2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
2001 Final Four logo
Season	2000–01
Teams	65
Finals site	H.H.H. Metrodome Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	Duke (3rd title)
Runner-up	Arizona (2nd title game)
Semifinalists	Maryland (1st Final Four) Michigan State (5th Final Four)
Winning coach	Mike Krzyzewski (3rd title)
MOP	Shane Battier Duke
Attendance	612,089
Top scorer	Jason Williams Duke (154 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «2000  2002»

The 2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 2001, with the play-in game, and ended with the championship game on April 2 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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.

Duke, coached by Mike Krzyzewski, won the national title with a 82-72 victory in the final game over Arizona, coached by Lute Olson. Shane Battier of Duke was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Locations

Opening Round

• Dayton, Ohio (University of Dayton Arena)

First and Second Rounds

• Boise, Idaho (BSU Pavilion)
• Dayton, Ohio (University of Dayton Arena)
• Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro Coliseum)
• Kansas City, Missouri (Kemper Arena)
• Memphis, Tennessee (Pyramid Arena)
• New Orleans, Louisiana (New Orleans Arena)
• San Diego, California (Cox Arena)
• Uniondale, New York (Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum)

Later Rounds

Region	Site
East	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (First Union Center)
Midwest	San Antonio, Texas (Alamodome)
South	Atlanta, Georgia (Georgia Dome)
West	Anaheim, California (Arrowhead Pond)
Finals	Minneapolis, Minnesota (Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome)

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	1	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Champion	2 Arizona	W 82-72
East	2	Kentucky	Tubby Smith	Sweet Sixteen	6 USC	L 80-76
East	3	Boston College	Al Skinner	Round of 32	6 USC	L 74-71
East	4	UCLA	Steve Lavin	Sweet Sixteen	1 Duke	L 76-63
East	5	Ohio State	Jim O'Brien	Round of 64	12 Utah State	L 77-68
East	6	USC	Henry Bibby	Regional Runner-up	1 Duke	L 79-69
East	7	Iowa	Steve Alford	Round of 32	2 Kentucky	L 92-79
East	8	Georgia	Jim Harrick	Round of 64	9 Missouri	L 70-68
East	9	Missouri	Quin Snyder	Round of 32	1 Duke	L 94-81
East	10	Creighton	Dana Altman	Round of 64	7 Iowa	L 69-56
East	11	Oklahoma State	Eddie Sutton	Round of 64	6 USC	L 69-54
East	12	Utah State	Stew Morrill	Round of 32	4 UCLA	L 75-50
East	13	Hofstra	Jay Wright	Round of 64	4 UCLA	L 61-48
East	14	Southern Utah	Bill Evans	Round of 64	3 Boston College	L 68-65
East	15	Holy Cross	Ralph Willard	Round of 64	2 Kentucky	L 72-68
East	16	Monmouth	Dave Calloway	Round of 64	1 Duke	L 95-52
Midwest
Midwest	1	Illinois	Bill Self	Regional Runner-up	2 Arizona	L 87-81
Midwest	2	Arizona	Lute Olson	Runner Up	1 Duke	L 82-72
Midwest	3	Ole Miss	Rod Barnes	Sweet Sixteen	2 Arizona	L 66-56
Midwest	4	Kansas	Roy Williams	Sweet Sixteen	1 Illinois	L 80-64
Midwest	5	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Round of 32	4 Kansas	L 87-58
Midwest	6	Notre Dame	Mike Brey	Round of 32	3 Mississippi	L 59-56
Midwest	7	Wake Forest	Dave Odom	Round of 64	10 Butler	L 79-63
Midwest	8	Tennessee	Jerry Green	Round of 64	9 Charlotte	L 70-63
Midwest	9	Charlotte	Bobby Lutz	Round of 32	1 Illinois	L 79-61
Midwest	10	Butler	Thad Matta	Round of 32	2 Arizona	L 73-52
Midwest	11	Xavier	Skip Prosser	Round of 64	6 Notre Dame	L 83-71
Midwest	12	Hawaii	Riley Wallace	Round of 64	5 Syracuse	L 79-69
Midwest	13	Cal State Northridge	Bobby Braswell	Round of 64	4 Kansas	L 99-75
Midwest	14	Iona	Jeff Ruland	Round of 64	3 Mississippi	L 72-70
Midwest	15	Eastern Illinois	Rick Samuels	Round of 64	2 Arizona	L 101-76
Midwest	16	Northwestern State	Mike McConathy	Round of 64	1 Illinois	L 96-54
Midwest	16	Winthrop	Gregg Marshall	Preliminary Round	16 Northwestern State	L 71-67
South
South	1	Michigan State	Tom Izzo	National Semifinals	2 Arizona	L 80-61
South	2	North Carolina	Matt Doherty	Round of 32	7 Penn State	L 82-74
South	3	Florida	Billy Donovan	Round of 32	11 Temple	L 75-54
South	4	Oklahoma	Kelvin Sampson	Round of 64	13 Indiana State	L 70-68
South	5	Virginia	Pete Gillen	Round of 64	12 Gonzaga	L 86-85
South	6	Texas	Rick Barnes	Round of 64	11 Temple	L 79-65
South	7	Penn State	Jerry Dunn	Sweet Sixteen	11 Temple	L 84-72
South	8	California	Ben Braun	Round of 64	9 Fresno State	L 82-70
South	9	Fresno State	Jerry Tarkanian	Round of 32	1 Michigan State	L 81-65
South	10	Providence	Tim Welsh	Round of 64	7 Penn State	L 69-59
South	11	Temple	John Chaney	Regional Runner-up	1 Michigan State	L 69-62
South	12	Gonzaga	Mark Few	Sweet Sixteen	1 Michigan State	L 77-62
South	13	Indiana State	Royce Waltman	Round of 32	12 Gonzaga	L 85-68
South	14	Western Kentucky	Dennis Felton	Round of 64	3 Florida	L 69-56
South	15	Princeton	John Thompson III	Round of 64	2 North Carolina	L 70-48
South	16	Alabama State	Rob Spivery	Round of 64	1 Michigan State	L 69-35
West
West	1	Stanford	Mike Montgomery	Regional Runner-up	3 Maryland	L 87-73
West	2	Iowa State	Larry Eustachy	Round of 64	15 Hampton	L 58-57
West	3	Maryland	Gary Williams	National Semifinals	1 Duke	L 95-84
West	4	Indiana	Mike Davis	Round of 64	13 Kent State	L 77-73
West	5	Cincinnati	Bob Huggins	Sweet Sixteen	1 Stanford	L 78-65
West	6	Wisconsin	Brad Soderberg	Round of 64	11 Georgia State	L 50-49
West	7	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	Round of 64	10 Georgetown	L 63-61
West	8	Georgia Tech	Paul Hewitt	Round of 64	9 Saint Joseph's	L 66-62
West	9	Saint Joseph's	Phil Martelli	Round of 32	1 Stanford	L 90-83
West	10	Georgetown	Craig Esherick	Sweet Sixteen	3 Maryland	L 76-66
West	11	Georgia State	Lefty Driesell	Round of 32	3 Maryland	L 79-60
West	12	BYU	Steve Cleveland	Round of 64	5 Cincinnati	L 84-59
West	13	Kent State	Gary Waters	Round of 32	5 Cincinnati	L 66-43
West	14	George Mason	Jim Larranaga	Round of 64	3 Maryland	L 83-80
West	15	Hampton	Steve Merfeld	Round of 32	10 Georgetown	L 76-57
West	16	UNC-Greensboro	Fran McCaffery	Round of 64	1 Stanford	L 89-60

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, CAA
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 teams Duke and Maryland 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.

• • Arizona (M2) 80, Michigan State (S1) 61

  In an emotional season in which coach Lute Olson suffered the loss of his wife, 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.

Championship game

President George W. Bush congratulating the 2001 champions from Duke University on the South Lawn of the White House.

• 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 University. 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, including 18 points in the 2nd half. The Arizona Wildcats did not quit as they would get within 3 four times, including twice inside the four-minute TV timeout. However, Shane Battier proved to be too much as he hit two critical buckets to keep the Blue Devils comfortably ahead. Then, Jason Williams, despite a poor shooting night, iced the game with a three-pointer from the top of the key with about 2 minutes left to give Duke an eight-point lead. Battier scored 18 points and added 11 rebounds and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player (MOP).

Bracket

East Regional — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	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*
						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

West Regional — Anaheim, California

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	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					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	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*
																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					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	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					National Finals
	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 two #13 seeds and two #12 seeds winning in the first. The best remembered and most unexpected occurred when Hampton beat Iowa State 58-57 in the first round. They were down by as much as 11 in 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.

They became only the fourth #15 seed to win a game since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 and the first since 1997. The went on to lose to Georgetown in the second round, failing to become the first seed that low to make the Round of 16.

Announcers

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer
• Dick Enberg and Bill Walton
• Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery
• Gus Johnson and Dan Bonner
• Kevin Harlan and Jon Sundvold
• Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel
• Tim Brando and Rick Pitino
• Craig Bolerjack and James Worthy

See also

• 2001 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament