The 1976–77 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1976, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1977 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship Game on March 28, 1977, at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Marquette Warriors won their first NCAA national championship with a 67–59 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The slam dunk, prohibited in NCAA basketball games and warm-ups since the 1967–68 season because of criticism that it rewarded height rather than skill, once again became legal after a nine-season absence.

NOTE: From 1975 to 1981, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), a loosely organized sports federation of colleges and universities in the Northeastern United States, organized Division I ECAC regional tournaments for those of its members that were independents in basketball.

[26][27] Columbia and Seton Hall both finished with 3–2 records in head-to-head competition among members of the New Jersey-New York 7 Conference.