| National championship game | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Date | March 19, 1966 | ||||||||||||
| Venue | Cole Field House, College Park, Maryland | ||||||||||||
| Referees | Steve Honzo and Thornton Jenkins[1] | ||||||||||||
| Attendance | 14,253 | ||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||
| Network | Sports Network Incorporated | ||||||||||||
The 1966 NCAA University Division basketball championship game was the final of the 1966 NCAA University Division basketball tournament and determined the national champion in the 1965–66 NCAA University Division men's basketball season.[a] The game was held on March 19, 1966, at Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland. The Kentucky Wildcats, the number one ranked team in men's college basketball, faced the Texas Western Miners, who were ranked third in the nation.
Texas Western's starting lineup of five African Americans was the first all-black lineup in an NCAA title game; their opponents, by contrast, fielded an all-white squad. The Miners won 72–65, claiming the school's first national championship in men's college basketball. Their victory challenged assumptions widely held about black players at the time, and major college programs intensified their recruiting efforts towards African-American players in the years following the game.
- ^ "2017 Men's Final Four Records Book" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2017. p. 33. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^ Wong, Glenn M. (2012). The Comprehensive Guide to Careers in Sports (2 ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 200. ISBN 9781449602031.
- ^ "NCAA Splits Basketball Tournament". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Associated Press. January 12, 1956. p. 35.
- ^ "NCAA Votes to Split Into Three Divisions". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. August 7, 1973. p. B5.
- ^ Barnes, Bart (March 16, 1982). "With Gains Come Growing Pains". The Washington Post. pp. D1 – D2.
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