The 2002 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. The 64th annual edition of the tournament began on March 12, 2002, and ended with the championship game on April 1 in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome. A total of 64 games were played.
This was the first year that the tournament used the so-called "pod" system, in which the eight first- and second-round sites are distributed around the four regionals. Teams were assigned to first round spots in order to minimize travel for as many teams as possible. The top seeds at each site were:
Sacramento: Oregon (M2), USC (S4) Albuquerque: Arizona (W3), Ohio State (W4) Dallas: Oklahoma (W2), Mississippi State (M3) St. Louis: Kansas (M1), Kentucky (E4) Chicago: Georgia (E3), Illinois (M4) Pittsburgh: Cincinnati (W1), Pittsburgh (S3) Washington, D.C.: Maryland (E1), Connecticut (E2) Greenville: Duke (S1), Alabama (S2)
The Final Four consisted of Maryland, making their second consecutive appearance, Kansas, making their first appearance since 1993, Indiana, making their first appearance since 1992, and Oklahoma, making their first appearance since their national runner-up finish in 1988.
Maryland defeated Indiana 64–52 in the championship game to win their first-ever national championship. Juan Dixon of Maryland was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He would go on to be drafted 17th overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2002 NBA Draft.
For the second straight tournament, the Elite Eight featured at least one double-digit seed. South Region tenth-seed Kent State and West Region twelfth-seed Missouri played in their respective regional finals, with Kent State losing to Indiana and Missouri losing to Oklahoma. This also marked the first time since 1987 that no team from the states of North Carolina nor Kentucky reached the Final Four.
This tournament was the first since 1974 (the last tournament which only allowed one team per conference) in which the North Carolina Tar Heels were not a participant. The 27-year streak was, at the time, the longest appearance streak in NCAA history, having beaten UCLA's 15-year streak in 1990. It has since been topped by Kansas, whose 35-year streak dates back to 1990 and is still active. (Two other active teams, Michigan State and Gonzaga, also have active 20 year streaks and could beat UNC's streak in 2026 and 2027, respectively.)
Schedule and venues
The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2002 tournament:
Opening Round March 12 University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
First and Second Rounds March 14 and 16 ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California (Host: University of the Pacific) BI-LO Center, Greenville, South Carolina (Hosts: Southern Conference, Furman University) Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference) University Arena, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Host: University of New Mexico) March 15 and 17 American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas (Host: Big 12 Conference) MCI Center, Washington, D.C. (Host: Georgetown University) Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Host: Duquesne University) United Center, Chicago, Illinois (Host: Big Ten Conference)
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 21 and 23 South Regional Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky) West Regional Compaq Center at San Jose, San Jose, California (Host: Santa Clara University) March 22 and 24 East Regional Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York (Host: Syracuse University) Midwest Regional Kohl Center, Madison, Wisconsin (Host: University of Wisconsin–Madison)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) March 30 and April 1 Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology)
Qualifying teams
Automatic bids The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2002 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).
ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bidACCDuke26th2001America EastBoston University6th1997Atlantic 10Xavier14th2001Atlantic SunFlorida Atlantic1stNeverBig 12Oklahoma21st2001Big EastConnecticut23rd2000Big SkyMontana5th1997Big SouthWinthrop4th2001Big TenOhio State22nd2001Big WestUC Santa Barbara3rd1990ColonialUNC Wilmington2nd2000C-USACincinnati21st2001Horizon2nd1998Ivy LeaguePenn19th2000MAACSiena3rd1999MACKent State3rd2001MEAC2nd2001Mid-ConValparaiso6th2000Missouri ValleyCreighton13th2001Mountain WestSan Diego State4th1985NortheastCentral Connecticut State2nd2000Ohio ValleyMurray State11th1999Pac-10Arizona21st2001PatriotHoly Cross10th2001SECMississippi State5th1996SouthernDavidson7th1998SouthlandMcNeese State2nd1989Sun BeltWestern Kentucky18th2001SWACAlcorn State6th1999WACHawaii4th2001West CoastGonzaga5th2001
Listed by region and seeding
East Regional – SyracuseSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Maryland ACC 26–4 At-large#2 Connecticut Big East 24–6 Automatic#3 Georgia SEC 21–9 At-large#4 Kentucky SEC 20–9 At-large#5 Marquette C-USA 26–6 At-large#6 Texas Tech Big 12 23–8 At-large#7 NC State ACC 22–10 At-large#8 Wisconsin Big Ten 18–12 At-large#9 St. John's Big East 20–11 At-large#10 Michigan State Big Ten 19–11 At-large#11 Southern Illinois Missouri Valley 26–7 At-large#12 Tulsa WAC 26–6 At-large#13 Valparaiso Mid-Continent 25–7 Automatic#14 Murray State OVC 19–12 Automatic#15 MEAC 26–6 Automatic#16 Siena MAAC 16–18 Automatic Alcorn State SWAC 21–9 AutomaticMidwest Regional – MadisonSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Kansas Big 12 29–3 At-large#2 Oregon Pac-10 23–8 At-large#3 Mississippi State SEC 26–7 Automatic#4 Illinois Big Ten 24–8 At-large#5 Florida SEC 22–8 At-large#6 Texas Big 12 20–11 At-large#7 Wake Forest ACC 20–12 At-large#8 Stanford Pac-10 19–9 At-large#9 Western Kentucky Sun Belt 28–3 Automatic#10 Pepperdine WCC 22–8 At-large#11 Boston College Big East 20–11 At-large#12 Creighton Missouri Valley 22–8 Automatic#13 San Diego State Mountain West 21–11 Automatic#14 McNeese State Southland 21–8 Automatic#15 Montana Big Sky 16–14 Automatic#16 Holy Cross Patriot 18–14 Automatic South Regional – LexingtonSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Duke ACC 29–3 Automatic#2 Alabama SEC 26–7 At-large#3 Pittsburgh Big East 27–5 At-large#4 USC Pac-10 22–9 At-large#5 Indiana Big Ten 20–11 At-large#6 California Pac-10 21–8 At-large#7 Oklahoma State Big 12 23–8 At-large#8 Notre Dame Big East 21–10 At-large#9 Charlotte C-USA 18–11 At-large#10 Kent State MAC 27–5 Automatic#11 Penn Ivy League 25–6 Automatic#12 Utah Mountain West 21–8 At-large#13 UNC Wilmington CAA 22–9 Automatic#14 NEC 27–4 Automatic#15 Florida Atlantic Atlantic Sun 19–11 Automatic#16 Winthrop Big South 19–11 Automatic West Regional – San JoseSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Cincinnati C-USA 30–3 Automatic#2 Oklahoma Big 12 27–4 Automatic#3 Arizona Pac-10 22–9 Automatic#4 Ohio State Big Ten 23–7 Automatic#5 Miami (FL) Big East 24–7 At-large#6 Gonzaga WCC 29–3 Automatic#7 Xavier Atlantic 10 25–5 Automatic#8 UCLA Pac-10 19–11 At-Large#9 Ole Miss SEC 20–10 At-large#10 Hawaii WAC 27–5 Automatic#11 Wyoming Mountain West 21–8 At-large#12 Missouri Big 12 21–11 At-large#13 Davidson Southern 21–9 Automatic#14 UC Santa Barbara Big West 20–10 Automatic#15 Horizon 20–13 Automatic#16 Boston University America East 22–9 Automatic
Bids by conference BidsConferenceSchools 6 Big 12 Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech Big East Boston College, Connecticut, Miami (FL), Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, St. John's Pac-10 Arizona, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC SEC Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss 5 Big Ten Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin 4 ACC Duke, Maryland, NC State, Wake Forest3 C-USA Charlotte, Cincinnati, Marquette Mountain West San Diego State, Utah, Wyoming 2 Missouri Valley Creighton, Southern Illinois WAC Hawaii, Tulsa West Coast Gonzaga, Pepperdine 1 20 other conferences
Final Four At Georgia Dome, Atlanta
National semifinals March 30, 2002 Maryland (E1) 97, Kansas (M1) 88 For the second straight year the Maryland Terrapins earned a bid to the Final Four. This time they would take advantage of their trip. After falling behind 13–2 to the Kansas Jayhawks to begin the game, Maryland stormed to a 44–37 lead at halftime. They expanded their lead to 20, 83–63, with 6:11 left in the game. Roy Williams' Kansas squad did not quit and closed the gap to 4 with under a minute remaining, but the Terps survived to advance to the championship, 97–88. Maryland senior Juan Dixon led the contest in scoring with 33. Indiana (S5) 73, Oklahoma (W2) 64 Mike Davis's Indiana Hoosiers continued their Cinderella ride in the NCAA tournament by defeating another higher ranked team, the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma led most of the first half, and took a 34–30 lead into halftime. However, with the score 60–60 late in the 2nd half Indiana broke ahead for good with an easy bucket from Jeff Newton, who led the Hoosiers with 19 points. The Hoosiers outscored the Sooners by 13 in the 2nd half and advanced to the championship game with a 73–64 victory. Oklahoma was coached by Kelvin Sampson, who later in his career would succeed Davis as IU head coach. This was the first men's final four where all four teams had a unique nickname among D-I schools.
Championship game
April 1, 2002 Maryland (E1) 64, Indiana (S5) 52 The Maryland Terrapins completed the task they set out to do one year earlier by defeating the Indiana Hoosiers 64–52. Maryland led virtually the entire game except for a brief point with 9:52 left in the basketball game when Indiana took a 44–42 lead. Maryland answered the Hoosier run and ended the game with a 22–8 run to bring home the school's first and coach Gary Williams's only men's basketball National Championship. Senior Juan Dixon was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player (MOP).
Bracket Opening Round game Winner advances to 16th seed in East Regional vs. (1) Maryland.
East Regional — Syracuse, New York
Regional Final Summary
Midwest Regional — Madison, Wisconsin
Regional Final Summary
South Regional — Lexington, Kentucky
Regional Final Summary
West Regional — San Jose, California
Ohio State vacated all 32 games including its NCAA tournament appearance from the 2001–02 season due to the Jim O’Brien scandal. 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.
Regional Final Summary
Final Four — Atlanta, Georgia
Broadcast information ESPN broadcast the opening-round game, then turned coverage over to CBS Sports for the remaining 63 games. They were carried on a regional basis until the "Elite Eight", at which point all games were shown nationally.
Westwood One had exclusive radio coverage.
ESPN announcers Mike Tirico and Len Elmore – Opening Round game at Dayton, Ohio
CBS Sports announcers Jim Nantz/Billy Packer/Bonnie Bernstein – First and Second Rounds at Washington, D.C.; East Regional at Syracuse, New York; Final Four and National Championship at Atlanta, Georgia Dick Enberg/Matt Guokas/Armen Keteyian – First and Second Rounds at St. Louis, Missouri; South Regional at Lexington, Kentucky Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery/Lesley Visser – First and Second Rounds at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Midwest Regional at Madison, Wisconsin Gus Johnson/Dan Bonner/Solomon Wilcots – First and Second Rounds at Albuquerque, New Mexico; West Regional at San Jose, California Kevin Harlan/Jon Sundvold/Spencer Tillman – First and Second Rounds at Greenville, South Carolina Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel/Dwayne Ballen – First and Second Rounds at Sacramento, California Craig Bolerjack/Bob Wenzel/Brett Haber – First and Second Rounds at Dallas, Texas