The 2011
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...
involved 68 teams playing in a
single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...
that determined the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
(NCAA)
Division I men's
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
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
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
. 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 for this tournament by the monikers "Southeast" and "Southwest", respectively.
The Final Four featured no top seeds for the first time since
2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
, with the highest remaining seed being West Region winner, #3
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. For the first time since
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
, 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
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
, 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
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
, with 26 (11-VCU, 8-Butler, 4-Kentucky & 3-Connecticut). Connecticut defeated Butler in the championship game 53–41, winning its third national championship in as 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
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
. 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
Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...
, 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
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
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 11 teams make the tournament. 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
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
in the West. The other Big East teams to qualify were
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, 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
Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
, 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
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
, the East's #5 seed who lost in the third round to Kentucky.
This was the last NCAA men's tournament 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
The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...
, made its first NCAA Division I tournament.
Tournament procedure
For the first time, a total of 68 teams entered the tournament. Thirty of the thirty-one automatic bids were given to the programs that won their
conference
A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...
tournaments, while the remaining automatic bid went to the
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...
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".
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
The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2011 tournament:
First Four
*March 15 and 16
**
University of Dayton Arena,
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
(Host:
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...
)
First and Second rounds
*March 17 and 19
**
Verizon Center,
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
(Host:
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
)
**
McKale Center,
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
(Host:
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
)
**
Pepsi Center
Ball Arena (formerly known as the Pepsi Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Denver, Colorado, United States. It is situated at Speer Boulevard, a main thoroughfare in downtown Denver, and is served by two nearby exits off Int ...
,
Denver, Colorado
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
(Host:
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...
)
**
Tampa Bay Times Forum
Amalie Arena (officially stylized as AMALIE Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, United States, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tampa ...
,
Tampa, Florida
Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
(Host:
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...
)
*March 18 and 20
**
Quicken Loans Arena,
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
(Host:
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in oper ...
)
**
Time Warner Cable Arena,
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
(Host:
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte, or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs thr ...
)
**
United Center
The United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) ...
,
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
(Host:
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...
)
**
BOK Center,
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
(Host:
University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
)
Regional semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
*March 24 and 26
**West Regional
***
Honda Center,
Anaheim, California
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...
(Host:
Big West Conference
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...
)
**Southeast Regional
***
New Orleans Arena,
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
(Host:
Tulane University
The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...
)
*March 25 and 27
**Southwest Regional
***
Alamodome
The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...
,
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
(Host:
University of Texas at San Antonio
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA or UT San Antonio) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Established in 1969,[Prudential Center
Prudential Center is a multipurpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey, United States. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), the New York Sirens of the Pro ...]
,
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...
(Host:
Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...
)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)
*April 2 and 4
**
Reliant Stadium,
Houston, Texas
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
(Hosts:
University of Houston
The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...
,
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres.
Rice University comp ...
)
Qualified 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).
Tournament seeds (list by region)
*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 Regional – Newark, New Jersey
Regional Final Summary
West Regional – Anaheim, California
Regional Final Summary
Southwest Regional – San Antonio, Texas
Regional Final Summary
Southeast Regional – New Orleans, Louisiana
Regional Final Summary
Final Four – Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Game summaries
Consisting of #3-seeded
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, No. 4
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
, 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
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
, coincidentally, also in Houston. 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, 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.
National Championship
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
The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...
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.
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.
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). 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.
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. 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."
Record by conference
*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
The America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachu ...
,
Atlantic Sun Conference
The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...
,
Big Sky Conference
The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...
,
Big West Conference
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...
,
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...
,
MAAC,
MAC,
MEAC,
MVC,
NEC
is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...
,
Patriot League
The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...
,
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...
,
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
The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...
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
CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...
and
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City.
It was established as Time Warne ...
-owned
Turner Sports
TNT Sports is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery in the United States that is responsible for Sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's streaming service, Max (streaming service), Max, and primarily the TruTV, TBS (Americ ...
(by way of
TBS,
TNT and
truTV
TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...
) 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
The ''NBA on TNT'' is an American presentation of National Basketball Association (NBA) games, produced by TNT Sports (formerly known as Turner Sports and later Warner Bros. Discovery Sports). In the United States, the TNT cable network held ...
'' crew joining CBS's established March Madness broadcasters. Coverage will originate from the
CBS Broadcast Center
The CBS Broadcast Center is a television and radio production facility located on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is CBS's main East Coast of the United States, East Coast production hub, similar to Radford Studio Cen ...
in New York City and Turner's
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
studios.
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
TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...
, 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
Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...
,
Charter Communications,
Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
,
Cox Cable and
RCN.
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.
Ernest Thorwald Johnson Jr. (born August 7, 1956) is an American sportscaster for TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports. He is the television voice and a studio host for Major League Baseball on TBS, hosts ''Inside the NBA'' for ESPN, Americ ...
(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
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...
(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
Philip Martelli Sr. (born August 31, 1954) is an American college basketball coach, who was recently the associate head coach for the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball, Michigan Wolverines.
As the former head coach of the Saint Joseph's Hawk ...
(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
Stephen Douglas Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the United States men's national ...
/
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
Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American former sportscaster. Honored for his work by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he was also know ...
/
Steve Kerr
Stephen Douglas Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the United States men's national ...
/
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
Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, played his entire 18-year career in the National Basketball Assoc ...
/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
Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, played his entire 18-year career in the National Basketball Assoc ...
/
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
Michael Thomas Gminski (born August 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player and a college basketball TV analyst for the CW Courtside Saturday, ACC on The CW and CBS Sports. In 2003, Gminski, of Polish descent, was inducted i ...
/
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''
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
Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to bal ...
highlight credits by local television stations and other networks such as
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
, 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
Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...
'', alternated between TruTV and TBS.
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.
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
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
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
The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...
, and it is now free of charge. 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
DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
-only service, has been discontinued.
International
* :
TSN acquired Canadian rights for the tournament, rights which were previously held by
The Score The Score may refer to:
Films and television
* The Score (1978 film), ''The Score'' (1978 film), a 1978 Swedish film, released in Sweden as ''Lyftet''
* The Score (2001 film), ''The Score'' (2001 film), a 2001 crime drama film starring Robert De Ni ...
. This is apparently the result of a larger international rights deal between the NCAA and
ESPN International
ESPN International is a family of Broadcasting of sports events, sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1983, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company.
Current operations
Canada
ESPN Int ...
(which owns a minority interest in TSN).
TSN had its own studio programming hosted by
Dan Shulman
Daniel Shulman (born February 9, 1967) is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN.
Shulman serves as the play-by-play announcer and the moderator for the Toronto Blue Jays telecasts on Sportsnet. Durin ...
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 address
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...
es.
*:
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
External links
*
{{2011 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball navbox
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
Basketball competitions in Houston
NCAA Division I Men's Basketball
NCAA Division I Men's Basketball
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...