conferences, the East Coast Conference, Great Midwest Conference, and Midwestern Collegiate Conference, did not receive automatic bids to the tournament.

Four conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Liberty (Big South), Loyola (MD) (MAAC), Southwest Texas State (Southland), and UCF (TAAC). Additionally, College of Charleston received an at-large bid for its first appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Tournament seeds


West Regional – Los Angeles, California
# Minnesota vacated its NCAA Tournament appearance from the 1993–94 season due to an academic fraud scandal. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Minnesota removing the wins from its own record.

Broadcast information
On television, CBS Sports covered all 63 games of the tournament, with regional splits until the Regional Finals followed by national telecasts.

Exclusive national radio coverage was provided by CBS Radio Sports.

CBS announcers

 * James Brown or Jim Nantz and Billy Packer – Brown/Packer, First & Second Round at Uniondale, New York; Nantz/Packer, Midwest Regional at Dallas, Texas; Final Four at Charlotte, North Carolina
 * Dick Stockton and Al McGuire – First & Second Round at Lexington, Kentucky; West Regional at Los Angeles
 * Greg Gumbel/Bill Raftery/Lesley Visser – First & Second Round at Landover, Maryland; Southeast Regional at Knoxville, Tennessee
 * Verne Lundquist and Dan Bonner or Clark Kellogg – Lundquist/Bonner, First & Second Round at St. Petersburg, Florida; Lundquist/Kellogg, East Regional at Miami
 * Sean McDonough and Derrek Dickey – First & Second Round at Wichita, Kansas
 * Ted Robinson and Greg Kelser – First & Second Round at Oklahoma City
 * Tim Ryan and Ann Meyers – First & Second Round at Ogden, Utah
 * Dave Sims and Larry Farmer – First & Second Round at Sacramento, California