2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2010-11 season. The 73rd edition of the NCAA tournament began on March 15, 2011, and concluded with the championship game on April 4, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. This tournament marked the introduction of the "First Four" round and an expansion of the field of participants from 65 teams to 68. Due to the geographical location of New Orleans and San Antonio, the "South" and "Midwest" regional games were replaced by the monikers "Southeast" and "Southwest" for this tournament, respectively.

2011 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Teams	68
Finals site	Reliant Stadium Houston, Texas
Champions	Connecticut Huskies (3rd title, 3rd title game, 4th Final Four)
Runner-up	Butler Bulldogs (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Kentucky Wildcats (14th Final Four) VCU Rams (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Jim Calhoun (3rd title)
MOP	Kemba Walker (Connecticut)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «2010 2012»

The Final Four featured no top seeds for the first time since 2006, with the highest remaining seed being West Region winner, #3 Connecticut. For the first time since 2000, a #8 seed advanced to the Final Four as Butler, the national runner-up from the year before, won the Southeast Region. For only the third time ever, a #11 seed advanced to the Final Four as Virginia Commonwealth, one of the "First Four" teams, won the Southwest Region. Those three teams were joined by East Region champion Kentucky, a #4 seed. This was also the first Final Four to not feature any 1-seed or 2-seeds. The Final Four had the highest combined Final Four seeds since seeding started in 1979, with 26 (11-VCU, 8-Butler, 4-Kentucky & 3-Connecticut). Connecticut defeated Butler in the championship game 53–41, winning its third national championship as in many attempts.

Upsets ruled the 2011 tournament. The East Region saw its #11 seed, Marquette, advance to the Sweet Sixteen where they were downed by North Carolina. The Southwest Region saw four of its double digit seeds win, as VCU was joined by #12 seed and citymate Richmond, #10 seed Florida State, and #13 seed Morehead State as first round winners. Florida State, VCU, and Richmond all advanced to the Sweet Sixteen from that region, and VCU defeated top-seeded Kansas in the final. Butler and #11 seed Gonzaga advanced from the Southeast Region, with Gonzaga losing in the Round of 32 to BYU.

For the third time in as many appearances, Vanderbilt suffered a defeat to a double digit seed. This time, they were defeated by Richmond as a #5 seed.

The Big East had a record eleven make the tournament (the conference then had 16 total teams). Due to having more than eight teams qualify, it was possible for intra-Big East matchups to occur in the third round. Two of these matchups did occur as Marquette defeated Syracuse in the East while Connecticut defeated Cincinnati in the West. The other Big East teams to qualify were Pittsburgh, who earned the #1 seed in the Southeast Region and were knocked out in the third round by Butler, St. John's, who were the Southeast's #6 seed and were eliminated in their first game by Gonzaga, Louisville, which earned the #4 seed in the Southwest and fell to Morehead State in their first game, Georgetown, who lost to VCU in the first round as a #6 in the Southwest, Notre Dame, the #2 seed in the Southwest who were eliminated by Florida State, Villanova, who were eliminated in an #8 vs #9 matchup against George Mason in the East Region, and West Virginia, the East's #5 seed who lost in the third round to Kentucky.

This was the last NCAA tournament until 2023 in which a mid-major conference saw multiple teams reach the Sweet 16, as both BYU and San Diego State did from the Mountain West Conference.

Northern Colorado, winners of the Big Sky Conference, made its first NCAA Division I tournament.

Tournament procedure

Further information: NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship § Tournament

For the first time, a total of 68 teams entered the tournament.^[1] Thirty of the thirty-one automatic bids were given to the programs that won their conference tournaments, while the remaining automatic bid went to the Ivy League champion Princeton, as the conference does not hold a tournament. The remaining 37 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. All 68 teams were announced on "Selection Sunday" March 13, 2011.

The Selection Committee ranked the entire field from 1 to 68. The last four at-large teams selected and the four lowest ranked automatic qualifiers played in a "First Four".^[2] The four winners of those games advanced to the main draw of the tournament to play a higher seed. The four lowest ranked teams of the 68 played against each other in a pair of First Four games, with winners advancing to play No. 1 seeds, and the last four at-large teams played in the other two First Four games, with the winners moving on to face the seed they would otherwise be matched up against, as determined by their seed number.

Schedule and venues

 

 

Dayton

 

Tulsa

 

Tucson

 

Denver

 

Cleveland

 

Tampa

 

Charlotte

 

Chicago

 

Washington, D.C.

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2011 First Four (orange), and first and second rounds (green)

 

 

San Antonio

 

Anaheim

 

New Orleans

 

Newark

 

Houston

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2011 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2011 tournament:^[3][4]

First Four

• March 15 and 16
  • University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

First and Second rounds

• March 17 and 19
  • Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. (Host: Georgetown University)
  • McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)
  • Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado (Host: Mountain West Conference)
  • Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida (Host: University of South Florida)
• March 18 and 20
  • Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio (Host: Cleveland State University)
  • Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
  • United Center, Chicago, Illinois (Host: Big Ten Conference)
  • BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Host: University of Tulsa)

Regional semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 24 and 26
  • West Regional
    • Honda Center, Anaheim, California (Host: Big West Conference)
  • Southeast Regional
    • New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana (Host: Tulane University)
• March 25 and 27
  • Southwest Regional
    • Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio)
  • East Regional
    • Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey (Host: Seton Hall University)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

• April 2 and 4
  • Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas (Hosts: University of Houston, Rice University)

Qualified teams

 

Further information: 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament qualifying teams

Automatic bids

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2011 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).

Conference	School	Appearance	Last bid
ACC	Duke	35th	2010
America East	Boston University	7th	2002
Atlantic 10	Richmond	9th	2010
Atlantic Sun	Belmont	4th	2008
Big 12	Kansas	40th	2010
Big East	Connecticut	29th	2009
Big Sky	Northern Colorado	1st	Never
Big South	UNC Asheville	2nd	2003
Big Ten	Ohio State	27th	2010
Big West	UC Santa Barbara	5th	2010
Colonial	Old Dominion	11th	2010
C-USA	Memphis	23rd	2009
Horizon	Butler	11th	2010
Ivy League	Princeton	24th	2004
MAAC	Saint Peter's	3rd	1995
MAC	Akron	3rd	2009
MEAC	Hampton	4th	2006
Missouri Valley	Indiana State	4th	2001
Mountain West	San Diego State	7th	2010
Northeast	Long Island	4th	1997
Ohio Valley	Morehead State	7th	2009
Pac-10	Washington	16th	2010
Patriot	Bucknell	5th	2006
SEC	Kentucky	51st	2010
Southern	Wofford	2nd	2010
Southland	UTSA	4th	2004
Summit	Oakland	3rd	2010
SWAC	Alabama State	4th	2009
Sun Belt	Arkansas–Little Rock	4th	1990
WAC	Utah State	20th	2010
West Coast	Gonzaga	14th	2010

Tournament seeds (list by region)

East Regional – Newark, New Jersey Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Ohio State Big Ten 32–2 Automatic 2 North Carolina ACC 26–7 At-large 3 Syracuse Big East 26–7 At-large 4 Kentucky SEC 25–8 Automatic 5 West Virginia Big East 20–11 At-large 6 Xavier Atlantic 10 24–7 At-large 7 Washington Pac-10 23–10 Automatic 8 George Mason CAA 26–6 At-large 9 Villanova Big East 21–11 At-large 10 Georgia SEC 21–11 At-large 11 Marquette Big East 20–14 At-large 12* UAB C-USA 22–8 At-large Clemson ACC 21–11 At-large 13 Princeton Ivy League 25–6 Automatic 14 Indiana State Missouri Valley 20–13 Automatic 15 Long Island Northeast 27–5 Automatic 16* UTSA Southland 19–13 Automatic Alabama State SWAC 17–17 Automatic

Southeast Regional – New Orleans, Louisiana Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Pittsburgh Big East 27–5 At-large 2 Florida SEC 26–7 At-large 3 BYU Mountain West 30–4 At-large 4 Wisconsin Big Ten 23–8 At-large 5 Kansas State Big 12 22–10 At-large 6 St. John's Big East 21–11 At-large 7 UCLA Pac-10 22–10 At-large 8 Butler Horizon 23–9 Automatic 9 Old Dominion CAA 27–6 Automatic 10 Michigan State Big Ten 19–14 At-large 11 Gonzaga West Coast 24–9 Automatic 12 Utah State WAC 30–3 Automatic 13 Belmont Atlantic Sun 30–4 Automatic 14 Wofford Southern 21–12 Automatic 15 UC Santa Barbara Big West 18–13 Automatic 16* UNC Asheville Big South 19–13 Automatic Arkansas–Little Rock Sun Belt 19–16 Automatic

Southwest Regional – San Antonio, Texas Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Kansas Big 12 32–2 Automatic 2 Notre Dame Big East 26–6 At-large 3 Purdue Big Ten 25–7 At-large 4 Louisville Big East 25–9 At-large 5 Vanderbilt SEC 23–10 At-large 6 Georgetown Big East 21–10 At-large 7 Texas A&M Big 12 24–8 At-large 8 UNLV Mountain West 24–8 At-large 9 Illinois Big Ten 19–13 At-large 10 Florida State ACC 21–10 At-large 11* USC Pac-10 19–14 At-large VCU CAA 23–11 At-large 12 Richmond Atlantic 10 27–7 Automatic 13 Morehead State Ohio Valley 24–9 Automatic 14 Saint Peter's MAAC 20–13 Automatic 15 Akron MAC 23–12 Automatic 16 Boston University America East 21–13 Automatic

West Regional – Anaheim, California Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Duke ACC 30–4 Automatic 2 San Diego State Mountain West 32–2 Automatic 3 Connecticut Big East 26–9 Automatic 4 Texas Big 12 27–7 At-large 5 Arizona Pac-10 27–7 At-large 6 Cincinnati Big East 25–8 At-large 7 Temple Atlantic 10 25–7 At-large 8 Michigan Big Ten 20–13 At-large 9 Tennessee SEC 19–14 At-large 10 Penn State Big Ten 19–14 At-large 11 Missouri Big 12 23–10 At-large 12 Memphis C-USA 25–9 Automatic 13 Oakland Summit 25–9 Automatic 14 Bucknell Patriot 25–8 Automatic 15 Northern Colorado Big Sky 21–10 Automatic 16 Hampton MEAC 24–8 Automatic

*See First Four.

Bracket

Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04)

First Four – Dayton, Ohio

The First Four games involved eight teams: the four overall lowest-ranked teams, and the four lowest-ranked at-large teams.

All games on truTV. First Four winners enter the second round as their respective seed and in their respective region.

	East No. 16 seeds March 16
	16	UTSA	70
	16	Alabama State	61

	East No. 12 seeds March 15
	12	Clemson	70
	12	UAB	52

	Southeast No. 16 seeds March 15
	16	UNC-Asheville	81^OT
	16	Arkansas-Little Rock	77

	Southwest No. 11 seeds March 16
	11	VCU	59
	11	USC	46

East Regional – Newark, New Jersey

	First round March 17–18					Second round March 19–20					Regional semifinals – Sweet 16 March 25					Regional finals – Elite 8 March 27
	1	Ohio State	75
	16	UTSA	46
						1	Ohio State	98
	Cleveland – Fri/Sun
						8	George Mason	66
	8	George Mason	61
	9	Villanova	57
											1	Ohio State	60
											4	Kentucky	62
	5	West Virginia	84
	12	Clemson	76
						5	West Virginia	63
	Tampa – Thu/Sat
						4	Kentucky	71
	4	Kentucky	59
	13	Princeton	57
																4	Kentucky	76
																2	North Carolina	69
	6	Xavier	55
	11	Marquette	66
						11	Marquette	66
	Cleveland – Fri/Sun
						3	Syracuse	62
	3	Syracuse	77
	14	Indiana State	60
											11	Marquette	63
											2	North Carolina	81
	7	Washington	68
	10	Georgia	65
						7	Washington	83
	Charlotte – Fri/Sun
						2	North Carolina	86
	2	North Carolina	102
	15	Long Island	87

Regional Final Summary

CBS

Sunday, March 27 5:05 pm EDT

Box score Source:^[5]

#4 Kentucky Wildcats 76, #2 North Carolina Tar Heels 69
Scoring by half: 38–30, 38–39
Pts: B. Knight – 22 Rebs: J. Harrellson – 8 Asts: D. Liggins, J. Harrellson, B. Knight – 4		Pts: T. Zeller – 21 Rebs: T. Zeller, J. Henson – 9 Asts: K. Marshall – 8

Prudential Center – Newark, NJ Attendance: 18,278 Referees: Verne Harris, Pat Driscoll, Randy McCall

West Regional – Anaheim, California

	First round March 17–18					Second round March 19–20					Regional semifinals March 24					Regional finals March 26
	1	Duke	87
	16	Hampton	45
						1	Duke	73
	Charlotte – Fri/Sun
						8	Michigan	71
	8	Michigan	75
	9	Tennessee	45
											1	Duke	77
											5	Arizona	93
	5	Arizona	77
	12	Memphis	75
						5	Arizona	70
	Tulsa – Fri/Sun
						4	Texas	69
	4	Texas	85
	13	Oakland	81
																5	Arizona	63
																3	Connecticut	65
	6	Cincinnati	78
	11	Missouri	63
						6	Cincinnati	58
	Washington, D.C. – Thu/Sat
						3	Connecticut	69
	3	Connecticut	81
	14	Bucknell	52
											3	Connecticut	74
											2	San Diego State	67
	7	Temple	66
	10	Penn State	64
						7	Temple	64
	Tucson – Thu/Sat
						2	San Diego State	71^2OT
	2	San Diego State	68
	15	Northern Colorado	50

Regional Final Summary

CBS

Saturday, March 26 7:05 pm EDT

Box score Source:^[6]

#5 Arizona Wildcats 63, #3 Connecticut Huskies 65
Scoring by half: 25–32, 38–33
Pts: D. Williams – 20 Rebs: S. Hill – 10 Asts: S. Hill – 4		Pts: K. Walker – 20 Rebs: A. Oriakhi – 6 Asts: K. Walker – 7

Honda Center – Anaheim, CA Attendance: 17,856 Referees: Doug Shows, Antinio Petty, Doug Sirmons

Southwest Regional – San Antonio, Texas

	First round March 17–18					Second round March 19–20					Regional semifinals March 25					Regional finals March 27
	1	Kansas	72
	16	Boston University	53
						1	Kansas	73
	Tulsa – Fri/Sun
						9	Illinois	59
	8	UNLV	62
	9	Illinois	73
											1	Kansas	77
											12	Richmond	57
	5	Vanderbilt	66
	12	Richmond	69
						12	Richmond	65
	Denver – Thu/Sat
						13	Morehead State	48
	4	Louisville	61
	13	Morehead State	62
																1	Kansas	61
																11	VCU	71
	6	Georgetown	56
	11	VCU	74
						11	VCU	94
	Chicago – Fri/Sun
						3	Purdue	76
	3	Purdue	65
	14	Saint Peter's	43
											11	VCU	72^OT
											10	Florida State	71
	7	Texas A&M	50
	10	Florida State	57
						10	Florida State	71
	Chicago – Fri/Sun
						2	Notre Dame	57
	2	Notre Dame	69
	15	Akron	56

Regional Final Summary

CBS

Sunday, March 27 2:20 pm EDT

Box score Source:^[7]^[8]^[9]

#11 VCU Rams 71, #1 Kansas Jayhawks 61
Scoring by half: 41–27, 30–34
Pts: J. Skeen – 26 Rebs: J. Skeen – 10 Asts: J. Rodriguez – 5		Pts: M. Morris – 20 Rebs: M. Morris – 16 Asts: B. Morningstar, T. Taylor – 3

Alamodome – San Antonio, TX Attendance: 14,299 Referees: Ted Valentine, Mike Eades, Tony Greene

Southeast Regional – New Orleans, Louisiana

	First round March 17					Second round March 19					Regional semifinals March 24					Regional finals March 26
	1	Pittsburgh	74
	16	UNC Asheville	51
						1	Pittsburgh	70
	Washington, D.C. – Thu/Sat
						8	Butler	71
	8	Butler	60
	9	Old Dominion	58
											8	Butler	61
											4	Wisconsin	54
	5	Kansas State	73
	12	Utah State	68
						5	Kansas State	65
	Tucson – Thu/Sat
						4	Wisconsin	70
	4	Wisconsin	72
	13	Belmont	58
																8	Butler	74^OT
																2	Florida	71
	6	St. John's	71
	11	Gonzaga	86
						11	Gonzaga	67
	Denver – Thu/Sat
						3	BYU	89
	3	BYU	74
	14	Wofford	66
											3	BYU	74
											2	Florida	83^OT
	7	UCLA	78
	10	Michigan State	76
						7	UCLA	65
	Tampa – Thu/Sat
						2	Florida	73
	2	Florida	79
	15	UC Santa Barbara	51

Regional Final Summary

CBS

Saturday, March 26 4:30 pm EDT

Box score Source:^[10]

#8 Butler Bulldogs 74, #2 Florida Gators 71 (OT)
Scoring by half: 32–33, 28–27 Overtime: 14–11
Pts: S. Mack – 27 Rebs: A. Smith – 8 Asts: S. Mack – 4		Pts: V. Macklin – 25 Rebs: A. Tyus – 10 Asts: E. Walker – 4

New Orleans Arena – New Orleans, LA Attendance: 12,139 Referees: Jamie Luckie, Karl Hess, Michael Stephens

 

National Semi-Final between UConn and Kentucky

Final Four – Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

	National Semifinals Final Four April 2					National Championship Game April 4
	E4	Kentucky	55
	W3	Connecticut	56
						W3	Connecticut	53
						SE8	Butler	41
	SW11	VCU	62
	SE8	Butler	70

Game summaries

CBS

April 2 6:09 pm EDT

Box score Source:^[11]

SW11 VCU Rams 62, SE8 Butler Bulldogs 70
Scoring by half: 28–34, 34–36
Pts: J. Skeen – 27 Rebs: B. Burgess – 9 Asts: J. Rodriguez – 8		Pts: S. Mack – 24 Rebs: K. Marshall – 9 Asts: M. Howard – 2

Reliant Stadium – Houston, TX Attendance: 75,421 Referees: Jamie Luckie, Pat Driscoll, Michael Stephens^[12]

CBS

April 2 9:08 pm EDT

Box score Source:^[13]

E4 Kentucky Wildcats 55, W3 Connecticut Huskies 56
Scoring by half: 21–31, 34–25
Pts: B. Knight – 17 Rebs: T. Jones – 15 Asts: B. Knight – 5		Pts: K. Walker – 18 Rebs: A. Oriakhi – 10 Asts: K. Walker – 7

Reliant Stadium – Houston, TX Attendance: 75,421 Referees: Mark Whitehead, John Higgins, Les Jones^[14]

Consisting of #3-seeded Connecticut, No. 4 Kentucky, No. 8 Butler, and No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth (VCU), It was the first time in the tournament's history that a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed had failed to reach the final four and it would not happen again until 2023, coincidentally, also in Houston.^[15] 11th seeded VCU tied a record as the lowest seed to reach the final four. By virtue of their "first four" appearance, VCU became the first team to reach the final four by winning five tournament games.

The first semifinal featured Butler and VCU, with Butler winning 70–62,^[16] despite VCU forward Jamie Skeen leading the scoring with 27 points.

The second semifinal match was between Kentucky and Connecticut. Connecticut had already defeated Kentucky earlier that season 84–67 at the Maui Invitational. This time, Connecticut won in a close game 56–55, led by Kemba Walker with 18 points. Connecticut were noted for their defensive effort, which held Kentucky to 34% shooting and also held Kentucky scoreless for over 5 minutes during a spell in the second half.^[17]

National Championship

Main article: 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game

CBS

April 4 9:23 pm EDT

Box score ^[18]^[19]

#8 Butler Bulldogs 41, #3 Connecticut Huskies 53
Scoring by half: 22–19, 19–34
Pts: S. Mack – 13 Rebs: S. Mack – 9 Asts: S. Vanzant – 2		Pts: K. Walker – 16 Rebs: A. Oriakhi – 11 Asts: J. Lamb, S. Napier – 2

Reliant Stadium – Houston, TX Attendance: 70,376 Referees: John Cahill, Verne Harris, Doug Shows

The National Championship game was between Butler, a mid-major university team that was a surprise finalist in the 2010 tournament, and Connecticut, a basketball powerhouse which had previously won the tournament twice under coach Jim Calhoun but had an average regular season finishing 9th in the Big East Conference before winning The Big East tournament with five wins in five consecutive days (never before accomplished in NCAA history). The championship game was won by Connecticut 53–41. It was a very defensive contest, with Butler having the fewest points in a championship game since 1949.^[20] Butler led at halftime 22–19, but suffered in the second half from poor shooting, making only 6 of 37 shots in the second half.^[20] Butler's 18.8 percent shooting for the entire game was the lowest ever in the NCAA final. Connecticut contributed to Butler's poor shooting by blocking 10 shots (a championship game record).^[21] Butler was led in scoring by junior guard Shelvin Mack with 13 points, while UConn freshman Jeremy Lamb scored 12 points in the 2nd half.^[22]

The win by Connecticut completed a season-ending 11-game win streak that began with the Big East tournament.

The game was widely viewed as a poor quality final.^[23][24] In reference to the game's first half of play, CBS analyst Greg Anthony said, "This is the worst half of basketball I've ever seen in a national championship game."^[25]

Record by conference

Conference	# of bids	Record	Win %	R32	S16	E8	F4	CG	NC
Big East	11	13–10	.565	7	2	1	1	1	1
Horizon	1	5–1	.833	1	1	1	1	1	0
CAA	3	6–3	.667	2	1	1	1	0
SEC	5	7–5	.583	2	2	2	1	0
ACC	4	8–4	.667	3	3	1	0
Atlantic 10	3	3–3	.500	3	2	1	0
Pac-10	4	5–4	.556	3	1	1	0
Big 12	5	5–5	.500	3	1	1	0
Mountain West	3	4–3	.571	2	2	0
Big Ten	7	7–7	.500	5	2	0
OVC	1	1–1	.500	1	0
WCC	1	1–1	.500	1	0
C-USA	2	0–2	.000	0

• The R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the round of 32 (third round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.
• The SWAC and Sun Belt Conference each had one representative, eliminated in the first round.
• The America East Conference, Atlantic Sun Conference, Big Sky Conference, Big West Conference, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, MVC, NEC, Patriot League, Southern Conference, Summit League, and WAC each had one representative, eliminated in the second round with a record of 0–1.
• The Big South and Southland each had one representative, eliminated in the second round with a record of 1-1.
• The Big East Conference had a record 11 teams in the tournament, which made intra-Big East matchups possible prior to the Elite Eight. There were two such matchups in the 3rd round, Syracuse vs. Marquette and Connecticut vs. Cincinnati. The two Big East teams to make the Sweet Sixteen beat conference opponents to advance to that round.

Media

Television

On April 22, 2010, it was announced that the NCAA had reached a new 14-year, US$10.8 billion deal with CBS Sports and Time Warner-owned Turner Sports (by way of TBS, TNT and truTV) for the rights to broadcast the NCAA tournament from 2011 until 2024 (later extended to 2032 in the 2016 tournament), marking the first time every game in the tournament would be telecast on a national basis.

CBS and Turner pooled their resources for the tournament, with members of the NBA on TNT crew joining CBS's established March Madness broadcasters. Coverage will originate from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City and Turner's Atlanta studios.^[26]

The tournament television ratings report shows the tournament had an average of 10.2 million viewers per game, an increase from the 2005 tournament when it drew an average of 10.6 million (6.4 Nielsen rating). The championship game recorded an 11.7 rating and drew 20.1 million viewers.

TruTV, which up to that point had never aired any live sports programming, saw a surge in carriage deals for its high definition feed with several major providers including AT&T U-verse, Verizon FiOS, Comcast, Charter Communications, Cablevision, Cox Cable and RCN.^[27]

Studio hosts

• Greg Gumbel (New York City and Houston) – First Four, Second round, Third round, Regionals, Final Four and National Championship Game
• Ernie Johnson Jr. (New York City and Atlanta) – First Four, Second round, Third round and Regional Semi-Finals
• Matt Winer (Atlanta) – First Four, Second round and Third round

Studio analysts

• Greg Anthony (New York City and Houston) – First Four, Second round, Third round, Regionals, Final Four and National Championship Game
• Charles Barkley (New York City and Houston) – First Four, Second round, Third round, Regionals, Final Four and National Championship Game
• Tom Crean (Atlanta) – First Four and Second round
• Seth Davis (Atlanta and Houston) – First Four, Second round, Third round, Regional Semi-Finals, Final Four and National Championship Game
• Tom Izzo (Atlanta) – Regional Semi-Finals
• Phil Martelli (Atlanta) – Third round
• Rick Pitino (New York City) – Third round
• Kenny Smith (New York City and Houston) – First Four, Second round, Third round, Regionals, Final Four and National Championship Game
• Steve Smith (Atlanta) – First Four, Second round, Third round and Regional Semi-Finals
• Jay Wright (New York City) – Regional Finals

Announcing teams

• Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg/Steve Kerr/Tracy Wolfson – First Four at Dayton, Ohio; Second and Third round at Charlotte, North Carolina; East Regional at Newark, New Jersey; Final Four at Houston, Texas
  Kerr joined Nantz and Kellogg during the First Four, Final Four, and National Championship games
• Marv Albert/Steve Kerr/Craig Sager – Second and Third round at Tulsa, Oklahoma; Southwest Regional at San Antonio, Texas
• Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery/Lesley Visser – Second and Third round at Denver, Colorado; West Regional at Anaheim, California
• Gus Johnson/Len Elmore/Reggie Miller/Marty Snider – First Four at Dayton, Ohio; Second and Third round at Cleveland, Ohio; Southeast Regional at New Orleans, Louisiana
  Miller joined Johnson and Elmore during the Regional games
• Kevin Harlan/Reggie Miller/Dan Bonner/Sam Ryan – Second and Third round at Tucson, Arizona
• Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel/David Aldridge – Second and Third round at Tampa, Florida
• Tim Brando/Mike Gminski/Lewis Johnson – Second and Third round at Washington, D.C
• Spero Dedes/Bob Wenzel/Jaime Maggio – Second and Third round at Chicago, Illinois

Round-by-round game schedule

All times Eastern and PM^[28]

Round	CBS	TBS	TNT	TruTV
First Four (Mar. 15 & 16)				6:30 9:00
2nd round (Mar. 17 & 18)	12:00 2:30 7:00 9:30	1:30 4:00 6:45 9:15	2:00 4:30 7:15 9:45	12:40 3:00 7:15 9:55
3rd round (Mar. 19)	12:00 2:30 5:00 7:30	7:00 9:30	6:00 8:00
3rd round (Mar. 20)	12:00 2:30 5:00			7:30
Regional semifinals (Mar. 24 & 25)	7:00 9:30	7:15 9:55
Regional finals (Mar. 26)	4:20 6:55
Regional finals (Mar. 27)	2:10 5:05
National semifinals (Apr. 2)	6:09 9:09
National championship (Apr. 4)	9:00

CBS received the same number of "windows", or time slots, for its tournament coverage as in previous years. However, all games will now be nationally – rather than regionally – televised. The national television broadcasts also allowed for more flexibility in start times. CBS and the Turner networks used the same graphics package and theme music in broadcasting the tournament – the only difference between networks is the logo shown on the score bug. In addition, a banner at the top of the screen displayed the scores of other games along with what network they are being broadcast on. Replays feature all four network logos being shown, and for fair use highlight credits by local television stations and other networks such as ESPN, the Turner network name or CBS Sports, followed by "NCAA" is given as the source. CBS also kept coverage of the Division II final, which is part of the larger contract for this tournament.

Turner Sports aired full-length studio shows before and after each session of play. The pregame show was called Infiniti NCAA Tip-Off and all shows were on TruTV. The postgame show, called Inside March Madness presented by Buick, alternated between TruTV and TBS.^[29]

TruTV had also added coverage of the Reese's College All-Star Game.

Number of games per network

• CBS: 26
• TBS: 16
• TruTV: 13
• TNT: 12

Radio

Westwood One had live broadcasts of all 67 games. They will be available both on terrestrial and satellite radio outlets, on NCAA.com, and on CBSSports.com. The radio contract was extended in January 2011 for multiple tournaments.^[30]

First Four

• Dave Ryan and Alaa Abdelnaby – at Dayton, Ohio

Second and Third round

• Scott Graham and Kevin Grevey – Second and Third round at Washington, D.C.
• Dave Sims and Bill Frieder – Second and Third round at Tucson, Arizona
• Ted Robinson and Tom Brennan – Second and Third round at Denver, Colorado
• Gary Cohen and Kyle Macy – Second and Third round at Tampa, Florida
• Kevin Kugler and Pete Gillen – Second and Third round at Cleveland, Ohio
• Kevin Calabro and Will Perdue – Second and Third round at Charlotte, North Carolina
• Wayne Larrivee and John Thompson – Second and Third round at Chicago, Illinois
• Brad Sham and Reid Gettys – Second and Third round at Tulsa, Oklahoma

Regionals

• Ian Eagle and John Thompson – East Regional at Newark, New Jersey
• Kevin Kugler and Pete Gillen – Southeast Regional at New Orleans, Louisiana
• Kevin Harlan and Kevin Grevey – Southwest Regional at San Antonio, Texas
• Wayne Larrivee and Bill Frieder – West Regional at Anaheim, California

Final four

• Kevin Kugler, John Thompson and Bill Raftery – at Houston, Texas

Internet/other video

All games are expected to be streamed at NCAA.com or CBSSports.com, as in the past; with the new rights deal, NCAA.com and the game streaming is now managed by Turner Interactive. The iPhone app which allowed streaming of games on the iPhone in previous years, and had cost about ten dollars, has received two upgrades: it is compatible with iPad, and it is now free of charge.^[31] However, with the CBS-Turner agreement allowing all games in the tournament to be available on a national basis (see above), Mega March Madness, a DirecTV-only service, has been discontinued.

International

•   Canada: TSN acquired Canadian rights for the tournament, rights which were previously held by The Score. This is apparently the result of a larger international rights deal between the NCAA and ESPN International (which owns a minority interest in TSN).^[32] TSN had its own studio programming hosted by Dan Shulman and James Cybulski, and game coverage came from CBS and Turner. Unlike the Score, which had whiparound coverage, TSN and TSN2 showed entire games. Sometimes, both channels aired games, but on Friday of the first weekend, no games were shown due to previous programming commitments on both channels. TSN.ca also streamed first-round games to those with Canadian IP addresses.
•   Philippines: Basketball TV planned to broadcast the NCAA tournament using the American feed.
• Worldwide: The NCAA.com video and audio streams were available with no blackout restrictions anywhere in the world.

See also

• 2011 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 2011 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 2011 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 2011 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 2011 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 2011 National Invitation Tournament
• 2011 Women's National Invitation Tournament
• 2011 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2011 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 2011 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 2011 NAIA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 2011 College Basketball Invitational
• 2011 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

References

1. Wieberg, Steve (March 11, 2011). "NCAA tournament has new look, more games, more channels". USA Today. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
2. Katz, Andy (July 12, 2010). "Last four at-large to play in first round". ESPN. from the original on July 13, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
3. . www.ncaa.org. Archived from the original on December 3, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. 2011 NCAA tournament information – College Basketball News | FOX Sports on MSN^{[permanent dead link]}
5. "Kentucky vs. North Carolina - Game Summary - March 27, 2011". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
6. "Arizona vs. UConn - Game Summary - March 26, 2011". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
7. "VCU vs. Kansas - Game Summary - March 27, 2011 - ESPN". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
8. "NCAA Basketball Scores, NCAA Tournament Betting Odds, NCAA Tournament Schedule". DonBest.com. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
9. "Men's Basketball vs VCU on 3/27/2011 - Box Score". University of Kansas Athletics. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
10. "Butler vs. Florida - Game Summary - March 26, 2011". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
11. "VCU vs. Butler - Game Summary - April 2, 2011 - ESPN". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
12. "NCAA College Basketball Box Scores". Newsday. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
13. "Kentucky vs. UConn - Game Summary - April 2, 2011". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
14. "Boxscore - Kentucky Wildcats vs. Connecticut Huskies - 04-02-2011". Covers.com.
15. How America Loses March Madness – Sports^{[permanent dead link]}
16. Virginia Commonwealth Rams vs. Butler Bulldogs – NCAA Tournament Game – Recap – April 2, 2011 – ESPN
17. Kentucky Wildcats vs. Connecticut Huskies – NCAA Tournament Game – Recap – April 2, 2011 – ESPN
18. "Butler vs. UConn - Game Summary - April 4, 2011". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
19. . DonBest.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
20. Thamel, Pete (April 5, 2011). "UConn Cuts Down Nets After Butler Rattles the Rims". The New York Times.
21. Butler Bulldogs vs. Connecticut Huskies – NCAA Tournament Game – Recap – April 4, 2011 – ESPN
22. "Stats, scores and schedules". The Washington Post. April 13, 2011.
23. "UConn's title win a sore sight". ESPN. from the original on April 29, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
24. "Hang Up and Listen podcast". Slate.com. from the original on April 30, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
25. Jacobs, Jeff (April 6, 2011). "Championship finale Built Brick By Brick". Hartford Courant. from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
26. Turner Sports. . NCAA.com. Archived from the original on April 26, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
27. TruTV Nets HD Channel Launches Multichannel News March 15, 2011
28. CBS, Turner set to televise all NCAA tournament games nationally
29. 2011 NCAA Tournament TV Schedule
30. Westwood One. "Westwood One and the NCAA Announce New Multi-Year Radio Rights Agreement" (Press release). PR Newswire. Retrieved January 26, 2011.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
31. Staff, Digital Trends (March 14, 2011). "Mobile March Madness:Best iPhone Apps". Digital Trends. from the original on April 30, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
32. Dowbiggin, Bruce (February 24, 2011). "TSN catches March Madness". Globe and Mail. Toronto. from the original on March 3, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

External links

• "The 11-Game Run That Immortalized Kemba Walker and the 2011 UConn Huskies". SB Nation. March 30, 2016. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.