See also: 2000 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game.
| Year: | 2000 |
| Teams: | 64 |
| Finalfourarena: | RCA Dome |
| Finalfourcity: | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Champions: | Michigan State Spartans |
| Titlecount: | 2nd |
| Champgamecount: | 2nd |
| Champffcount: | 4th |
| Runnerup: | Florida Gators |
| Gamecount: | 1st |
| Runnerffcount: | 2nd |
| Semifinal1: | North Carolina Tar Heels |
| Finalfourcount: | 15th |
| Semifinal2: | Wisconsin Badgers |
| Finalfourcount2: | 2nd |
| Coach: | Tom Izzo |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mop: | Mateen Cleaves |
| Mopteam: | Michigan State |
| Attendance: | 624,777 |
| Topscorer: | Morris Peterson |
| Topscorerteam: | Michigan State |
| Points: | 105 |
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. It 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 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 Florida, who won the East Region as the fifth seed. Two eight-seeds made the Final Four, with Wisconsin and 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 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 (Michigan State), one second seed (Iowa State), one third seed (Oklahoma State), one fifth seed (Florida), one sixth seed (Purdue), one seventh seed (Tulsa), and two eighth seeds (Wisconsin and North Carolina). This is the most recent title won by the Big Ten Conference.
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2000 tournament:
First and Second Rounds
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)
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 (Ivy League and Pac-10).
Three conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: UNC Wilmington (CAA), Central Connecticut State (NEC), and Southeast Missouri State (Ohio Valley).
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.[1]
| Conference | Team | Appearance | Last bid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | Duke | 24th | 1999 | |
| America East | Hofstra | 3rd | 1977 | |
| Atlantic 10 | Temple | 24th | 1999 | |
| Big 12 | Iowa State | 11th | 1997 | |
| Big East | St. John's | 26th | 1999 | |
| Big Sky | Northern Arizona | 2nd | 1998 | |
| Big South | Winthrop | 2nd | 1999 | |
| Big Ten | Michigan State | 14th | 1999 | |
| Big West | Utah State | 13th | 1998 | |
| CAA | UNC Wilmington | 1st | ||
| Conference USA | Saint Louis | 6th | 1998 | |
| Ivy League | Penn | 18th | 1999 | |
| MAAC | Iona | 5th | 1998 | |
| MAC | Ball State | 7th | 1995 | |
| MCC | Butler | 4th | 1998 | |
| MEAC | South Carolina State | 4th | 1998 | |
| Mid-Continent | Valparaiso | 5th | 1999 | |
| Missouri Valley | Creighton | 11th | 1999 | |
| NEC | Central Connecticut State | 1st | ||
| Ohio Valley | Southeast Missouri State | 1st | ||
| Pac-10 | Arizona | 18th | 1999 | |
| Patriot | Lafayette | 3rd | 1999 | |
| SEC | Arkansas | 25th | 1999 | |
| Southern | Appalachian State | 2nd | 1979 | |
| Southland | Lamar | 5th | 1983 | |
| SWAC | Jackson State | 2nd | 1997 | |
| Sun Belt | Louisiana–Lafayette | 5th | 1994 | |
| TAAC | Samford | 2nd | 1999 | |
| WAC | Fresno State (vacated) | – | 1984 | |
| West Coast | Gonzaga | 3rd | 1999 |
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| Bids by Conference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bids | Conference(s) | |||
| 6 | Big Ten, Big 12, SEC | |||
| 5 | Big East | |||
| 4 | C-USA, Pac-10 | |||
| 3 | ACC, Atlantic 10 | |||
| 2 | Mountain West, Missouri Valley, WAC, WCC | |||
| 1 | 19 others | |||
At RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana
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.[2]
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.[3]
See main article: 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game.
Michigan State senior Mateen Cleaves limped his way to the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) 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 (1979). Michigan State coach Tom Izzo earned his first title, from his second straight final four appearance. Morris Peterson led the Spartans with 21 points.[4]
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.
Westwood One had exclusive radio coverage.
| Play-by-play announcer | Color analyst(s) | Round(s) | Site(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Rooney | Midwest 1st/2nd rounds | Cleveland | |
| Wayne Larrivee | Midwest 1st/2nd rounds | Minneapolis | |
| Kevin Harlan | Jon Sundvold | Midwest Regional | Michigan |
| John Rooney (Michigan State games) | Bill Raftery (Michigan State games) | Final Four | Indiana |
| Marty Brennaman (Florida North Carolina) | Dave Gavitt (Florida North Carolina) |
Tommy Tighe once again served as studio host.
| Region | Seed | Teams | Flagship station | Play-by-play announcer | Color analyst(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E | 5 | Florida | WRUF–AM (Florida) | Mick Hubert | Mark Wise | |
| E | 8 | Kansas | KLWN-AM | Bob Davis | Max Falkenstein | |
| S | 8 | North Carolina | WCHL–AM (North Carolina) | Woody Durham | Mick Mixon | |
| MW | 1 | Michigan State | WJIM–AM/WJIM-FM (Michigan State) | Mark Champion | Gus Ganakas | |
| MW | 4 | Syracuse | (Syracuse) | |||
| MW | 5 | Kentucky | (Kentucky) | |||
| MW | 8 | Utah | (Utah) | |||
| MW | 9 | Saint Louis | (Saint Louis) | |||
| MW | 12 | St. Bonaventure | WHDL–AM 1450/WPIG–FM 95.7 (St. Bonaventure) | Gary Nease | John Watson | |
| MW | 13 | Samford | WVSU–FM 91.1 (Samford) | Scott Griffin | Mike Royer | |
| MW | 16 | Valparaiso | (Valparaiso) | |||
| W | 4 | LSU | WDGL-FM 98.1, WWL-AM 870 | Jim Hawthorne | Kevin Ford | |
| W | 8 | Wisconsin | WIBA–AM/WOLX-FM (Wisconsin) | Matt Lepay | Mike Lucas |