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.

This was the last tournament where the first- and second-round sites matched geographically with their regions. The "pod system" was instituted for the 2002 tournament in the wake of the September 11 attacks to keep as many teams as possible closer to their campus.

Duke, coached by Mike Krzyzewski, won the national title with an 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 (Superdome)
• 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

East Regional - Philadelphia
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	ACC	29-4	Tournament Champion
#2	Kentucky	Tubby Smith	SEC	22-9	Tournament Champion
#3	Boston College	Al Skinner	Big East	26-4	Tournament Champion
#4	UCLA	Steve Lavin	Pac-10	21-8	At-Large Bid
#5	Ohio State	Jim O'Brien	Big Ten	20-10	At-Large Bid
#6	USC	Henry Bibby	Pac-10	21-9	At-Large Bid
#7	Iowa	Steve Alford	Big Ten	22-11	Tournament Champion
#8	Georgia	Jim Harrick	SEC	16-14	At-Large Bid
#9	Missouri	Quin Snyder	Big 12	19-12	At-Large Bid
#10	Creighton	Dana Altman	Missouri Valley	24-7	At-Large Bid
#11	Oklahoma State	Eddie Sutton	Big 12	19-8	At-Large Bid
#12	Utah State	Stew Morrill	Big West	27-5	Tournament Champion
#13	Hofstra	Jay Wright	America East	26-4	Tournament Champion
#14	Southern Utah	Bill Evans	Mid-Continent	25-5	Tournament Champion
#15	Holy Cross	Ralph Willard	Patriot League	22-7	Tournament Champion
#16	Monmouth	Dave Calloway	NEC	21-9	Tournament Champion

West Regional - Anaheim
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Stanford	Mike Montgomery	Pac-10	28-2	Regular Season Champion
#2	Iowa State	Larry Eustachy	Big 12	25-5	At-Large Bid
#3	Maryland	Gary Williams	ACC	21-10	At-Large Bid
#4	Indiana	Mike Davis	Big Ten	21-12	At-Large Bid
#5	Cincinnati	Bob Huggins	Conference USA	23-9	At-Large Bid
#6	Wisconsin	Brad Soderberg	Big Ten	18-10	At-Large Bid
#7	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	SEC	20-10	At-Large Bid
#8	Georgia Tech	Paul Hewitt	ACC	17-12	At-Large Bid
#9	Saint Joseph's	Phil Martelli	Atlantic 10	25-6	At-Large Bid
#10	Georgetown	Craig Esherick	Big East	23-7	At-Large Bid
#11	Georgia State	Lefty Driesell	TAAC	28-4	Tournament Champion
#12	BYU	Steve Cleveland	Mountain West	23-8	Tournament Champion
#13	Kent State	Gary Waters	MAC	23-9	Tournament Champion
#14	George Mason	Jim Larranaga	Colonial	18-11	Tournament Champion
#15	Hampton	Steve Merfeld	MEAC	24-6	Tournament Champion
#16	UNC Greensboro	Fran McCaffery	Southern	19-11	Tournament Champion

South Regional - Atlanta
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Michigan State	Tom Izzo	Big Ten	24-4	At-Large Bid
#2	North Carolina	Matt Doherty	ACC	25-6	At-Large Bid
#3	Florida	Billy Donovan	SEC	23-6	At-Large Bid
#4	Oklahoma	Kelvin Sampson	Big 12	26-6	Tournament Champion
#5	Virginia	Pete Gillen	ACC	20-8	At-Large Bid
#6	Texas	Rick Barnes	Big 12	25-8	At-Large Bid
#7	Penn State	Jerry Dunn	Big Ten	19-11	At-Large Bid
#8	California	Ben Braun	Pac-12	20-10	At-Large Bid
#9	Fresno State	Jerry Tarkanian	WAC	25-6	At-Large Bid
#10	Providence	Tim Welsh	Big East	21-9	At-Large Bid
#11	Temple	John Chaney	Atlantic 10	21-12	Tournament Champion
#12	Gonzaga	Mark Few	WCC	24-6	Tournament Champion
#13	Indiana State	Royce Waltman	Missouri Valley	21-11	Tournament Champion
#14	Western Kentucky	Dennis Felton	Sun Belt	24-6	Tournament Champion
#15	Princeton	John Thompson III	Ivy League	16-10	Regular Season Champion
#16	Alabama State	Rob Spivery	SWAC	22-8	Tournament Champion

Midwest Regional - San Antonio
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Berth Type
#1	Illinois	Bill Self	Big Ten	24-7	At-Large Bid
#2	Arizona	Lute Olson	Pac-10	23-7	At-Large Bid
#3	Mississippi	Rod Barnes	SEC	25-7	At-Large Bid
#4	Kansas	Roy Williams	Big 12	24-6	At-Large Bid
#5	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Big East	24-8	At-Large Bid
#6	Notre Dame	Mike Brey	Big East	19-9	At-Large Bid
#7	Wake Forest	Dave Odom	ACC	19-10	At-Large Bid
#8	Tennessee	Jerry Green	SEC	19-11	At-Large Bid
#9	Charlotte	Bobby Lutz	Conference USA	21-10	Tournament Champion
#10	Butler	Thad Matta	MCC	23-7	Tournament Champion
#11	Xavier	Skip Prosser	Atlantic 10	21-7	At-Large Bid
#12	Hawaii	Riley Wallace	WAC	27-5	Tournament Champion
#13	Cal State Northridge	Bobby Braswell	Big Sky	22-9	Tournament Champion
#14	Iona	Jeff Ruland	MAAC	22-10	Tournament Champion
#15	Eastern Illinois	Rick Samuels	Ohio Valley	21-9	Tournament Champion
#16	Northwestern State	Mike McConathy	Southland	18-12	Tournament Champion
	Winthrop	Gregg Marshall	Big South	18-12	Tournament Champion

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	57
						1	Duke	94
	Greensboro
						9	Missouri	81
		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