High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 1974 NCAA Men`s Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men`s NCAA Division I college basketball. It was the first tournament to officially be designated as a Division I championship—previously, NCAA member schools had been divided into the "University Division" and "College Division". The NCAA created its current three-division setup, effective with the 1973–74 academic year, by moving all of its University Division schools to Division I and splitting the College Division members into Division II (fewer scholarships) and Division III (no athletic scholarships allowed). Previous tournaments would retroactively be considered Division I championships.