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. The 65th annual edition of the tournament began on March 18, 2003, and ended with the championship game on April 7, in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the Louisiana Superdome. A total of 64 games were played.
The Final Four consisted of Kansas, making its second straight appearance; Marquette, making its first appearance since they won the national championship in 1977; Syracuse, making its first appearance since 1996; and Texas, making its 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 its first national championship in three tries under 27th-year head coach Jim Boeheim, who would ultimately retire after the 2022–2023 season. This was also Roy Williams’s final game as Kansas head coach; he would depart after the season to become head coach at North Carolina.
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.
Schedule and venues
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)
Qualifying teams
Automatic bids The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2003 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).
ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bidACCDuke27th2002America EastVermont1stNeverAtlantic 10Dayton12th2000Atlantic SunTroy State1stNeverBig 12Oklahoma22nd2002Big EastPittsburgh15th2002Big SkyWeber State13th1999Big SouthUNC Asheville1stNeverBig TenIllinois23rd2002Big WestUtah State15th2001ColonialUNC Wilmington3rd2002C-USALouisville30th2000HorizonUW–Milwaukee1stNeverIvy LeaguePenn20th2002MAACManhattan5th1995MACCentral Michigan4th1987MEACSouth Carolina State5th2000Mid-ConIUPUI1stNeverMissouri ValleyCreighton14th2002Mountain WestColorado State8th1990NortheastWagner1stNeverOhio ValleyAustin Peay5th1996Pac-10Oregon8th2002PatriotHoly Cross11th2002SECKentucky45th2002SouthernEast Tennessee State6th1992SouthlandSam Houston State1stNeverSun BeltWestern Kentucky19th2002SWACTexas Southern4th1995WACTulsa14th2002West CoastSan Diego3rd1987
Listed by region and seeding
East Regional – AlbanySeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Oklahoma Big 12 24–6 Automatic#2 Wake Forest ACC 24–5 At-large#3 Syracuse Big East 24–5 At-large#4 Louisville C-USA 24–6 Automatic#5 Mississippi State SEC 20–10 At-large#6 Oklahoma State Big 12 21–9 At-large#7 Saint Joseph's Atlantic 10 23–6 At-large#8 California Pac-10 21–8 At-large#9 North Carolina State ACC 18–12 At-large#10 Auburn SEC 20–11 At-large#11 Pennsylvania Ivy League 22–5 Automatic#12 Butler Horizon 25–5 At-large#13 Austin Peay OVC 23–7 Automatic#14 Manhattan MAAC 23–6 Automatic#15 East Tennessee State Southern 20–10 Automatic#16 South Carolina State MEAC 20–10 AutomaticSouth Regional – San AntonioSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Texas Big 12 22–6 At-large#2 Florida SEC 24–7 At-large#3 Xavier Atlantic 10 25–5 At-large#4 Stanford Pac-10 23–8 At-large#5 Connecticut Big East 21–9 At-large#6 Maryland ACC 19–9 At-large#7 Michigan State Big Ten 19–12 At-large#8 SEC 21–10 At-large#9 Purdue Big Ten 18–10 At-large#10 Colorado Big 12 20–11 At-large#11 UNC Wilmington CAA 24–6 Automatic#12 BYU Mountain West 23–8 At-large#13 San Diego WCC 18–11 Automatic#14 Troy State Atlantic Sun 26–5 Automatic#15 Sam Houston State Southland 23–6 Automatic#16 UNC Asheville Big South 14–16 Automatic Texas Southern SWAC 18–12 Automatic Midwest Regional – MinneapolisSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Kentucky SEC 29–3 Automatic#2 Pittsburgh Big East 26–4 Automatic#3 Marquette C-USA 23–5 At-large#4 Dayton Atlantic 10 24–5 Automatic#5 Wisconsin Big Ten 22–7 At-large#6 Missouri Big 12 21–10 At-large#7 Indiana Big Ten 20–12 At-large#8 Oregon Pac-10 23–9 Automatic#9 Utah Mountain West 24–7 At-large#10 Alabama SEC 17–11 At-large#11 Southern Illinois Missouri Valley 24–6 At-large#12 Weber State Big Sky 26–5 Automatic#13 Tulsa WAC 22–9 Automatic#14 Holy Cross Patriot 26–4 Automatic#15 Wagner Northeast 21–10 Automatic#16 IUPUI Mid-Continent 20–13 Automatic West Regional – AnaheimSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Arizona Pac-10 25–3 At-large#2 Kansas Big 12 25–7 At-large#3 Duke ACC 24–6 Automatic#4 Illinois Big Ten 24–6 Automatic#5 Notre Dame Big East 22–9 At-large#6 Creighton Missouri Valley 29–4 Automatic#7 Memphis C-USA 23–6 At-large#8 Cincinnati C-USA 17–11 At-large#9 Gonzaga WCC 23–8 At-large#10 Arizona State Pac-10 19–11 At-large#11 Central Michigan Mid-American 24–6 Automatic#12 UW–Milwaukee Horizon 24–7 Automatic#13 Western Kentucky Sun Belt 24–8 Automatic#14 Colorado State Mountain West 19–13 Automatic#15 Utah State Big West 24–8 Automatic#16 Vermont America East 21–11 Automatic
BYU bracketing switch When the bracket was first revealed, it contained a mistake that would have forced BYU, a Mormon-run school, to play its potential Elite 8 game on a Sunday, which is against school policy. As a solution, the selection committee had a plan to switch BYU, the 12 seed in the Friday-Sunday South regional, with the team that reached the Sweet 16 in the Thursday-Saturday Midwest regional (either Wisconsin, Weber State, Dayton, or Tulsa) should the Cougars advance to the Sweet 16. BYU lost its first-round game to Connecticut, which meant no switches were necessary.
Bids by conference Bids by ConferenceBidsConference(s) 6 Big 12, SEC 5 Big Ten, Pac-10 4 ACC, Big East, C-USA 3 Atlantic 10, Mountain West 2 Horizon, Missouri Valley, WCC 1 19 others
Final Four
At Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans
National semifinals April 5, 2003 Syracuse (E3) 95, Texas (S1) 84 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. Kansas (W2) 94, Marquette (M3) 61 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.
Championship game
April 7, 2003 Syracuse (E3) 81, Kansas (W2) 78 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. In Jim Boeheim's 27 years as head coach at Syracuse his team had been to two previous Final Fours, and finished runner-up each time (1987, 1996). Roy Williams, during his fifteen seasons as Kansas head coach, had reached the Final Four three previous times, and finished runner up once (1991). 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.
Bracket Opening Round game Winner advances to 16th seed in South Regional vs. (1) Texas.
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/Billy Packer/Bonnie Bernstein – First & Second Round at Nashville, Tennessee; West Regional at Anaheim, California; Final Four at New Orleans, Louisiana Dick Enberg/Matt Guokas/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/Armen Keteyian – First & Second Round at Salt Lake City, Utah; South Regional at San Antonio, Texas Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery/Lesley Visser – First & Second Round at Boston, Massachusetts; Midwest Regional at Minneapolis, Minnesota Gus Johnson/Len Elmore/Solomon Wilcots – First & Second Round at Indianapolis, Indiana; East Regional at Albany, New York Kevin Harlan/Jay Bilas/Dwayne Ballen – First & Second Round at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel/Darren Horton – First & Second Round at Tampa, Florida Craig Bolerjack/Dan Bonner/Brett Haber – First & Second Round at Birmingham, Alabama Tim Brando/Bob Wenzel/Leslie Maxie – First & Second Round at Spokane, Washington
Westwood One announcers
First and second rounds