2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament explained

Year:2003
Teams:65
Finalfourarena:Louisiana Superdome
Finalfourcity:New Orleans, Louisiana
Champions:Syracuse Orangemen
Titlecount:1st
Champgamecount:3rd
Champffcount:4th
Runnerup:Kansas Jayhawks
Gamecount:7th
Runnerffcount:12th
Semifinal1:Marquette Golden Eagles
Finalfourcount:3rd
Semifinal2:Texas Longhorns
Finalfourcount2:3rd
Coach:Jim Boeheim
Coachcount:1st
Mop:Carmelo Anthony
Mopteam:Syracuse
Attendance:54,524
Topscorer:Carmelo Anthony
Topscorerteam:Syracuse
Points:121

The 2003 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. It began on March 18, 2003, and ended with the championship game on April 7 in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Superdome. A total of 64 games were played.

The Final Four consisted of Kansas, making its second straight appearance; Marquette, making its first appearance since they won the national championship in 1977; Syracuse, making its first appearance since 1996; and Texas, making its first appearance since 1947. Texas was the only top seed to advance to the Final Four; the other three (Arizona, Kentucky, and Oklahoma) advanced as far as the Elite Eight but fell.

Syracuse won its first national championship in three tries under 27th-year head coach Jim Boeheim, who would ultimately retire after the 2022–2023 season. This was also Roy Williams’s final game as Kansas head coach; he would depart after the season to become the head coach at North Carolina.

Carmelo Anthony of Syracuse was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Syracuse beat four Big 12 teams on its way to the title: Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2003 tournament:

Opening Round

First and Second Rounds

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

Qualifying teams

Automatic bids

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2003 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).

ConferenceSchooldata-sort-type="number" AppearanceLast bid
ACCDuke27th2002
America EastVermont1stNever
Atlantic 10Dayton12th2000
Atlantic SunTroy State1stNever
Big 12Oklahoma22nd2002
Big EastPittsburgh15th2002
Big SkyWeber State13th1999
Big SouthUNC Asheville1stNever
Big TenIllinois23rd2002
Big WestUtah State15th2001
ColonialUNC Wilmington3rd2002
C-USALouisville30th2000
HorizonUW–Milwaukee1stNever
Ivy LeaguePenn20th2002
MAACManhattan5th1995
MACCentral Michigan4th1987
MEACSouth Carolina State5th2000
Mid-ConIUPUI1stNever
Missouri ValleyCreighton14th2002
Mountain WestColorado State8th1990
NortheastWagner1stNever
Ohio ValleyAustin Peay5th1996
Pac-10Oregon8th2002
PatriotHoly Cross11th2002
SECKentucky45th2002
SouthernEast Tennessee State6th1992
SouthlandSam Houston State1stNever
Sun BeltWestern Kentucky19th2002
SWACTexas Southern4th1995
WACTulsa14th2002
West CoastSan Diego3rd1987
Listed by region and seeding

valign=top
East Regional – Albany
SeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type
  1. 1
OklahomaBig 1224–6Automatic
  1. 2
Wake ForestACC24–5At-large
  1. 3
SyracuseBig East24–5At-large
  1. 4
LouisvilleC-USA24–6Automatic
  1. 5
Mississippi StateSEC20–10At-large
  1. 6
Oklahoma StateBig 1221–9At-large
  1. 7
Saint Joseph'sAtlantic 1023–6At-large
  1. 8
CaliforniaPac-1021–8At-large
  1. 9
North Carolina StateACC18–12At-large
  1. 10
AuburnSEC20–11At-large
  1. 11
PennsylvaniaIvy League22–5Automatic
  1. 12
ButlerHorizon25–5At-large
  1. 13
Austin PeayOVC23–7Automatic
  1. 14
ManhattanMAAC23–6Automatic
  1. 15
East Tennessee StateSouthern20–10Automatic
  1. 16
South Carolina StateMEAC20–10Automatic
valign=top
South Regional – San Antonio
SeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type
  1. 1
TexasBig 1222–6At-large
  1. 2
FloridaSEC24–7At-large
  1. 3
XavierAtlantic 1025–5At-large
  1. 4
StanfordPac-1023–8At-large
  1. 5
ConnecticutBig East21–9At-large
  1. 6
MarylandACC19–9At-large
  1. 7
Michigan StateBig Ten19–12At-large
  1. 8
SEC21–10At-large
  1. 9
PurdueBig Ten18–10At-large
  1. 10
ColoradoBig 1220–11At-large
  1. 11
UNC WilmingtonCAA24–6Automatic
  1. 12
BYUMountain West23–8At-large
  1. 13
San DiegoWCC18–11Automatic
  1. 14
Troy StateAtlantic Sun26–5Automatic
  1. 15
Sam Houston StateSouthland23–6Automatic
  1. 16
UNC AshevilleBig South14–16Automatic
Texas SouthernSWAC18–12Automatic
valign=top
Midwest Regional – Minneapolis
SeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type
  1. 1
KentuckySEC29–3Automatic
  1. 2
PittsburghBig East26–4Automatic
  1. 3
MarquetteC-USA23–5At-large
  1. 4
DaytonAtlantic 1024–5Automatic
  1. 5
WisconsinBig Ten22–7At-large
  1. 6
MissouriBig 1221–10At-large
  1. 7
IndianaBig Ten20–12At-large
  1. 8
OregonPac-1023–9Automatic
  1. 9
UtahMountain West24–7At-large
  1. 10
AlabamaSEC17–11At-large
  1. 11
Southern IllinoisMissouri Valley24–6At-large
  1. 12
Weber StateBig Sky26–5Automatic
  1. 13
TulsaWAC22–9Automatic
  1. 14
Holy CrossPatriot26–4Automatic
  1. 15
WagnerNortheast21–10Automatic
  1. 16
IUPUIMid-Continent20–13Automatic
valign=top
West Regional – Anaheim
SeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type
  1. 1
ArizonaPac-1025–3At-large
  1. 2
KansasBig 1225–7At-large
  1. 3
DukeACC24–6Automatic
  1. 4
IllinoisBig Ten24–6Automatic
  1. 5
Notre DameBig East22–9At-large
  1. 6
CreightonMissouri Valley29–4Automatic
  1. 7
MemphisC-USA23–6At-large
  1. 8
CincinnatiC-USA17–11At-large
  1. 9
GonzagaWCC23–8At-large
  1. 10
Arizona StatePac-1019–11At-large
  1. 11
Central MichiganMid-American24–6Automatic
  1. 12
UW–MilwaukeeHorizon24–7Automatic
  1. 13
Western KentuckySun Belt24–8Automatic
  1. 14
Colorado StateMountain West19–13Automatic
  1. 15
Utah StateBig West24–8Automatic
  1. 16
VermontAmerica East21–11Automatic

BYU bracketing switch

When the bracket was first revealed, it contained a mistake that would have forced BYU, a Mormon-run school, to play its potential Elite 8 game on a Sunday, which is against school policy. As a solution, the selection committee had a plan to switch BYU, the 12 seed in the Friday-Sunday South regional, with the team that reached the Sweet 16 in the Thursday-Saturday Midwest regional (either Wisconsin, Weber State, Dayton, or Tulsa) should the Cougars advance to the Sweet 16.[1] BYU lost its first-round game to Connecticut, which meant no switches were necessary.

Bids by conference

Bids by Conference
BidsConference(s)
6Big 12, SEC
5Big Ten, Pac-10
4ACC, Big East, C-USA
3Atlantic 10, Mountain West
2Horizon, Missouri Valley, WCC
119 others

Final Four

At Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans

National semifinals

Freshman Carmelo Anthony scored 33 points leading the Syracuse Orangemen past the Texas Longhorns in the night cap of the national semifinal doubleheader. Syracuse opened up a comfortable 2nd half lead, but that was trimmed to four with just 1:08 remaining. However, freshman Gerry McNamara iced the game with clutch foul shooting in the final minutes. The win put Syracuse and coach Jim Boeheim one win away from their first ever National Championship. Texas was the last number one seed remaining in the tournament.[2]

The Kansas Jayhawks routed the Marquette Golden Eagles by 33 points, the fourth largest blowout in Final Four history. Keith Langford led the Jayhawks with 24 points, and Kirk Hinrich and Aaron Miles each added 18 points. Dwyane Wade led Marquette in scoring with 19 points in the loss. Like Boeheim, Kansas coach Roy Williams was just one win away from winning his first ever National Championship.[3]

Championship game

See main article: article and 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game.

Leading up to the championship game, much of the conversation revolved around how, no matter the outcome, one of the well-known head coaches would win their first championship.[4] In Jim Boeheim's 27 years as head coach at Syracuse his team had been to two previous Final Fours, and finished runner-up each time (1987, 1996).[4] Roy Williams, during his fifteen seasons as Kansas head coach, had reached the Final Four three previous times, and finished runner up once (1991).[4] Syracuse dominated with a hot shooting first half to lead by 11 at the break. Gerry McNamara connected on an impressive six three-pointers in the half, which were his 18 points for the game. Kansas fought back to within 80–78 in the final minute and had a chance to tie after Hakim Warrick missed a pair of free throws in the final moments; free throws were a major problem throughout the game for Kansas, who went 12-for-30 in attempts. Warrick then blocked Michael Lee's three point attempt with 1.5 seconds remaining on the game clock, followed by Kirk Hinrich's three-pointer at the buzzer going over the net. Kansas' free throw struggles would prove costly in giving Syracuse and Jim Boeheim their first ever national championship. Carmelo Anthony was named Most Outstanding Player (MOP) with 20 points and 10 Rebounds in the win. Syracuse also avenged a second-round loss to Kansas two years earlier.[5]

Bracket

Opening Round game

Winner advances to 16th seed in South Regional vs. (1) Texas.

Final Four – New Orleans, Louisiana

Broadcast information

Originally, CBS Sports was to have shown all 63 games of the tournament following the opening round, which was on ESPN. However, because of the start of the Iraq War the night before, the afternoon games on Thursday and Friday were moved to ESPN while retaining CBS graphics and production. CBS News then joined other broadcast and non-broadcast outlets in showing extended news coverage.

Thursday and Friday night's games were shown on CBS, albeit with frequent news updates. To make up for lost advertising revenue, an additional time slot was opened the following Sunday evening for more CBS telecasts.

2003 also marked the debut of Mega March Madness as an exclusive package on DirecTV. This offered additional game broadcasts not available to the viewer's home market during the first three rounds of the tournament. All games from the 4th round (Elite Eight) onward were national telecasts.

Westwood One had exclusive national radio coverage.

CBS Sports announcers

Westwood One announcers

First and second rounds

Doug Kennedy and Richard Larsen

Final Four

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BYU would switch regionals if it wins two. Katz. Andy. March 16, 2003. ESPN.com. April 16, 2022.
  2. Web site: CNN Sports Illustrated. CNNSI.com. 2003 NCAA National semifinals: (E3) Syracuse 95, (S1) Texas 84. 2008-03-06.
  3. Web site: CNN Sports Illustrated. CNNSI.com. 2003 NCAA National semifinals: (W2) Kansas 94, (MW3) Marquette 61. 2008-03-06.
  4. Web site: Boeheim, Williams say title won't define careers . https://web.archive.org/web/20030604083305/http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney03/columnist?id=1534793&name=wojciechowski_gene . dead . June 4, 2003 . Wojciechowski . Gene . April 6, 2003 . ESPN.com . ESPN the Magazine . November 16, 2013.
  5. Web site: CNN Sports Illustrated. CNNSI.com. 2003 NCAA national championship: (E3) Syracuse 81, (W2) Kansas 78. 2008-03-06.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.