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.
Read more about 2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament: Teams, Bids By Conference, Upsets, Announcers
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