2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season explained

Year:	2001
Preseason Ap:	Duke Blue Devils
Regular Season:	November 9, 2001– March 10, 2002
Tourney Start:	March 12
Nc Date:	April 1, 2002
Champ Stad:	Georgia Dome
Champ City:	Atlanta, Georgia
Champ:	Maryland Terrapins
Nit Champ:	Memphis Tigers
Playeroftheyear:	Jason Williams, Duke

The 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 9, 2001, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 2002 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship Game on April 1, 2002 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The Maryland Terrapins won their first NCAA national championship with a 64–52 victory over the Indiana Hoosiers.

Season headlines

The Atlantic Sun Conference competed under that name for the first time. Previously it had been known as the Trans America Athletic Conference.
The preseason Associated Press All-American team was named on November 6, 2001. Jason Williams of Duke was the unanimous leading vote-getter (72 of 72 votes). The rest of the team included Kareem Rush of Missouri (47 votes), Tayshaun Prince of Kentucky (46), Casey Jacobsen of Stanford (45) and Frank Williams of Illinois (31).^[1]
Jason Conley of Virginia Military Institute became the first freshman ever to win the season scoring title, averaging 29.3 points per game in 28 games.^[2] ^[3] ^[4]
Senior John Linehan of Providence became the all-time Division I steals leader with 385 for his career,^[5] while fellow senior Desmond Cambridge of Alabama A&M coincidentally finishes his career with the second highest steals total of 377.^[5]
On March 1, 2002, sophomore Ronald Blackshear of Marshall tied an NCAA record by making 11 consecutive three-point shots in a game against Akron,^[6] but also makes 14 total in the second-highest single game output in NCAA history.^[7]
Two teams whose head caoches were people of color met in an NCAA tournament Final Four game for the first time, when Indiana, coached by Mike Davis, defeated Oklahoma, coached by Kelvin Sampson, 73–64 in a national semifinal game on March 30, 2002.^[8]

Major rule changes

Beginning in 2001–02, the following rules changes were implemented:^[9]

Both direct and indirect technical fouls penalized by two shots and returned to point of interruption.
Officials could check an official courtside monitor to determine if a try was a three- or two-point attempt, regardless of whether the try was successful.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The top 25 from the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls November 5, 2001.^[10] ^[11]

Associated Press
Ranking	Team
1	Duke (61)
2	Maryland (6)
3	Illinois (2)
4	Kentucky (3)
5	UCLA
6	Florida
7	Kansas
8	Missouri
9	Iowa
10	St. Joseph's
11	Virginia
12	Memphis
13	Stanford
14	Georgetown
15	Michigan State
16	Temple
17	Boston College
18	Oklahoma State
19	North Carolina
20	Southern California
21	Syracuse
22	Indiana
23	Texas
24	Alabama
25	Oklahoma

ESPN/USA Today Coaches
Ranking	Team
1	Duke (30)
2	Illinois (1)
3	Maryland
4	Kentucky
5	Florida
6	UCLA
7	Kansas
8	Iowa
9	Missouri
10	St. Joseph's
11	Virginia
12	Michigan State
13	Memphis
14	Georgetown
15	Stanford
16	Boston College
17	Temple
18	Oklahoma State
19	North Carolina
20	Syracuse
21	Indiana
22	Texas
23	Oklahoma
24	Southern California
25	Fresno State

Conference membership changes

These schools joined new conferences for the 2001–02 season.

School	Former conference	New conference
Albany	NCAA Division I Independent	America East Conference
American	Colonial Athletic Association	Patriot League
Belmont	NCAA Division I Independent	Atlantic Sun Conference
Binghamton	NCAA Division II	America East Conference
Birmingham–Southern	NAIA	Big South Conference
Boise State	Big West Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Cal State Northridge	Big Sky Conference	Big West Conference
Delaware	America East Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Drexel	America East Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
East Carolina	Colonial Athletic Association	Conference USA
Hofstra	America East Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
IPFW	NCAA Division II	NCAA Division I Independent
Louisiana Tech	Sun Belt Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Morris Brown	NCAA Division II	NCAA Division I Independent
Richmond	Colonial Athletic Association	Atlantic 10 Conference
Stony Brook	NCAA Division I Independent	America East Conference
TCU	Western Athletic Conference	Conference USA
Towson	America East Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
UC Riverside	NCAA Division II	Big West Conference
Youngstown State	Mid-Continent Conference	Horizon League

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Regular Season Winner^[12]	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament winner
	T. J. Sorrentine, Vermont^[13]		Matthews Arena (Boston, Massachusetts) (Except Finals)	Boston University^[14]
Temple & St. Joseph's (East) Xavier (West)	David West, Xavier^[15]		The Spectrum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)	Xavier^[16]
	Juan Dixon, Maryland^[17]		Charlotte Coliseum (Charlotte, North Carolina)	Duke^[18]
	Thomas Terrell, Georgia State^[19]		UCF Arena (Orlando, Florida)	Florida Atlantic
	Drew Gooden, Kansas^[20]		Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri)	Oklahoma^[21]
Connecticut (East) Pittsburgh (West)	Caron Butler, Connecticut &<br />Brandin Knight, Pittsburgh^[22]		Madison Square Garden (New York City)	Connecticut
	Jason Erickson, Montana State^[23]		Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (Bozeman, Montana)	Montana^[24]
	Greg Lewis, Winthrop^[25]		Roanoke Civic Center (Roanoke, Virginia)	Winthrop
	Jared Jeffries, Indiana^[26]		Conseco Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, Indiana)	Ohio State
	Jerry Green, UC Irvine^[27]		Anaheim Convention Center (Anaheim, California)	UC Santa Barbara
	Brett Blizzard, UNC Wilmington^[28]		Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, Virginia)	UNC Wilmington
Cincinnati (American) Memphis (National)	Steve Logan, Cincinnati^[29]		Firstar Center (Cincinnati, Ohio)	Cincinnati^[30]
	Rylan Hainje, Butler^[31]		CSU Convocation Center (Cleveland, Ohio)	Illinois-Chicago
	Ugonna Onyekwe, Penn^[32]	No Tournament (Penn received NCAA automatic bid via three-way playoff^[33])
	Mario Porter, Rider^[34]		Pepsi Arena (Albany, New York)	Siena^[35]
Kent State (East) Ball State (West)	Keith McLeod, Bowling Green^[36]		Gund Arena (Cleveland, Ohio)	Kent State^[37]
	Luboš Bartoň, Valparaiso^[38]		Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (Fort Wayne, Indiana)	Valparaiso^[39]
	Tommy Adams, Hampton^[40]		Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, Virginia)	Hampton^[41]
	Kyle Korver, Creighton^[42]		Savvis Center (St. Louis, Missouri)	Creighton^[43]
	Britton Johnsen, Utah^[44]		Thomas & Mack Center (Paradise, Nevada)	San Diego State^[45]
	Corsley Edwards, Central Connecticut State^[46]		Campus Sites	Central Connecticut State^[47]
	Henry Domercant, Eastern Illinois^[48]		Kentucky International Convention Center (Louisville, Kentucky) (Semifinals and Finals)	Murray State
	Sam Clancy Jr., USC^[49]		Staples Center (Los Angeles)	Arizona^[50]
	Patrick Doctor, American^[51]		Campus Sites	Holy Cross^[52]
Florida, Kentucky & Georgia (East) Alabama (West)	Erwin Dudley, Alabama^[53]		Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Georgia)	Mississippi State
Davidson, UNC Greensboro & East Tennessee State (North) Charleston, Georgia Southern and Chattanooga (South)	Dimeco Childress, ETSU (Coaches)^[54] Jason Conley, VMI (Media)^[55]		North Charleston Coliseum (North Charleston, South Carolina)	Davidson^[56]
	McEverett Powers, Texas-San Antonio^[57]		Burton Coliseum (Lake Charles, Louisiana) (Finals)	McNeese State
	Paul Haynes, Grambling State^[58]		Fair Park Arena (Birmingham, Alabama)	Alcorn State
Western Kentucky (East) Louisiana–Lafayette (West)	Héctor Romero, New Orleans^[59]		Lakefront Arena (New Orleans, Louisiana)	Western Kentucky^[60]
	Dan Dickau, Gonzaga^[61]		Jenny Craig Pavilion (San Diego)	Gonzaga^[62]
	Melvin Ely, Fresno State^[63]		Reynolds Center (Tulsa, Oklahoma)	Hawaiʻi

Statistical leaders

Source for additional stats categories

PPG	RPG	Player	APG	SPG

29.3	12.0		8.3	5.5
26.4	11.8		7.9	4.5
26.2	11.4		7.9	3.6
24.6	11.4	Sean Kennedy	7.9	3.4
23.3	11.1		7.6	3.3

BPG	FG%	Player	3FG%	Player	FT%

5.4	70.8		49.0		92.2
4.4	66.5		47.9		91.1
4.1	63.8	Jake Sullivan	47.2		90.9
4.0	60.4		46.4		90.4
4.0	60.0		46.2	Jake Sullivan	90.0

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

See main article: 2002 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.

Final Four – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

National Invitation tournament

See main article: 2002 National Invitation Tournament.

Semifinals & finals

Third Place – Temple 65, Syracuse 64

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

See main article: 2002 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans.

**Consensus First Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Dan Dickau	G	Senior	Gonzaga
Juan Dixon	G	Senior	Maryland
Drew Gooden	F	Junior	Kansas
Steve Logan	G	Senior	Cincinnati
Jason Williams	G	Junior	Duke

**Consensus Second Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Sam Clancy Jr.	F	Senior	Southern California
Mike Dunleavy Jr.	F	Junior	Duke
Casey Jacobsen	G/F	Junior	Stanford
Jared Jeffries	F	Sophomore	Indiana
David West	F	Junior	Xavier