1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament - wikipedia 1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament See also : 1979 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game 1979 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament Season 1978 -- 79 Teams 40 Finals site Special Events Center Salt Lake City, Utah Champions Michigan State ( 1st title, 1st title game, 2nd Final Four ) Runner - up Indiana State ( 1st title game, 1st Final Four ) Semifinalists DePaul ( 2nd Final Four ) Penn ( 1st Final Four ) Winning coach Jud Heathcote ( 1st title ) MOP Magic Johnson Michigan State Attendance 262,101 Top scorer Tony Price Penn ( 142 points ) NCAA Division I Men 's Tournaments `` 1978 1980 '' The 1979 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament involved 40 schools playing in single - elimination play to determine the national champion of men 's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 9, 1979, and ended with the championship game on March 26 in Salt Lake City. A total of 40 games were played, including a national third - place game. Michigan State, coached by Jud Heathcote, won the national title with a 75 -- 64 victory in the final game over Indiana State, coached by Bill Hodges. Indiana State came into the game without a loss all season, but could n't win their final game. Magic Johnson of Michigan State was named the tournament 's Most Outstanding Player. Michigan State 's victory over Indiana State was its first over a number one ranked team, and remained its only victory over a number one ranked team until 2007 ( Wisconsin ). The final game marked the beginning of the rivalry between future Hall of Famers Johnson and Larry Bird. As of 2016, it remains the highest - rated game in the history of televised college basketball. Both Johnson and Bird would enter the NBA in the fall of 1979, and the rivalry between them and their teams ( respectively, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics ) was a major factor in the league 's renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. The game also led to the `` modern era '' of college basketball, as it introduced a nationwide audience to a sport that was once relegated to second - class status in the sports world. With the loss in the championship game, Indiana State has finished as the National Runner - up in the NAIA ( 1946 and 1948 ), NCAA Division I ( 1979 ), and the NCAA Division II ( 1968 ) making them the only school to do so. This was the first tournament in which all teams were seeded by the NCAA Division I Men 's Basketball Committee. The top six seeds in each regional received byes to the second round, while seeds 7 - 10 played in the first round. It is also notable as the last Final Four played in an on - campus arena, at the University of Utah. ( The most recent tournament to be held on a university 's premises ( i.e. not on the university 's main campus, but on a satellite or branch campus ) was in 1983, as the University of New Mexico ( UNM ) hosted that year 's tournament in The Pit ( then officially known as University Arena ), which is located on the UNM South Campus. ) It has, however, been played in a team 's regular off - campus home arena two times since then : in 1985 at Rupp Arena, Kentucky 's home court, and in 1996 at Continental Airlines Arena, then Seton Hall 's home court. Given the use of domed stadiums for Final Fours for the foreseeable future, it is likely this will be the last Final Four on a college campus. Contents 1 Locations 2 Teams 3 Bracket 3.1 East region 3.2 Mideast region 3.3 Midwest region 3.4 West region 3.5 Final Four 4 See also 5 References Locations Raleigh Providence Bloomington Murfreesboro Dallas Lawrence Tucson Los Angeles 1979 sites for first and second round games Greensboro Cincinnati Indianapolis Provo Salt Lake City 1979 Regionals ( blue ) and Final Four ( red ) Region Site Other locations East Greensboro, North Carolina Providence, Rhode Island ; Raleigh, North Carolina Mideast Indianapolis, Indiana Bloomington, Indiana ; Murfreesboro, Tennessee Midwest Cincinnati, Ohio Dallas, Texas ; Lawrence, Kansas West Provo, Utah Los Angeles, California ; Tucson, Arizona Finals Salt Lake City, Utah In the East, the Round of 32 was called Black Sunday because of Penn 's upset of # 1 North Carolina and St. John 's upset of # 2 - seeded Duke, both in Raleigh. Penn went all the way to the Final Four before losing to eventual champion Michigan State. Both teams had to defeat higher - seeded opponents in the Round of 40 to have the chance to beat UNC and Duke. Penn beat three higher - seeded opponents to reach the Final Four, a feat which was later bettered in 1986 by LSU, 2006 by George Mason, and 2011 by Virginia Commonwealth, who each beat four higher - seeded opponents on the way to the Final Four. Teams Region Seed Team Coach Finished Final Opponent Score East East North Carolina Dean Smith Round of 32 9 Penn L 72 -- 71 East Duke Bill E. Foster Round of 32 10 St. John 's L 80 -- 78 East Georgetown John Thompson Round of 32 6 Rutgers L 64 -- 58 East Syracuse Jim Boeheim Sweet Sixteen 9 Penn L 84 -- 76 East 5 Connecticut Dom Perno Round of 32 4 Syracuse L 89 -- 81 East 6 Rutgers Tom Young Sweet Sixteen 10 St. John 's L 67 -- 65 East 7 Temple Don Casey Round of 40 10 St. John 's L 75 -- 70 East 8 Iona Jim Valvano Round of 40 9 Penn L 73 -- 69 East 9 Penn Bob Weinhauer Fourth Place 2 Michigan State L 101 -- 67 East 10 St. John 's Lou Carnesecca Regional Runner - up 9 Penn L 64 -- 62 Mideast Mideast Notre Dame Digger Phelps Regional Runner - up 2 Michigan State L 80 -- 68 Mideast Michigan State Jud Heathcote Champion 1 Indiana State W 75 -- 64 Mideast LSU Dale Brown Sweet Sixteen 2 Michigan State L 87 -- 71 Mideast Iowa Lute Olson Round of 32 5 Toledo L 74 -- 72 Mideast 5 Toledo Bob Nichols Sweet Sixteen 1 Notre Dame L 79 -- 71 Mideast 6 Appalachian State Bobby Cremins Round of 32 3 LSU L 71 -- 57 Mideast 7 Detroit Smokey Gaines Round of 40 10 Lamar L 95 -- 87 Mideast 8 Tennessee Don DeVoe Round of 32 1 Notre Dame L 73 -- 67 Mideast 9 Eastern Kentucky Ed Byhre Round of 40 8 Tennessee L 97 -- 81 Mideast 10 Lamar Billy Tubbs Round of 32 2 Michigan State L 95 -- 64 Midwest Midwest Indiana State Bill Hodges Runner Up 2 Michigan State L 75 -- 64 Midwest Arkansas Eddie Sutton Regional Runner - up 1 Indiana State L 73 -- 71 Midwest Louisville Denny Crum Sweet Sixteen 2 Arkansas L 73 -- 62 Midwest Texas Abe Lemons Round of 32 5 Oklahoma L 90 -- 76 Midwest 5 Oklahoma Dave Bliss Sweet Sixteen 1 Indiana State L 93 -- 72 Midwest 6 South Alabama Cliff Ellis Round of 32 3 Louisville L 69 -- 66 Midwest 7 Weber State Neil McCarthy Round of 32 2 Arkansas L 74 -- 63 Midwest 8 Virginia Tech Charles Moir Round of 32 1 Indiana State L 86 -- 69 Midwest 9 Jacksonville Tates Locke Round of 40 8 Virginia Tech L 70 -- 53 Midwest 10 New Mexico State Ken Hayes Round of 40 7 Weber State L 81 -- 78 West West UCLA Gary Cunningham Regional Runner - up 2 DePaul L 95 -- 91 West DePaul Ray Meyer Third Place 1 Indiana State L 76 -- 74 West Marquette Hank Raymonds Sweet Sixteen 2 DePaul L 62 -- 56 West San Francisco Dan Belluomini Sweet Sixteen 1 UCLA L 99 -- 81 West 5 BYU Frank Arnold Round of 32 4 San Francisco L 86 -- 63 West 6 Pacific Stan Morrison Round of 32 3 Marquette L 73 -- 48 West 7 USC Bob Boyd Round of 32 2 DePaul L 89 -- 78 West 8 Utah Jerry Pimm Round of 40 9 Pepperdine L 92 -- 88 West 9 Pepperdine Gary Colson Round of 32 1 UCLA L 76 -- 71 West 10 Utah State Rod Tueller Round of 40 7 USC L 86 -- 67 Bracket * -- Denotes overtime period East region First round Second round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals 7 Temple 70 10 St. John 's 75 10 St. John 's 80 Duke 78 10 St. John 's 67 6 Rutgers 65 Georgetown 58 6 Rutgers 64 10 St. John 's 62 9 Penn 64 8 Iona 69 9 Penn 73 9 Penn 72 North Carolina 71 9 Penn 84 Syracuse 76 Syracuse 89 5 Connecticut 81 Mideast region First round Second round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals 7 Detroit 87 10 Lamar 95 10 Lamar 64 Michigan State 95 Michigan State 87 LSU 71 LSU 71 6 Appalachian State 57 Michigan State 80 Notre Dame 68 8 Tennessee 97 9 Eastern Kentucky 81 8 Tennessee 67 Notre Dame 73 Notre Dame 79 5 Toledo 71 Iowa 72 5 Toledo 74 Midwest region First round Second round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals 7 Weber State 81 10 New Mexico State 78 * 7 Weber State 63 Arkansas 74 Arkansas 73 Louisville 62 Louisville 69 6 South Alabama 66 Arkansas 71 Indiana State 73 8 Virginia Tech 70 9 Jacksonville 53 8 Virginia Tech 69 Indiana State 86 Indiana State 93 5 Oklahoma 72 Texas 76 5 Oklahoma 90 West region First round Second round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals 7 USC 86 10 Utah State 67 7 USC 78 DePaul 89 DePaul 62 Marquette 56 Marquette 73 6 Pacific 48 DePaul 95 UCLA 91 8 Utah 88 * 9 Pepperdine 92 9 Pepperdine 71 UCLA 76 UCLA 99 San Francisco 81 San Francisco 86 5 BYU 63 Final Four National Semifinals National Championship Game E9 Penn 67 ME2 Michigan State 101 ME2 Michigan State 75 MW1 Indiana State 64 MW1 Indiana State 76 W2 DePaul 74 National Third Place Game E9 Penn 93 W2 DePaul 96 * See also 1979 NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament 1979 NCAA Division III Basketball Tournament 1979 National Invitation Tournament 1979 NAIA Division I Men 's Basketball Tournament 1979 National Women 's Invitation Tournament References Jump up ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=270510127 Jump up ^ Larry Bird ; Earvin Johnson ; Jackie MacMullan ( 4 November 2009 ). When the Game Was Ours. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 13 --. ISBN 978 - 0 - 547 - 41681 - 6. 24.1 Nielsen rating NCAA Division I Men 's Basketball Tournament Tournaments 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1984 1985 1986 2017 2018 Structure Selection process Opening Round Elite Eight Final Four National Championship Game Venues Venues Champions & awards Champions Most Outstanding Player Media & culture Bracketology Broadcasting Tournament Final Four March Madness pools `` One Shining Moment '' Records & statistics All - time team records Bids by school Bids by school and conference Consecutive appearances Final Four appearances by school Final Four participants Final Four appearances by coach Upsets Michigan State Spartans Men 's Basketball 1978 -- 79 NCAA Champions 11 Terry Donnelly 12 Mike Brkovich 15 Ron Charles 21 Don Brkovich 31 Jay Vincent 32 Greg Kelser 33 Earvin Johnson ( MOP ) 35 Rob Gonzalez Head Coach Jud Heathcote Assistant Coach Bill Berry Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1979_NCAA_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament&oldid=783531925 '' Categories : NCAA Division I Men 's Basketball Championship 1978 -- 79 NCAA Division I men 's basketball season Basketball in the Dallas -- Fort Worth metroplex Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Français Italiano Edit links This page was last edited on 2 June 2017, at 22 : 27. 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Question: who won the 1979 ncaa men's basketball championship
Answer: Michigan State