2003 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

2003 NCAA Division I
Men's Basketball Tournament

Season	2002–03
Teams	65
Finals site	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana
Champions	Syracuse Orangemen (1st title, 3rd title game, 4th Final Four)
Runner-up	Kansas Jayhawks (7th title game, 12th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Marquette Golden Eagles (3rd Final Four) Texas Longhorns (3rd Final Four)
Winning coach	Jim Boeheim (1st title)
MOP	Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse)
Attendance	54,524
Top scorer	Carmelo Anthony Syracuse (121 points)
NCAA Division I Men's Tournaments «2002 2004»

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 their second straight appearance, Marquette, making their first appearance since they won the national championship in 1977, Syracuse, making their first appearance since 1996, and Texas, making their 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 their first national championship in three tries under Jim Boeheim, defeating Kansas 81–78 in what would be Roy Williams' final game as head coach of the team; he would depart to become the head coach at North Carolina, a position he held before retiring after the 2020–2021 season.

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. Those victories helped earn Boeheim the national title that had eluded him in 1987 and 1996.

Schedule and venues[]

Spokane

Salt Lake City

Oklahoma City

Indianapolis

Tampa

Boston

Nashville

Birmingham

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2003 first and second rounds (note: the play-in game was held in Dayton, Ohio)

Anaheim

Minneapolis

San Antonio

Albany

New Orleans

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2003 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

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

Opening Round

• March 18
  • University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

First and Second Rounds

• March 20 and 22
  • Ford Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Host: Big 12 Conference)
  • Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah)
  • RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Butler University and Horizon League)
  • Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington (Host: Washington State University)
• March 21 and 23
  • BJCC Arena, Birmingham, Alabama (Host: Southeastern Conference)
  • FleetCenter, Boston, Massachusetts (Host: Boston College)
  • Gaylord Entertainment Center, Nashville, Tennessee (Host: Vanderbilt University)
  • St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida (Host: University of South Florida)

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 27 and 29
  • Midwest Regional, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)
  • West Regional, Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, Anaheim, California (Host: Big West Conference)
• March 28 and 30
  • East Regional, Pepsi Arena, Albany, New York (Host: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Siena College)
  • South Regional, Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

• April 5 and 7
  • Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (Host: Sun Belt Conference and University of New Orleans)

New Orleans was the Final Four host city for the fourth time, and the first time since 1993. There were three new venues, only one of which was in a new host city. For the first time, the tournament came to Spokane, Washington and the Spokane Arena. Previous games in eastern Washington had been played on the campus of Washington State University, who was host of the games despite the arena being the alternate home court for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The tournament returned to Oklahoma City in 2003, to the then-new Ford Center, which replaced the Cox Convention Center across the street as the city's major arena. And for the first time since 1983, the tournament returned to the city of Tampa at the St. Pete Times Forum, home to the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning. The tournament had been held across Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg three times between appearances in Tampa. To date, this is the last tournament to feature what is now known as the Times Union Center in Albany; however, the tournament was scheduled to return to New York's state capital in 2020 prior to its cancellation; the tournament is now scheduled to return to Albany in 2023.

Qualifying teams[]

• If BYU had advanced to the Sweet 16, they would have been moved to the Midwest Regional

Bids by conference[]

Final Four[]

The Louisiana Superdome was host of the Final Four and National Championship in 2003.

At Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans

National Semifinals[]

• April 5, 2003
  • Syracuse (E3) 95, Texas (S1) 84, Complete Game on YouTube

  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.^[1]

  • Kansas (W2) 94, Marquette (M3) 61, Complete Game on YouTube

  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.^[2]

Championship Game[]

• April 7, 2003
  • Syracuse (E3) 81, Kansas (W2) 78, Complete Game on YouTube

  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.^[3] In Jim Boeheim's 27 years as head coach at Syracuse his team had been to two Final Fours, and finished runner-up each time (1987, 1996).^[3] Roy Williams, during his fifteen seasons as Kansas head coach, had reached the Final Four four times, and finished runner up once (1991).^[3] 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.^[4]

Bracket[]

* – Denotes overtime period

East Regional – Albany, New York[]

South Regional – San Antonio, Texas[]

Midwest Regional – Minneapolis, Minnesota[]

West Regional – Anaheim, California[]

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[]

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer/Bonnie Bernstein – First & Second Round at Nashville, Tennessee; West Regional at Anaheim, California; Final Four at New Orleans, Louisiana
• Dick Enberg and Matt Guokas/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/Armen Keteyian – First & Second Round at Salt Lake City, Utah; South Regional at San Antonio, Texas
• Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery/Lesley Visser – First & Second Round at Boston, Massachusetts; Midwest Regional at Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Gus Johnson and Len Elmore/Solomon Wilcots – First & Second Round at Indianapolis, Indiana; East Regional at Albany, New York
• Kevin Harlan and Jay Bilas – First & Second Round at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel – First & Second Round at Tampa, Florida
• Craig Bolerjack and Dan Bonner – First & Second Round at Birmingham, Alabama
• Tim Brando and Bob Wenzel – First & Second Round at Spokane, Washington

Westwood One announcers[]

First and second rounds[]

Doug Kennedy and Richard Larsen

Regionals[]

Final Four[]

See also[]

• 2003 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
• 2003 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
• 2003 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
• 2003 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
• 2003 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament
• 2003 National Invitation Tournament
• 2002 Women's National Invitation Tournament
• 2003 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
• 2003 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
• 2003 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
• 2003 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament

References[]