2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament


The 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 62nd annual edition of the tournament began on March 16, 2000, and ended with the championship game on April 3 in Indianapolis, Indiana at the RCA Dome. A total of 63 games were played.
Due to a string of upsets throughout the tournament, only one top-four seed advanced to the Final Four. That was [1999–2000 Michigan State University|Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team|Michigan State], who finished the season as the #2 team in the nation and was given the top seed in the Midwest Region. The highest seeded of the other three Final Four teams was [1999–2000 University of Florida|Florida Gators men's basketball team|Florida], who won the East Region as the fifth seed. Two eight-seeds made the Final Four, with [1999–2000 University of Wisconsin–Madison|Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team|Wisconsin] and [1999–2000 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team|North Carolina] rounding the bracket out. Wisconsin won the West Region while North Carolina won the South Region, with both regions seeing their top three seeds eliminated during the first weekend of play.
Michigan State won their first national championship since 1979 by defeating Florida 89–76 in the final game. Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while Morris Peterson was its leading scorer.
Despite the string of upsets, no seed lower than 11 won a game in the tournament. The only 11 seed to win was Pepperdine, which defeated [1999–2000 1999–2000 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team|Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team|Indiana] in the East Region's first round in what turned out to be Bob Knight's last game coaching the Hoosiers before his firing that offseason. Also, two teams that qualified as 10 seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen as Seton Hall in the East and Gonzaga in the West both advanced.
Because of the upsets, the Elite Eight consisted of one top seed, one second seed, one third seed, one fifth seed, one sixth seed, one seventh seed, and two eighth seeds. This is the most recent title won by the Big Ten Conference.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2000 tournament:
First and Second Rounds
Regional semifinals and finals
National semifinals and championship

Teams

There were 30 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 28 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while two were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference.
Three conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: UNC Wilmington, Central Connecticut State, and Southeast Missouri State.
While the Mountain West Conference held a conference tournament, the conference was not granted an automatic bid to the tournament until the 2000–01 season.

Listed by region and seeding



Final Four

At RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana

National semifinals

  • April 1, Michigan State 53, Wisconsin 41
  • :In the first half it appeared that the Cinderella run of the Wisconsin Badgers had a great chance of continuing. Wisconsin's slow down offense, smothering defense tempo held the game to a Michigan State Spartans 19–17 lead. However, the only number one seed left in the tournament opened the second half with a 13–2 run, including 10 points from senior Morris Peterson. After the run, Michigan State coasted home against Wisconsin's limited offense.
  • *Florida 71, North Carolina 59
  • :Despite being behind 18–3 to start the game and trailing at halftime, the North Carolina Tar Heels took control of the early minutes of the second half, and managed to sneak ahead 48–42 on standout freshman guard Joseph Forte's second consecutive three-pointer with 15:44 to play. However, the Florida Gators answered back with a 9–0 run to give them the lead for good. The Gators held the Tar Heels to just six points over a 9 minute span to put them in great shape. Foul trouble ultimately doomed the Tar Heels, and the Gators advanced to their first ever National Championship game.

Championship game

  • April 3, 2000
  • *Michigan State 89, Florida 76
  • :Michigan State senior Mateen Cleaves limped his way to the Most Outstanding Player of the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Cleaves sprained his ankle with 16:18 to play in the 2nd half, and this was after Florida had trimmed Michigan State's double digit halftime lead to 50–44. Cleaves returned about four minutes later, and immediately helped lead the Spartans on a 16–6 run to put the game out of reach. The lone top-seed remaining would bring order to a tournament filled with upsets as they salted away the victory for the school's second national championship. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo earned his first and only title, from his second straight final four appearance. Morris Peterson led the Spartans with 21 points.

Bracket

South Regional – Austin, Texas

Ohio State vacated 16 games including all NCAA Tournament wins from the 1999–2000 season due to the Jim O’Brien scandal. 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.

Broadcast information

Television

CBS Sports had exclusive TV coverage. They were carried on a regional basis until the "Elite Eight", at which point all games were shown nationally.
Greg Gumbel once again served as the studio host, joined by analyst Clark Kellogg.

Radio

Westwood One had exclusive radio coverage.
Play-by-play announcerColor analystRoundSite
John RooneyMidwest 1st/2nd roundsCleveland
Wayne LarriveeMidwest 1st/2nd roundsMinneapolis
Kevin HarlanJon SundvoldMidwest RegionalMichigan
John Rooney Bill Raftery Final FourIndiana
Marty Brennaman Dave Gavitt Final FourIndiana

Tommy Tighe once again served as studio host.