2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament


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. The 63rd annual edition of the tournament began on March 13, 2001, with the play-in game, and ended with the championship game on April 2, 2001, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. This was the last Final Four to be held in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, as it was demolished in 2014. 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. 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

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2001 tournament:
Opening Round
First and Second Rounds
Regional semifinals and finals
National semifinals and championship

Qualifying teams

Automatic bids

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2001 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament.
ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bid
[2001 2001 ACC men's basketball tournament|ACC men's basketball tournament|ACC]Duke25th2000
America EastHofstra4th2000
Atlantic 10[2000–01 2000–01 Temple Owls men's basketball team|Temple Owls men's basketball team|Temple]25th2000
Big 12Oklahoma20th2000
Big EastBoston College12th1997
Big SkyCal State Northridge1stNever
Big SouthWinthrop3rd2000
Big Ten[2000–01 2000–01 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team|Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team|Iowa]20th1999
Big WestUtah State14th2000
ColonialGeorge Mason3rd1999
C-USACharlotte8th1999
Ivy LeaguePrinceton22nd1998
MAACIona7th2000
MACKent State2nd1999
MCCButler5th2000
MEAC[2000–01 2000–01 Hampton Pirates men's basketball team|Hampton Pirates men's basketball team|Hampton]1stNever
Mid-ConSouthern Utah1stNever
Missouri ValleyIndiana State3rd2000
Mountain WestBYU19th1995
NortheastMonmouth2nd1996
Ohio ValleyEastern Illinois2nd1992
Pac-10Stanford10th2000
PatriotHoly Cross9th1993
SECKentucky43rd2000
SouthernUNC Greensboro2nd1996
SouthlandNorthwestern State1stNever
Sun BeltWestern Kentucky17th1995
SWACAlabama State1stNever
TAACGeorgia State2nd1991
WACHawaii3rd1994
West Coast[2000–01 2000–01 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team|Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team|Gonzaga]4th2000

Listed by region and seeding



Final Four

At Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota

National semifinals

  • March 31, 2001
  • *Duke 95, [University of University of Maryland, College Park|Maryland, College Park|Maryland] 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. Referees: David Libbey, Mark Reischling, and Ted Hillary.
  • *Arizona 80, Michigan State 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.

Championship game

  • April 2, 2001
  • *Duke 82, Arizona 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. Illinois.

East regional — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Ohio State vacated all wins and its NCAA Tournament appearance from the 2000–01 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.

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. 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 Texas 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.

Announcers

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