2002 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament


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. It 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:
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.
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.

Locations

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2002 tournament:

Opening round

;March 12:

First and second rounds

;March 14 and 16:
;March 15 and 17:

Regionals

;March 21 and 23:
;March 22 and 24:

Final Four

;March 30 and April 1:
For the second time, Atlanta was the host city of the Final Four, with the Georgia Dome becoming the 33rd host venue. The Georgia Dome also currently holds the distinction of being the most recent Final Four venue to close and be demolished, as it did so in 2017 after the opening of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which was slated to host the Final Four in 2020 before the NCAA tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament included three new venues and two new host cities. The American Airlines Center in Dallas, which opened in 2001, replaced Reunion Arena as the city's primary winter sports venue. The Kohl Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin brought the tournament back to Wisconsin's capital city for the first time since 1969, although it has not returned since. The city of Greenville, South Carolina's Bi-Lo Center hosted for the first time in 2002; however, due to the Confederate flag controversy at the South Carolina State Capitol, the NCAA chose not to return to the arena until 2017, two years after the flag was removed, moving games from Greensboro, North Carolina, because of the controversy surrounding HB2. The 2002 tournament was the last time that the Pittsburgh Civic Arena hosted the tournament; it closed in 2010 and games have since been played at its replacement, PPG Paints Arena.

Teams

Bids by conference

Final four

At Georgia Dome, Atlanta

National Semifinals

* – Denotes overtime period

East Regional — Syracuse, New York

Regional Final Summary

Midwest Regional — Madison, Wisconsin

Regional Final Summary

South Regional — Lexington, Kentucky

First Round summary

Second Round summary

Regional Semifinal summary

Regional Final Summary

West Regional — San Jose, California

Regional Final Summary

Final Four — Atlanta, Georgia

Broadcast information

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.

CBS Sports announcers