2008 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament |
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2008 Final Four logo
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Season | 2007–08 | ||||
Teams | 65 | ||||
Finals site |
Alamodome San Antonio, Texas |
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Champions |
Kansas (3rd title, 8th title game, 13th Final Four) |
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Runner-up |
Memphis (vacated) (2nd title game, 3rd Final Four) |
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Semifinalists |
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Winning coach | Bill Self (1st title) | ||||
MOP | Mario Chalmers Kansas | ||||
Attendance | 763,607 | ||||
Top scorer |
Chris Douglas-Roberts Memphis (140 points) |
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The 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2007–08 basketball season. It began on March 18, 2008, and concluded on April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
For the first time since seeding began, all four of the top seeds advanced to the Final Four. These were Memphis, the winner of the South region, UCLA, the winner of the West region making their third consecutive Final Four appearance, Kansas, the winner of the Midwest region, and overall number one seed and East region winner North Carolina, back in the Final Four for the first time since their 2005 national championship.
Memphis and Kansas advanced to the national championship game, with Memphis's victory in the semifinals giving them a record-setting 38 for the season, beating the mark set by Duke in 1999 (Kentucky later matched this record in 2012 and 2015). Kansas, however, spoiled their national championship hopes by handing the Tigers their second loss of the season, winning the game in overtime, 75-68. Memphis's entire season was later vacated by the NCAA due to eligibility concerns surrounding freshman guard Derrick Rose.
Entering the tournament on March 18, the top ranked team was North Carolina in both the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Polls, followed by Memphis, UCLA and Kansas.