2002 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Dayton

Washington, D.C.

Pittsburgh

Greenville

Chicago

St. Louis

Dallas

Albuquerque

Sacramento

class=notpageimage|

2002 play-in game (orange) and first and second rounds (green)

San Jose

Madison

Lexington

Syracuse

Atlanta

class=notpageimage|

2002 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

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 Tech)

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).

At Georgia Dome, Atlanta

• 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.^[1]

  • 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.^[2]

• 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).^[3]

Winner advances to 16th seed in East Regional vs. (1) Maryland.

# — Ohio State vacated all 32 games including its NCAA Tournament appearance from the 2001–02 season due to the Jim O’Brien scandal.^[4] 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.

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.

• 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
• Tim Brando/Eddie Fogler/Charles Davis – First and Second Rounds at Chicago, Illinois

• Marty Brennaman and Larry Conley, 1st and 2nd Rounds at Greenville, South Carolina and South Regionals at Lexington, Kentucky