The 2009 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 2008–09 season. The 71st annual edition of the tournament began on March 17, 2009, and concluded with the championship game on April 6 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.
The University of North Carolina defeated Michigan State to become the champion. It was the Tar Heels 5th title, and 2nd under Roy Williams. The 2009 tournament was the first time the Final Four had a minimum seating capacity of 70,000, and by having most of the tournament in the February Sweeps of the Nielsen Ratings due to the digital television transition in the United States on June 12, 2009, this was the last NCAA basketball tournament, in all three divisions, to air on analog television.
Prior to the start of the tournament, the top ranked team was Louisville in both the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Polls, followed by North Carolina, Memphis, and Pittsburgh.2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings (Mar. 16) on ESPN.com Only the Tar Heels of North Carolina were the regional winners and played in the Final Four. The Tar Heels completed one of the most dominant runs in the tournament's history by winning each of their games by at least twelve points.
For the first time since seeding began, all #1 to #3 seeds made it into the Sweet 16, and for the third consecutive time, all #1 seeds made the Elite Eight.
Four schools made their NCAA tournament debut, all respective conference champions: Binghamton (America East), Morgan State (MEAC), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), and North Dakota State (Summit), a school in its first season of Division I eligibility.
Tournament procedure
Sixty-five teams were selected for the tournament. Thirty of the teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. The automatic bid of the Ivy League, which does not conduct a postseason tournament, went to Cornell, its regular season champion. The remaining 34 teams were granted "at-large" bids by the NCAA Selection Committee.
Two teams play an opening-round game, popularly called the "play-in game". The winner of that game advances to the main draw of the tournament as a 16 seed and plays a top seed in one of the regionals. The 2009 game was played on Tuesday, March 17, at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio, as it has since its inception in 2001.
All 64 teams were seeded 1 to 16 within their regions; the winner of the play-in game automatically received a 16 seed. The Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 65. SEC commissioner Michael Slive served his last year as chairman of the committee.
Schedule and venues
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2009 tournament:
Opening Round March 17 University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
First and Second Rounds March 19 and 21 Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference) Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 12 Conference) Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Host: Saint Joseph's University) Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon (Host: University of Oregon) March 20 and 22 Taco Bell Arena, Boise, Idaho (Host: Boise State University) University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton) American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida (Host: Florida International University) Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)
Regional semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 26 and 28 East Regional, TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts (Host: Boston College) West Regional, University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University) March 27 and 29 South Regional, FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee (Host: University of Memphis) Midwest Regional, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Horizon League, Butler University)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) April 4 and 6 Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan (Host: University of Detroit Mercy)
Qualifying teams
Automatic bids The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2009 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).
ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bidACCDuke33rd2008America EastBinghamton1stNeverAtlantic 10Temple27th2008Atlantic SunEast Tennessee State8th2004Big 12Missouri22nd2003Big EastLouisville35th2008Big SkyPortland State2nd2008Big SouthRadford2nd1998Big TenPurdue23rd2008Big WestCal State Northridge2nd2001ColonialVCU8th2007C-USAMemphis22nd2008HorizonCleveland State2nd1986Ivy LeagueCornell4th2008MAACSiena5th2008MACAkron2nd1986MEACMorgan State1stNeverMissouri ValleyNorthern Iowa5th2006Mountain WestUtah27th2005NortheastRobert Morris6th1992Ohio ValleyMorehead State6th1984Pac-10USC15th2008PatriotAmerican2nd2008SECMississippi State10th2008SouthernChattanooga10th2005SouthlandStephen F. Austin1stNeverSummitNorth Dakota State1stNeverSun BeltWestern Kentucky21st2008SWACAlabama State3rd2004WACUtah State18th2006West CoastGonzaga12th2008
Listed by region and seeding East Regional – BostonSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1PittsburghBig East31–4At-large2DukeACC30–6Automatic3VillanovaBig East30–7At-large4XavierAtlantic 1028–7At-large5Florida StateACC25–9At-large6UCLAPac-1026–8At-large7TexasBig 1223–11At-large8Oklahoma StateBig 1223–11At-large9TennesseeSEC21–12At-large10MinnesotaBig Ten22–10At-large11VCUCAA24–9Automatic12WisconsinBig Ten20–12At-large13Portland StateBig Sky23–9Automatic14AmericanPatriot24–7Automatic15BinghamtonAmerica East23–8Automatic16East Tennessee StateAtlantic Sun23–10Automatic Midwest Regional – IndianapolisSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1LouisvilleBig East28–5Automatic2Michigan StateBig Ten26–6At-large3KansasBig 1225–7At-large4Wake ForestACC24–6At-large5UtahMountain West24–9Automatic6West VirginiaBig East23–11At-large7Boston CollegeACC22–11At-large8Ohio StateBig Ten22–10At-large9SienaMAAC26–7Automatic10USCPac-1021–12Automatic11DaytonAtlantic 1026–7At-large12ArizonaPac-1019–13At-large13Cleveland StateHorizon25–10Automatic14North Dakota StateSummit26–6Automatic15Robert MorrisNortheast24–10Automatic16Alabama StateSWAC22–9AutomaticMorehead StateOhio Valley19–15Automatic South Regional – MemphisSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1North CarolinaACC28–4At-large2OklahomaBig 1227–5At-large3SyracuseBig East26–9At-large4Gonzaga West Coast26–5Automatic5IllinoisBig Ten24–9At-large6Arizona StatePac-1024–9At-large7ClemsonACC23–8At-large8LSUSEC26–7At-large9ButlerHorizon26–5At-large10MichiganBig Ten20–13At-large11TempleAtlantic 1022–11Automatic12Western KentuckySun Belt24–8Automatic13AkronMid-American23–12Automatic14Stephen F. AustinSouthland24–7Automatic15Morgan StateMEAC23–11Automatic16RadfordBig South21–11Automatic West Regional – GlendaleSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1ConnecticutBig East27–4At-large2MemphisC-USA31–3Automatic3MissouriBig 1228–6Automatic4WashingtonPac-1025–8At-large5PurdueBig Ten25–9Automatic6MarquetteBig East24–9At-large7CaliforniaPac-1022–10At-large8BYUMountain West25–7At-large9Texas A&MBig 1223–9At-large10MarylandACC20–13At-large11Utah StateWAC30–4Automatic12Northern IowaMissouri Valley23–10Automatic13Mississippi StateSEC23–12Automatic14CornellIvy League21–9Automatic15Cal State NorthridgeBig West17–13Automatic16ChattanoogaSo Con18–16Automatic
Bracket
Results to date
All times in U.S. ET.
Opening Round Game – Dayton, Ohio Winner advanced to Midwest Regional vs. (1) Louisville.
Midwest Regional – Indianapolis, Indiana
West Regional – Glendale, Arizona
East Regional – Boston, Massachusetts
South Regional – Memphis, Tennessee
Final Four – Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
Game summaries
Midwest Region Goran Suton of Michigan State was the Midwest regional most outstanding player. He was joined by Spartan teammates Kalin Lucas and Travis Walton, Louisville's Earl Clark and Kansas's Cole Aldrich on the NCAA tournament All-Midwest Regional team.
First round To play the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals in the first round, Morehead State defeated Alabama State 58–43, with the Eagles keeping the Hornets without a lead the entire game. This marked the first time either team had played in the tournament in five years; the Eagles had not played since 1984. Morehead State fell to Louisville 74–54, the 100th time a 1 seed beat a 16 seed in the tournament since seeding began. However, the Eagles managed to keep the game close until halftime, when Louisville led by only 2 points. In the second half, the Cardinals began to apply their signature fullcourt pressure, forcing turnovers and outscoring Morehead State 22–6 at the beginning of the half. Leon Buchanan's 17 points for the Eagles were not enough to upset Louisville, whose top scorers, Samardo Samuels and Terrence Williams, scored a combined 28 points. Morehead State has not beaten Louisville in 52 years until 2011.
In two overtimes, the Siena Saints beat the Ohio State Buckeyes 74–72. Ohio State had the advantage of playing an hour from their campus, and received 25 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists from Evan Turner. The Saints made 6 out of 23 3-pointers and had 22 turnovers. Accordingly, Siena trailed for most of the game, but scored the last four points in regulation to force overtime. At the end of the first overtime, Siena's Ronald Moore drained his first 3-pointer to force a second overtime. With 3.9 seconds left in that overtime, he hit a second three from the same location to give the Saints a late 2-point lead. In an attempt to send the game into a third overtime, Turner shot a 15-footer immediately afterwards, but he missed it. This was Siena's fifth appearance in the tournament, after beating Vanderbilt University in 2008 as a 13 seed.
The Arizona-Utah matchup was not as close. The Fifth-seeded Utah Utes were upset by the twelfth-seeded Arizona Wildcats, one of the last teams to make it in the tournament and a questionable entry, by a score of 84–71. The Utes closed the lead to two with roughly five minutes left in the game, but the Wildcats' answer was a 10–1 run. Utah's Luke Nevill committed two fouls less than four minutes into the game and scored only 12 points. Nic Wise of Arizona, meanwhile, led the team with 29 points, with 21 in the second half. Tyler Kepkay led the Utes with a team 19 points in his embarking performance.
The Cleveland State-Wake Forest game was an even larger upset. In their second bid in the tournament, the Cleveland State Vikings shocked the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 84–69. This 15-point win ties for third-greatest victory margin for a 13 seed over a 4 seed. Wake Forest, once ranked first in the country, had 16 turnovers in the matchup, compared to six for the Vikings. James Johnson of the Demon Deacons scored 22 points, although this could not compensate for a substandard offense. Their scoring leader, Jeff Teague, finished with 10 points, half his average. For these reasons, Wake Forest never obtained a lead, while Cleveland State sank three consecutive 3-pointers in the early minutes of the game.
For the first time in 19 years, Dayton advanced to the second round of the tournament with a win over West Virginia 68–60. This also ended West Virginia's first-round winning streak, which had lasted since 1992. Chris Wright led the Dayton Flyers with 27 points, a career high, while also chalking up 10 rebounds. Charles Little also aided the Flyers with 18 points. Darryl Bryant, who led West Virginia with 21 points, shot two consecutive three-pointers to bring Dayton's lead to 48–47 with 11:02 minutes left in the game. However, that was the closest the Mountaineers had to a lead outside the beginning of the game.