High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 1996 NCAA Men`s Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men`s NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 14, 1996, and ended with the championship game on April 1 at Continental Airlines Arena (now known as Izod Center) in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A total of 63 games were played.