See also: 1986 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
| 1986 NCAA tournament championship game | |
| Type: | ncg |
| Date: | March 31, 1986 |
| Year: | 1985–86 |
| Visitor School: | University of Louisville |
| Visitor Name Short: | Louisville |
| Visitor Nickname: | Cardinals |
| Visitor Record: | 31–7 |
| Visitor Conference: | Metro |
| Visitor Ap: | 7 |
| Visitor Coaches: | 3 |
| Visitor Coach: | Denny Crum |
| Visitor Per1: | 34 |
| Visitor Per2: | 38 |
| Home School: | Duke University |
| Home Name Short: | Duke |
| Home Nickname: | Blue Devils |
| Home Record: | 37–2 |
| Home Conference: | ACC |
| Home Ap: | 1 |
| Home Coaches: | 1 |
| Home Coach: | Mike Krzyzewski |
| Home Per1: | 37 |
| Home Per2: | 32 |
| Arena: | Reunion Arena |
| City: | Dallas, Texas |
| Attendance: | 16,493 |
| Referee: | Hank Nichols, Don Rutledge, Pete Pavia |
| Mvp: | Pervis Ellison, Louisville |
| Odds: | Duke by 1.5[1] |
| Us Network: | CBS |
| Us Announcers: | Brent Musburger (play-by-play) Billy Packer (color) |
| Previous: | 1985 |
| Next: | 1987 |
The 1986 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the finals of the 1986 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and it determined the national champion for the 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The game was played on March 31, 1986, at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas, and featured the East Regional Champion, #1-seeded Duke and the West Regional Champion, #2-seeded Louisville.
This was the last national championship that was played in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex until 2014 which was played at AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington, Texas due to the NCAA's preference for domed stadiums. This was also the last championship game to ever feature a team from the Metro Conference, which disbanded in 1995.
See main article: 1985–86 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team.
See main article: 1985–86 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team.
| Louisville | Position | Duke | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milt Wagner 2 | G | Tommy Amaker | |||
| Jeff Hall | G | † Johnny Dawkins 1 | |||
| F | David Henderson | ||||
| Billy Thompson 1 | F | Mark Alarie 1 | |||
| C | Jay Bilas | ||||
| † | |||||
This was Louisville's last appearance in the Final Four until 2005, where they would lose to Illinois in the semifinal.
This also remains the last official national championship won by the Cardinals, along with their last official appearance in the championship game. They would return to the title game in 2013, where they defeated Michigan to win what was their third title. However, Louisville was forced to vacate their title due to a massive sex scandal involving players on the team, and as a result the Cardinals had four seasons from 2012 to 2015 wiped from the record books. The Cardinals became the first team to vacate a basketball national championship, and the second team overall to vacate a national championship in college sports after USC vacated its 2004 national championship after an investigation into the eligibility of Reggie Bush.