2001 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Season	2000–01
Teams	65
Finals site	Hubert H. Humphrey 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»

The2001NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing insingle-elimination play to determine the national champion of men'sNCAA Division Icollege basketball for the2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The 63rd annual edition of the tournament began on March 13, 2001, with theplay-in game, and ended with thechampionship game on April 2, 2001, inMinneapolis, Minnesota, at theHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. This was the last Final Four to be held in theHubert 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 theMountain 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 inhigh-definition, being broadcast onCBS.

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 ofDuke, making their second appearance in the Final Four in three years,Maryland, making their first appearance,Michigan State, the defending national champions, andArizona, 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'sMost Outstanding Player.

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 Institute of Technology)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

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

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).

AtHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome,Minneapolis, Minnesota

• 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 seniorShane Battier. However, Duke was able to cut the lead at halftime to 49–38. Duke would take its first lead whenJason 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 stunGary 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 coachLute 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]

• April 2, 2001
  • Duke (E1) 82,Arizona (M2) 72

  The second-ranked team coming into the NCAA tournament would leave giving coachMike Krzyzewski his third National Championship at Duke. Arizona cut Duke's lead to 39–37 early in the second half, butMike Dunleavy Jr. connected on threethree-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.

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

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

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 in1985 and the first since1997. 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 until2012, 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 (Penn State would lose to Temple in the Sweet 16).

• 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 analystClark Kellogg.

• 2001 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 2001 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 2001 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 2001 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 2001 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 2001 National Invitation Tournament
• 2001 Women's National Invitation Tournament
• 2001 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2001 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament

• NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
• 2001 in sports in Minnesota
• March 2001 sports events in the United States
• April 2001 sports events in the United States
• Basketball in San Antonio

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