source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/8120/index.htm
UCLA Bruins defeat Purdue 92-72 in the NCAA title game. It would be the final college basketball game for Lew Alcindor who would be named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Alcindor scored 37 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the victory over Purdue.
source: http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=Ralph_Miller
In just the second NCAA men’s basketball tournament the Kansas Jayhawks defeat USC in the semifinal game. One of Phog Allen’s starting five was Ralph Miller, a three sport star at Kansas who went on to a successful basketball coaching career of his own. Miller earned 657 wins coaching three different schools over 38 years.
source: http://www.marchmadness-betting.com/ncaa_history.html
In a game that was billed as Russell the Remarkable vs. Gola the Great, Bill Russell and his University of San Francisco squad faced Tom Gola and the defending NCAA champions from LaSalle. USF would win the game 77-63 behind K.C. Jones who had 24 points and played stellar defense limiting Gola to only 16. Russell’s 118 points in 5 tournament games, a new record, earned him the tournament MVP honors, the first African American to win the award.
source: http://www.sixties60s.com/1966sports.htm
For the first time in NCAA championship history an all black starting five takes the court as Texas Western faces off against Adolph Rupp’s all white top ranked Wildcats, including #42 Pat Riley. Texas Western pulls off the upset by beating Kentucky 72-65.
source: http://www.insideathletics.com/profile/Wilder
As a junior at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Oscar Robertson leads his team to a 31-1 season record and a shot at the Indiana state title. In the championship game against Gary Roosevelt, Robertson (#43) sets the tone with the game’s first basket. Attucks would reign supreme 94-74 to become the first all black high school basketball team to win a state championship in the United States. 11 years later on the same day Texas Western would become the first college basketball team to win the NCAA title with 5 starting black players.
source: http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/hoosiershq/historia/1953/
The Hoosiers win their second NCAA title by defeating the Jayhawks 69-68 in a game that comes down to the final seconds. B.H. Born of Kansas was voted most outstanding player of the tournament, the first time a player from the losing team had won the award. Senior Dean Smith, coached by legendary Phog Allen, went on to a pretty good coaching career himself.
source: http://www.princetonbasketball.com/?cat=21
In the first round of the NCAA tournament #13 seed Princeton defeats #4 seed UCLA in the southeast region bracket.
source: http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-men/hc-big-east-tournament-uconn-syracuse,0,2611584.photogallery
At the end of regulation Eric Devendorf appears to hit the game winner but it was ruled the shot was taken after time expired, sending the Big East semifinal matchup into overtime. The Orangemen and Huskies need 6 extra periods to decide who would advance to the finals of the Big East tournament. The game took nearly four hours and ended at 1:22am with Syracuse winning 127-117.
source: http://aol.sikids.com/photos/1747/back-time-march-12/3
At a game played in New Orleans, the Celtics face off against the Atlanta Hawks. Larry Bird scores 60 points, the most in a game by a Celtic player surpassing the record of 56 points set by Kevin McHale just 9 days prior. The Celtics won the game 126-115.
source: http://www.nba.com/media/pistons/gyardley_080326.jpg
The Syracuse Nationals defeat the Detroit Pistons 111-90 in the final game of the regular season. Leading the league that year with 2,001 points was George Yardley of the Pistons who became the first NBA player to score over 2,000 points in a single season. The previous record for points in a season was 1,932 held by George Mikan.