2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

2001 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament
Season	2000–01
Teams	65
Finals site	H.H.H. Metrodome; Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	Duke Blue Devils (3rd title, 9th title game,; 13th Final Four)
Runner-up	Arizona Wildcats (2nd title game,; 4th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Maryland Terrapins (1st Final Four); Michigan State Spartans (5th Final Four);
Winning coach	Mike Krzyzewski (3rd title)
MOP	Shane Battier (Duke)
Attendance	612,089
Top scorer	Jay Williams (Duke); (154 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments
«2000	2002»

The 2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball for the 2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It began on March 13, 2001, with the play-in game, and ended with the championship game on April 2 in Minneapolis, at the Metrodome. A total of 64 games were played.

This tournament is the first to feature 65 teams, due to the Mountain West Conference receiving an automatic bid for the first time. This meant that 31 conferences would have automatic bids to the tournament. The NCAA decided to maintain 34 at-large bids, which necessitated a play-in game between the #64 and #65 ranked teams, with the winner playing against a #1 seed in the first round. (Another option would have been to reduce the number of at-large bids to 33, which was the option chosen for the women's tournament.) This is also the first tournament to have been broadcast in high-definition, being broadcast on CBS.

This was the last tournament where the first- and second-round sites were tied to specific regionals. The "pod system" was instituted for the 2002 tournament to keep as many teams as possible closer to their campus in the first two rounds.

The Final Four consisted of Duke, making their second appearance in the Final Four in three years, Maryland, making their first appearance, Michigan State, the defending national champions, and Arizona, making their first appearance since winning the national championship in 1997.

Duke defeated Arizona 82–72 in the national championship game to win their third national title and first since 1992. Shane Battier of Duke was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Schedule and venues

Dayton

Uniondale

Greensboro

New Orleans

Memphis

Kansas City

Boise

San Diego

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2001 first and second rounds (note: the play-in game was held in Dayton, Ohio)

Anaheim

San Antonio

Atlanta

Philadelphia

Minneapolis

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2001 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2001 tournament:

Opening Round

March 13
- University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

First and Second Rounds

March 15 and 17
- East Region
  - Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference)
  - Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York (Hosts: Hofstra University, America East Conference)
- West Region
  - BSU Pavilion, Boise, Idaho (Host: Boise State University)
  - Cox Arena, San Diego, California (Host: San Diego State University)
March 16 and 18
- Midwest Region
  - University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
  - Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 12 Conference)
- South Region
  - Memphis Pyramid, Memphis, Tennessee (Host: University of Memphis)
  - Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (Hosts: Sun Belt Conference, University of New Orleans)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

March 22 and 24
- East Regional, First Union Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Host: Atlantic 10 Conference)
- West Regional, Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, Anaheim, California (Host: Big West Conference)
March 23 and 25
- Midwest Regional, Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio)
- South Regional, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Tech)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

March 31 and April 2
- Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)

Qualifying teams

Automatic bids

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2001 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League and Pac-10, whose regular-season champions received their automatic bids).

Conference	School	Appearance	Last bid
ACC	Duke	25th	2000
America East	Hofstra	4th	2000
Atlantic 10	Temple	25th	2000
Big 12	Oklahoma	20th	2000
Big East	Boston College	12th	1997
Big Sky	Cal State Northridge	1st	Never
Big South	Winthrop	3rd	2000
Big Ten	Iowa	20th	1999
Big West	Utah State	14th	2000
Colonial	George Mason	3rd	1999
C-USA	Charlotte	8th	1999
Ivy League	Princeton	22nd	1998
MAAC	Iona	7th	2000
MAC	Kent State	2nd	1999
MCC	Butler	5th	2000
MEAC	Hampton	1st	Never
Mid-Con	Southern Utah	1st	Never
Missouri Valley	Indiana State	3rd	2000
Mountain West	BYU	19th	1995
Northeast	Monmouth	2nd	1996
Ohio Valley	Eastern Illinois	2nd	1992
Pac-10	Stanford	10th	2000
Patriot	Holy Cross	9th	1993
SEC	Kentucky	43rd	2000
Southern	UNC Greensboro	2nd	1996
Southland	Northwestern State	1st	Never
Sun Belt	Western Kentucky	17th	1995
SWAC	Alabama State	1st	Never
TAAC	Georgia State	2nd	1991
WAC	Hawaii	3rd	1994
West Coast	Gonzaga	4th	2000

Listed by region and seeding

East Regional – Philadelphia
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Duke	ACC	29–4	Automatic
#2	Kentucky	SEC	22–9	Automatic
#3	Boston College	Big East	26–4	Automatic
#4	UCLA	Pac-10	21–8	At-large
#5	Ohio State	Big Ten	20–10	At-large
#6	USC	Pac-10	21–9	At-large
#7	Iowa	Big Ten	22–11	Automatic
#8	Georgia	SEC	16–14	At-large
#9	Missouri	Big 12	19–12	At-large
#10	Creighton	Missouri Valley	24–7	At-large
#11	Oklahoma State	Big 12	20–9	At-large
#12	Utah State	Big West	27–5	Automatic
#13	Hofstra	America East	26–4	Automatic
#14	Southern Utah	Mid-Continent	25–5	Automatic
#15	Holy Cross	Patriot	22–7	Automatic
#16	Monmouth	NEC	21–9	Automatic

West Regional – Anaheim
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Stanford	Pac-10	28–2	Automatic
#2	Iowa State	Big 12	25–5	At-large
#3	Maryland	ACC	21–10	At-large
#4	Indiana	Big Ten	21–12	At-large
#5	Cincinnati	C-USA	23–9	At-large
#6	Wisconsin	Big Ten	18–10	At-large
#7	Arkansas	SEC	20–10	At-large
#8	Georgia Tech	ACC	17–12	At-large
#9	Saint Joseph's	Atlantic 10	25–6	At-large
#10	Georgetown	Big East	23–7	At-large
#11	Georgia State	TAAC	28–4	Automatic
#12	BYU	Mountain West	24–8	Automatic
#13	Kent State	MAC	23–9	Automatic
#14	George Mason	Colonial	18–11	Automatic
#15	Hampton	MEAC	24–6	Automatic
#16	UNC Greensboro	Southern	19–11	Automatic

South Regional – Atlanta
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Michigan State	Big Ten	24–4	At-large
#2	North Carolina	ACC	25–6	At-large
#3	Florida	SEC	23–6	At-large
#4	Oklahoma	Big 12	26–6	Automatic
#5	Virginia	ACC	20–8	At-large
#6	Texas	Big 12	25–8	At-large
#7	Penn State	Big Ten	19–11	At-large
#8	California	Pac-10	20–10	At-large
#9	Fresno State	WAC	25–6	At-large
#10	Providence	Big East	21–9	At-large
#11	Temple	Atlantic 10	21–12	Automatic
#12	Gonzaga	WCC	24–6	Automatic
#13	Indiana State	Missouri Valley	21–11	Automatic
#14	Western Kentucky	Sun Belt	24–6	Automatic
#15	Princeton	Ivy League	16–10	Automatic
#16	Alabama State	SWAC	22–8	Automatic

Midwest Regional – San Antonio
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Illinois	Big Ten	24–7	At-large
#2	Arizona	Pac-10	23–7	At-large
#3	Ole Miss	SEC	25–7	At-large
#4	Kansas	Big 12	24–6	At-large
#5	Syracuse	Big East	24–8	At-large
#6	Notre Dame	Big East	19–9	At-large
#7	Wake Forest	ACC	19–10	At-large
#8	Tennessee	SEC	19–11	At-Large
#9	Charlotte	C-USA	21–10	Automatic
#10	Butler	MCC	23–7	Automatic
#11	Xavier	Atlantic 10	21–7	At-large
#12	Hawaii	WAC	17–13	Automatic
#13	Cal State Northridge	Big Sky	22–9	Automatic
#14	Iona	MAAC	22–10	Automatic
#15	Eastern Illinois	Ohio Valley	21–9	Automatic
#16	Northwestern State	Southland	18–12	Automatic
#16	Winthrop	Big South	18–12	Automatic

Bids by conference

Bids	Conference	Schools
7	Big Ten	Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin
6	ACC	Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
	Big 12	Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas
	SEC	Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee
5	Big East	Boston College, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Syracuse
5	Pac-10	Arizona, California, Stanford, UCLA, USC
3	Atlantic 10	Saint Joseph's, Temple, Xavier
2	C-USA	Charlotte, Cincinnati
	Missouri Valley	Creighton, Indiana State
	WAC	Fresno State, Hawaii
1	21 other conferences

Bids by conference

Bids by Conference
Bids	Conference(s)
7	Big Ten
6	ACC, Big 12, SEC
5	Big East, Pac-10
3	Atlantic 10
2	C-USA, Missouri Valley, WAC
1	21 others

Final Four

At Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota

National semifinals

March 31, 2001
- Duke (E1) 95, Maryland (W3) 84
The fourth meeting of the year between ACC rivals Duke and Maryland – both road teams won during the ACC regular season before Duke won 84–82 in the ACC Tournament semifinals in Atlanta en route to winning the tournament – turned into a classic. Maryland jumped out of the gate to an early 39–17 lead. It appeared the Terps would eliminate Duke, led by senior Shane Battier. However, Duke was able to cut the lead at halftime to 49–38. Duke would take its first lead when Jason Williams drained a three to give Duke the lead 73–72 with 6:48 to play. Duke closed the game with a 23–12 run to stun Gary Williams' Maryland squad.^[1] Referees: David Libbey, Mark Reischling, and Ted Hillary.^[2]
- Arizona (M2) 80, Michigan State (S1) 61
In an emotional season in which Arizona coach Lute Olson suffered the loss of his wife Bobbi, he would be just 40 minutes away from a second National Championship after his Wildcats destroyed the defending national champion Michigan State Spartans. The game was close at halftime with Arizona leading by just 2. However, Arizona outscored Michigan State 48–31 in the second half en route to the 19-point victory.^[3]

Championship game

April 2, 2001
- Duke (E1) 82, Arizona (M2) 72
The second-ranked team coming into the NCAA tournament would leave giving coach Mike Krzyzewski his third National Championship at Duke. Arizona cut Duke's lead to 39–37 early in the second half, but Mike Dunleavy Jr. connected on three three-pointers during an 11–2 Duke run. Dunleavy Jr. led the Duke Blue Devils with 21 points. The Arizona Wildcats would cut the gap to 3 four times, twice inside the four-minute TV timeout. However, Shane Battier proved himself too much for the Wildcats to handle as he hit two critical shots to put the Blue Devils comfortably ahead. Jason Williams, despite a poor shooting night, iced the game with a three-pointer from the top of the key with under 2 minutes to play to give Duke an eight-point lead. The final score was Duke 82 – Arizona 72.

Bracket

Opening Round game – Dayton, Ohio

Winner advances to 16th seed in Midwest Regional vs. (1) Illinois.

Opening Round game March 13

16	Winthrop	67

16	Northwestern State	71

East regional — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

First round March 15			Second round March 17			Regional semifinals March 22			Regional finals March 24

1	Duke	95

16	Monmouth	52
			1	Duke	94
Greensboro
			9	Missouri	81
8	Georgia	68

9	Missouri	70
						1	Duke	76

						4	UCLA	63
5	Ohio State#	68

12	Utah State	77^OT
			12	Utah State	50
Greensboro
			4	UCLA	75
4	UCLA	61

13	Hofstra	48
									1	Duke	79

									6	USC	69
6	USC	69

11	Oklahoma State	54
			6	USC	74
Uniondale
			3	Boston College	71
3	Boston College	68

14	Southern Utah	65
						6	USC	80

						2	Kentucky	76
7	Iowa	69

10	Creighton	56
			7	Iowa	79
Uniondale
			2	Kentucky	92
2	Kentucky	72

15	Holy Cross	68

# — Ohio State vacated all wins and its NCAA Tournament appearance from the 2000–01 season due to the Jim O’Brien scandal.^[4] Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Ohio State removing the wins from its own record.

West regional — Anaheim, California

First round March 15			Second round March 17			Regional semifinals March 22			Regional finals March 24

1	Stanford	88

16	UNC-Greensboro	60
			1	Stanford	90
San Diego
			9	Saint Joseph's	83
8	Georgia Tech	62

9	Saint Joseph's	66
						1	Stanford	78

						5	Cincinnati	65
5	Cincinnati	84

12	BYU	59
			5	Cincinnati	66
San Diego
			13	Kent State	43
4	Indiana	73

13	Kent State	77
									1	Stanford	73

									3	Maryland	87
6	Wisconsin	49

11	Georgia State	50
			11	Georgia State	60
Boise
			3	Maryland	79
3	Maryland	83

14	George Mason	80
						3	Maryland	76

						10	Georgetown	66
7	Arkansas	61

10	Georgetown	63
			10	Georgetown	76
Boise
			15	Hampton	57
2	Iowa State	57

15	Hampton	58

South regional — Atlanta, Georgia

First round March 16			Second round March 18			Regional semifinals March 23			Regional finals March 25

1	Michigan State	69

16	Alabama State	35
			1	Michigan State	81
Memphis
			9	Fresno State	65
8	California	70

9	Fresno State	82
						1	Michigan State	77

						12	Gonzaga	62
5	Virginia	85

12	Gonzaga	86
			12	Gonzaga	85
Memphis
			13	Indiana State	68
4	Oklahoma	68

13	Indiana State	70^OT
									1	Michigan State	69

									11	Temple	62
6	Texas	65

11	Temple	79
			11	Temple	75
New Orleans
			3	Florida	54
3	Florida	69

14	Western Kentucky	56
						11	Temple	84

						7	Penn State	72
7	Penn State	69

10	Providence	59
			7	Penn State	82
New Orleans
			2	North Carolina	74
2	North Carolina	70

15	Princeton	48

Midwest regional — San Antonio, Texas

First round March 16			Second round March 18			Regional semifinals March 23			Regional finals March 25

1	Illinois	96

16	Northwestern State	54
			1	Illinois	79
Dayton
			9	Charlotte	61
8	Tennessee	63

9	Charlotte	70
						1	Illinois	80

						4	Kansas	64
5	Syracuse	79

12	Hawaii	69
			5	Syracuse	58
Dayton
			4	Kansas	87
4	Kansas	99

13	Cal State Northridge	75
									1	Illinois	81

									2	Arizona	87
6	Notre Dame	83

11	Xavier	71
			6	Notre Dame	56
Kansas City
			3	Ole Miss	59
3	Ole Miss	72

14	Iona	70
						3	Ole Miss	56

						2	Arizona	66
7	Wake Forest	63

10	Butler	79
			10	Butler	52
Kansas City
			2	Arizona	73
2	Arizona	101

15	Eastern Illinois	76

Final Four — Minneapolis, Minnesota

National semifinals March 31			National finals April 2

E1	Duke	95

W3	Maryland	84
			E1	Duke	82

			M2	Arizona	72
S1	Michigan State	61

M2	Arizona	80

Upsets

This tournament featured many upsets in the first two rounds, with pairs of #10, #11, #12, and #13 seeds winning in the first and a #10, #11, and #12 seeds all making it to the Sweet 16. The best remembered and most unexpected occurred when Hampton beat number 2 seed Iowa State 58–57 in the first round. The Pirates were down by as much as 11 in the game and outscored the Cyclones 10–0 in the final seven minutes of the game. Tarvis Williams made the winning shot with 6.9 seconds left. The video of Hampton coach Steve Merfield being lifted in the air by player David Johnson during the celebration has become a classic clip, often played by CBS and ESPN to showcase the excitement of the underdog in the NCAA tournament.

Hampton became only the fourth #15 seed to win a game since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 and the first since 1997. They went on to lose to Georgetown in the second round, failing to become the first seed that low to make the Round of 16.^[5] The Pirates were the last #15 seed to advance in the tournament until 2012, in which two #15 seeds beat their #2-seeded opponents.

Temple became just the 3rd #11 seed to make it to the Elite Eight since the tournament had expanded, upsetting #6 Oklahoma and #3 Florida on the way. In the same region, 12-seed Gonzaga made the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row, all as a double digit seed. Both teams would lose to defending champion #1 Michigan State who, along with #7 Penn State, were the only top seeds to make it past the second round in that region (Penn State would lose to Temple in the Sweet 16).

Announcers

Jim Nantz/Billy Packer/Bonnie Bernstein – First and Second Rounds at New Orleans, Louisiana; East Regional at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Final Four and National Championship at Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dick Enberg/Bill Walton/Lesley Visser – First and Second Rounds at San Diego, California; Midwest Regional at San Antonio, Texas
Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery/Armen Keteyian – First and Second Rounds at Kansas City, Missouri; South Regional at Atlanta, Georgia
Gus Johnson/Dan Bonner/Dwayne Ballen – First and Second Rounds at Uniondale, New York; West Regional at Anaheim, California
Kevin Harlan/Jon Sundvold/Charles Davis – First and Second Rounds at Greensboro, North Carolina
Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel/Brett Haber – First and Second Rounds at Memphis, Tennessee
Tim Brando/Rick Pitino/Spencer Tillman – Opening Round Game, First and Second Rounds at Dayton, Ohio
Craig Bolerjack/James Worthy/Bob Wenzel – First and Second Rounds at Boise, Idaho

Greg Gumbel once again served as the studio host, joined by analyst Clark Kellogg.

References

^ "2001 NCAA National semifinals: (E1) Duke 95, (W3) Maryland 84". CNN Sports Illustrated. CNNSI.com. Archived from the original on March 21, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
^ NCAA On Demand (February 27, 2014), 2001 NCAA Basketball National Semi-Final – Maryland vs Duke, retrieved September 27, 2017^{[dead YouTube link]}
^ "2001 NCAA National semifinals: (MW2) Kansas 80, (S4) Michigan State 61". CNN Sports Illustrated. CNNSI.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2001. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
^ "OSU gets probation". ESPN.com. March 10, 2006. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
^ 15th-seeded Pirates stun No. 2 seed Cyclones 58–57

[CNNSI3.31-1-1] "2001 NCAA National semifinals: (E1) Duke 95, (W3) Maryland 84". CNN Sports Illustrated. CNNSI.com. Archived from the original on March 21, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2008.

[2] NCAA On Demand (February 27, 2014), 2001 NCAA Basketball National Semi-Final – Maryland vs Duke, retrieved September 27, 2017^{[dead YouTube link]}

[CNNSI3.31-2-3] "2001 NCAA National semifinals: (MW2) Kansas 80, (S4) Michigan State 61". CNN Sports Illustrated. CNNSI.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2001. Retrieved March 6, 2008.

[4] "OSU gets probation". ESPN.com. March 10, 2006. Retrieved June 5, 2017.

[5] 15th-seeded Pirates stun No. 2 seed Cyclones 58–57

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v t e NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
Tournaments	1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Structure	Selection process Venues No. 1 seeds First Four Elite Eight Final four
Champions & awards	List of champions Most Outstanding Player
Media & culture	Blue bloods Bracketology Broadcasting Tournament Final Four Cutting down the nets March Madness pools "One Shining Moment"
Records & statistics	Team records Bids by school Consecutive appearances Final Four participants Final Four appearances by coach Overall records Upsets Team appearances by seed
See also: Division I Women's Tournament, Division II Tournament, Division III Tournament

v t e 2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments
Conference	ACC America East Atlantic 10 Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA Conference USA MAAC MCC MEAC Mid-American Mid-Con Missouri Valley Mountain West Northeast Ohio Valley Patriot SEC Southern Southland SWAC Sun Belt TAAC WAC West Coast
National	NCAA NIT

Schedule and venues

Qualifying teams

Automatic bids

Listed by region and seeding

Bids by conference

Bids by conference

Final Four

National semifinals

Championship game

Bracket

Opening Round game – Dayton, Ohio

East regional — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

West regional — Anaheim, California

South regional — Atlanta, Georgia

Midwest regional — San Antonio, Texas

Final Four — Minneapolis, Minnesota

Upsets

Announcers

See also

References