2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2007–08 season. The 70th annual edition of the tournament began on March 18, 2008, and concluded with the championship game on April 7, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

For the first time since seeding began in 1979 (and the only time until the 2025 tournament), all four of the top seeds advanced to the Final Four. These were Memphis, the winner of the South region, UCLA, the winner of the West region making their third consecutive Final Four appearance, Kansas, the winner of the Midwest region, and overall number one seed and East region winner North Carolina, back in the Final Four for the first time since their 2005 national championship.

Memphis and Kansas advanced to the national championship game, with Memphis's victory in the semifinals giving them a record-setting 38 for the season, beating the mark set by Duke in 1999 (Kentucky later matched this record in 2012 and 2015). Kansas, however, spoiled their national championship hopes by handing the Tigers their second loss of the season, winning the game in overtime, 75–68. Memphis's entire season was later vacated by the NCAA due to eligibility concerns surrounding freshman guard Derrick Rose.NCAA rejects Memphis's final appeal of vacated wins , cbssports.com, retrieved 2010-03-22

Entering the tournament on March 18, the top ranked team was North Carolina in both the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Polls, followed by Memphis, UCLA and Kansas.

American University (Patriot), UMBC (America East), Texas–Arlington (Southland), and Portland State (Big Sky) all entered the tournament for the first time in their school's history. Another school, Coppin State, won the MEAC Tournament to become the first 20-loss school to make the field. Georgia, a team that otherwise would not have advanced to the tournament, won the SEC tournament to qualify, and were awarded a #14 seed, the lowest by a major conference team in the tournament.

Although the 2007 tournament did not have many upsets, the 2008 tournament was full of them. The sub-regional pod played at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, featured four games where a double digit seed won. #5 seeds Drake and Clemson fell to #12 seeds Western Kentucky and Villanova, respectively. The #4 seeds in that same pod, Vanderbilt and Connecticut, were defeated by #13 seeds Siena and San Diego. Western Kentucky advanced to the West regional in Phoenix, where the Hilltoppers lost to UCLA. Villanova was one of two double digit seeds to advance to the Midwest regional. The other was #10 seed Davidson, which rode the hot shooting of Stephen Curry to defeat Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Wisconsin before nearly upsetting Kansas in the regional final. In the Midwest region alone, four double-digit seeds advanced. In addition to Villanova, Siena, and Davidson, #11 seed Kansas State knocked off #6 seed USC.

The total tournament attendance of 763,607 set a record for highest total tournament attendance, breaking the record set during the 1999 tournament.

Tournament procedure

The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship is an annual single-elimination tournament featuring 65 teams representing all Division I Conferences in the nation. A "play-in" game determined which of the two lowest seeds would play in the first round of 64 against a top seed team. The Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 65 within four regionals of 16 teams; Mount St. Mary's, as the winner of the play-in game, automatically received a 16 seed.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2008 tournament:

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

First and second rounds March 20 and 22 Honda Center, Anaheim, California (Host: Big West Conference) Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado (Hosts: Colorado State University, Mountain West Conference) Qwest Center Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska (Hosts: Creighton University, Missouri Valley Conference) Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. (Host: Georgetown University) March 21 and 23 BJCC Arena, Birmingham, Alabama (Host: Southeastern Conference) Alltel Arena, North Little Rock, Arkansas (Hosts: University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Sun Belt Conference) RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State 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 East Regional, Charlotte Bobcats Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte) West Regional, US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University) March 28 and 30 Midwest Regional, Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan (Hosts: University of Detroit Mercy, Horizon League) South Regional, Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas (Hosts: University of Houston, Rice University)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship) April 5 and 7 Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio)

Qualifying teams

Automatic bids The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2008 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).

ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bidACCNorth Carolina40th2007America EastUMBC1stNeverAtlantic 10Temple26th2001Atlantic SunBelmont3rd2007Big 12Kansas37th2007Big EastPittsburgh20th2007Big SkyPortland State1stNeverBig SouthWinthrop8th2007Big TenWisconsin14th2007Big WestCal State Fullerton2nd1978ColonialGeorge Mason5th2006C-USAMemphis21st2007HorizonButler8th2007Ivy LeagueCornell3rd1988MAACSiena4th2002MACKent State5th2006MEACCoppin State4th1997Missouri ValleyDrake4th1971Mountain WestUNLV16th2007NortheastMount St. Mary's3rd1999Ohio ValleyAustin Peay6th2003Pac-10UCLA42nd2007PatriotAmerican1stNeverSECGeorgia10th2002SouthernDavidson10th2007SouthlandTexas–Arlington1stNeverSummitOral Roberts5th2007Sun BeltWestern Kentucky20th2007SWACMississippi Valley State4th1996WACBoise State5th1994West CoastSan Diego4th2003

Listed by region and seeding A total of 31 teams received automatic bids for winning their conference tournament championship. Since the Ivy League does not hold a tournament, its regular season champion received the automatic bid. This left 34 at-large bids to be decided from the rest of the field by the NCAA Selection Committee. The at-large bids, along with the seeding for each team in the tournament, were announced on Sunday, March 16.NCAA Tournament Selection Information from Ticket Solutions: Picking The Field , ticketsolutions.com, retrieved 2008-03-22 Coppin State was the first team to make the tournament with 20 losses.Breaking Down the East Region , ESPN Video, retrieved 2008-03-22 Maryland-Baltimore County, American, Texas–Arlington, and Portland State all received their first tournament bids in school history.ESPN – Texas-Arlington vs. Northwestern State – Recap – March 16, 2008 , ESPN, retrieved 2008-03-22ESPN – Northern Arizona vs. Portland State – Recap – March 12, 2008 , ESPN, retrieved 2008-03-22Breaking Down the Midwest Region , ESPN Video, retrieved 2008-03-22ESPN – Colgate vs. American University – Recap – March 14, 2008 , ESPN, retrieved 2008-03-22 Four teams returned after absences from the NCAA Tournament of 20 years or more—Drake (last appearing in 1971), Cal State Fullerton (1978), Cornell (1988), and Baylor (1988).

East Regional – CharlotteSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1North CarolinaACC32–2Automatic2TennesseeSEC29–4At-Large3LouisvilleBig East24–8At-Large4Washington StatePac-1024–8At-Large5Notre DameBig East24–7At-Large6OklahomaBig 1222–11At-Large7ButlerHorizon29–3Automatic8IndianaBig Ten25–7At-Large9ArkansasSEC22–11At-Large10South AlabamaSun Belt26–6At-Large11Saint Joseph'sAtlantic 1021–12At-Large12George MasonCAA23–10Automatic13WinthropBig South22–11Automatic14Boise StateWAC25–8Automatic15AmericanPatriot League21–11Automatic16Mount St. Mary'sNortheast18–14AutomaticCoppin StateMEAC16–20Automatic Midwest Regional – DetroitSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1KansasBig 1231–3Automatic2GeorgetownBig East27–5At-Large3WisconsinBig Ten29–4Automatic4VanderbiltSEC26–7At-Large5ClemsonACC24–9At-Large6USCPac-1021–11At-Large7GonzagaWest Coast25–7At-Large8UNLVMountain West26–7Automatic9Kent StateMAC28–6Automatic10DavidsonSouthern26–6Automatic11Kansas StateBig 1220–11At-Large12VillanovaBig East20–12At-Large13SienaMAAC22–10Automatic14Cal State FullertonBig West24–8Automatic15UMBCAmerica East24–8Automatic16Portland StateBig Sky23–9Automatic South Regional – HoustonSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1MemphisC-USA33–1Automatic2TexasBig 1228–6At-Large3StanfordPac-1026–7At-Large4PittsburghBig East26–9Automatic5Michigan StateBig Ten25–8At-Large6MarquetteBig East24–9At-Large7Miami (FL)ACC22–10At-Large8Mississippi StateSEC22–10At-Large9OregonPac-1018–13At-Large10Saint Mary'sWest Coast25–6At-Large11KentuckySEC18–12At-Large12TempleAtlantic 1021–12Automatic13Oral RobertsSummit24–8Automatic14CornellIvy League22–5Automatic15Austin PeayOhio Valley24–10Automatic16Texas–ArlingtonSouthland21–11Automatic West Regional – PhoenixSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1UCLAPac-1031–3Automatic2DukeACC27–5At-Large3XavierAtlantic 1027–6At-Large4ConnecticutBig East24–8At-Large5DrakeMissouri Valley28–4Automatic6PurdueBig Ten24–8At-Large7West VirginiaBig East24–10At-Large8BYUMountain West27–7At-Large9Texas A&MBig 1224–10At-Large10ArizonaPac-1019–14At-Large11BaylorBig 1221–10At-Large12Western KentuckySun Belt27–6Automatic13San DiegoWest Coast21–13Automatic14GeorgiaSEC17–16Automatic15BelmontAtlantic Sun25–8Automatic16Mississippi Valley StateSWAC17–15Automatic

Both USC and Memphis later vacated all wins from the season, leaving their official records at 0–11 and 0–1, respectively.

Bracket

Opening Round game – Dayton, Ohio Winner advances to 16th seed in East Regional vs. (1) North Carolina.

East Regional – Charlotte, North Carolina

Midwest Regional – Detroit, Michigan

USC vacated all 21 of its wins and its appearance in the 2008 NCAA tournament due to sanctions from the University of Southern California athletics scandal. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with USC removing the wins from its own record.

South Regional – Houston, Texas

West Regional – Phoenix, Arizona

Final Four – Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas

Bracket Source

Memphis' entire 2007–08 schedule results were vacated due to NCAA sanctions involving the eligibility of Derrick Rose. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Memphis removing the wins from its own record.

Game summaries

East Region

First round