2004 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2004 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 16, 2004, and ended with the championship game on April 5 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. A total of 64 games were played.
The NCAA named, for the first time, the four tournament regions after regional site host cities instead of the "East", "Midwest", "South", and "West" designations. It was also the first year that the matchups for the national semifinals were determined at least in part by the overall seeding of the top team in each regional. The top four teams in the tournament were Kentucky, Duke, Stanford, and Saint Joseph's. Had all of those teams advanced to the Final Four, Kentucky would have played Saint Joseph's and Duke would have played Stanford in the semifinal games.
Of those teams, only Duke advanced to the Final Four. They were joined by Connecticut, making their first appearance since defeating Duke for the national championship in 1999, Oklahoma State, making their first appearance since 1995, and Georgia Tech, making their first appearance since 1990.
Connecticut defeated Georgia Tech 82–73 to win their second national championship in as many tries. Emeka Okafor of Connecticut was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
As they had in 1999, Connecticut won their regional championship in Phoenix, Arizona.
Two of the tournament's top seeds failed to make it past the opening weekend. Kentucky, number one seed of the St. Louis region, and Stanford, #1 seed of the Phoenix region, both were defeated. Incidentally, both teams were defeated by schools from Alabama, as Kentucky fell to UAB while Stanford lost to Alabama.
Due to their strong 2003–04 season, Gonzaga achieved its highest NCAA tournament seed until 2013 by receiving the #2 seed in the St. Louis region. Gonzaga would receive a #1 seed in the 2013 tournament. The team failed to advance beyond the first weekend of the tournament, however.
Locations
The following were the sites that hosted rounds during the 2004 tournament:Opening round
;March 16:First and second rounds
;March 18 and 20:;March 19 and 21:
Regionals
;March 25 and 27:;March 26 and 28:
Final four
;April 3 and 5:San Antonio and the Alamodome became the hosts of the Final Four for the second time in 2004. There were no new host cities in this tournament but there were three new venues. For the first time since 1970, the tournament returned to Columbus, Ohio, this time at Nationwide Arena, home to the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets and sister venue to the Value City Arena on the campus of Ohio State University. After a shorter absence of only five years, basketball returned to the Mile High City at the Pepsi Center, home to the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. And for the first time since 1982, the tournament returned to Raleigh, North Carolina at the RBC Center, the off-campus home to the NC State Wolfpack, which replaced the Reynolds Coliseum, NC State's former basketball arena and the former site of tournament games in the city. This was the last tournament to feature games held at Kemper Arena and the TD Waterhouse Centre; both have been replaced in their respective cities by the Sprint Center and Amway Center, both of which have hosted games since.
Qualifying teams
Bids by conference
Record by conference
The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, CAA, Horizon League, Mid-Continent, Ivy, MAC, MEAC, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, SoCon, Southland, SWAC, and Sun Belt conferences all went 0–1.
The columns R32, S16, E8, F4, and CG respectively stand for the Round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and Championship Game.
Final Four
At Alamodome, San Antonio, TexasNational Semifinals
- April 3, 2004
- *Connecticut 79, Duke 78
- With the Connecticut Huskies trailing by 8 points with less than 3 minutes to go, it looked as if the Duke Blue Devils were going to spoil Jim Calhoun's chance at a second national title. Connecticut's All-American center Emeka Okafor was limited to just 22 minutes because of early foul trouble, but he came up clutch with several big plays down the stretch and finished with 18 points and only 3 fouls. By contrast, all three of Duke's centers fouled out, including Shelden Williams, who committed his fifth foul with 3:04 to play. In addition, Duke went without a field goal for the last 4 minutes until Chris Duhon's meaningless three-pointer at the buzzer. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was denied his 65th NCAA Tournament victory which would have tied him with Dean Smith for the all-time record. He later broke that record.
- *Georgia Tech 67, Oklahoma State 65
- :Will Bynum's layup in the final moments kept the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets dream for a National Championship alive as they defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys, in a nail-biter, in the first of the National Semifinal doubleheader. Georgia Tech led for most of the game including a seven-point edge at halftime. However, Oklahoma State was able to tie the game on John Lucas's three-pointer with 26.3 seconds left. Georgia Tech then milked the clock which set up Bynum's game-winner. Georgia Tech advanced to their first ever National Championship appearance. Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton was denied yet another chance at an elusive national title.
National Championship Game
- April 5, 2004
- *Connecticut 82, Georgia Tech 73
- :The 2004 National Championship Game proved to be a coronation for the Connecticut Huskies as they handled Paul Hewitt's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Emeka Okafor led Connecticut with 24 points and was an easy choice for Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Guard Ben Gordon added 21 points to Connecticut's cause. The victory gave Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun his second National Championship.
Bracket
Opening round
East Rutherford Regional
St. Louis Regional
Atlanta Regional
Phoenix Regional
Final Four – San Antonio, Texas
Game summaries
Final four
National Championship
Announcers
- Jim Nantz/Billy Packer/Bonnie Bernstein – First & Second Round at Denver, Colorado; East Rutherford Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey; Final Four at San Antonio, Texas
- Dick Enberg/Matt Guokas/Armen Keteyian – First & Second Round at Columbus, Ohio; Phoenix Regional at Phoenix, Arizona
- Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery – First & Second Round at Buffalo, New York; Atlanta Regional at Atlanta, Georgia
- Gus Johnson and Len Elmore – First & Second Round at Orlando, Florida; St. Louis Regional at St. Louis, Missouri
- Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner – First & Second Round at Raleigh, North Carolina
- Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel – First & Second Round at Seattle, Washington
- Craig Bolerjack and Bob Wenzel – First & Second Round at Kansas City, Missouri
- Tim Brando and Mike Gminski – First & Second Round at Milwaukee, Wisconsin