The 2004 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 66th annual edition of the tournament began on March 16, 2004, and ended with the championship game on April 5 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. A total of 64 games were played.

The NCAA named, for the first time, the four tournament regions after regional site host cities instead of the "East", "Midwest", "South", and "West" designations. It was also the first year that the matchups for the national semifinals were determined at least in part by the overall seeding of the top team in each regional . The top four teams in the tournament were Kentucky, Duke, Stanford, and Saint Joseph's. Had all of those teams advanced to the Final Four, Kentucky would have played Saint Joseph's and Duke would have played Stanford in the semifinal games.

Of those teams, only Duke advanced to the Final Four. They were joined by Connecticut, making their first appearance since defeating Duke for the national championship in 1999, Oklahoma State, making their first appearance since 1995, and Georgia Tech, making their first appearance since 1990.

Connecticut defeated Georgia Tech 82–73 to win their second national championship in as many tries. Emeka Okafor of Connecticut was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

As they had in 1999, Connecticut won their regional championship in Phoenix, Arizona.

Two of the tournament's top seeds failed to make it past the opening weekend. Kentucky, number one seed of the St. Louis region, and Stanford, #1 seed of the Phoenix region, both were defeated. Incidentally, both teams were defeated by schools from Alabama, as Kentucky fell to UAB while Stanford lost to Alabama.

Due to their strong 2003–04 season, Gonzaga achieved its highest NCAA tournament seed until 2013 by receiving the #2 seed in the St. Louis region. Gonzaga would receive a #1 seed in the 2013 tournament. The team failed to advance beyond the first weekend of the tournament, however.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 2004 tournament:

Opening Round March 16 University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

First and Second Rounds March 18 and 20 HSBC Arena, Buffalo, New York (Hosts: Canisius College and Niagara University) KeyArena, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington) Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado (Hosts: Colorado State University and Mountain West Conference) RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University) March 19 and 21 Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Host: Marquette University) Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 12 Conference) Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University) TD Waterhouse Centre, Orlando, Florida (Host: Stetson University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 25 and 27 East Rutherford Regional Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Host: Rutgers University) Phoenix Regional America West Arena, Phoenix, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University) March 26 and 28 Atlanta Regional Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology) St. Louis Regional Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) April 3 and 5 Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio)

Qualifying teams

Automatic bids The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2004 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).

ConferenceSchoolAppearanceLast bidACCMaryland21st2003America EastVermont2nd2003Atlantic 10Xavier16th2003Atlantic SunCentral Florida3rd1996Big 12Oklahoma State21st2003Big EastConnecticut25th2003Big SkyEastern Washington1stNeverBig SouthLiberty2nd1994Big TenWisconsin10th2003Big WestPacific6th1997ColonialVCU7th1996C-USACincinnati23rd2003HorizonIllinois–Chicago3rd2002Ivy LeaguePrinceton23rd2001MAACManhattan6th2003MACWestern Michigan3rd1998MEACFlorida A&M2nd1999Mid-ConValparaiso7th2002Missouri ValleyNorthern Iowa2nd1990Mountain WestUtah25th2003NortheastMonmouth3rd2001Ohio ValleyMurray State12th2002Pac-10Stanford13th2003PatriotLehigh3rd1988SECKentucky46th2003SouthernEast Tennessee State7th2003SouthlandUTSA3rd1999Sun BeltLouisiana–Lafayette8th2000SWACAlabama State2nd2001WACNevada3rd1985West CoastGonzaga7th2003

Listed by region and seeding

East Rutherford RegionalSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Saint Joseph's Atlantic 10 27–1 At-large#2 Oklahoma State Big 12 27–3 Automatic#3 Pittsburgh Big East 29–4 At-large#4 Wake Forest ACC 19–9 At-large#5 Florida SEC 20–10 At-large#6 Wisconsin Big Ten 24–6 Automatic#7 Memphis C-USA 21–7 At-large#8 Texas Tech Big 12 22–10 At-large#9 Charlotte C-USA 21–8 At-large#10 South Carolina SEC 23–10 At-large#11 Richmond Atlantic 10 20–12 At-large#12 Manhattan MAAC 24–5 Automatic#13 VCU CAA 23–7 Automatic#14 Central Florida Atlantic Sun 25–5 Automatic#15 Eastern Washington Big Sky 17–12 Automatic#16 Liberty Big South 18–14 AutomaticSt. Louis RegionalSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Kentucky SEC 26–4 Automatic#2 Gonzaga WCC 27–2 Automatic#3 Georgia Tech ACC 23–9 At-large#4 Kansas Big 12 21–8 At-large#5 Providence Big East 20–8 At-large#6 Boston College Big East 23–9 At-large#7 Michigan State Big Ten 18–11 At-large#8 Washington Pac-10 19–11 At-large#9 UAB C-USA 20–9 At-large#10 Nevada WAC 23–8 Automatic#11 Utah Mountain West 24–8 Automatic#12 Pacific Big West 25–7 Automatic#13 Illinois–Chicago Horizon 24–7 Automatic#14 Northern Iowa Missouri Valley 21–9 Automatic#15 Valparaiso Mid-Continent 18–12 Automatic#16 Florida A&M MEAC 14–16 Automatic Lehigh Patriot 20–10 Automatic Atlanta RegionalSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Duke ACC 27–5 At-large#2 Mississippi State SEC 25–3 At-large#3 Texas Big 12 23–7 At-large#4 Cincinnati C-USA 24–6 Automatic#5 Illinois Big Ten 24–6 At-large#6 North Carolina ACC 18–10 At-large#7 Xavier Atlantic 10 23–10 Automatic#8 Seton Hall Big East 20–9 At-large#9 Arizona Pac-10 20–9 At-large#10 Louisville C-USA 20–9 At-large#11 Air Force Mountain West 22–6 At-large#12 Murray State Ohio Valley 28–5 Automatic#13 East Tennessee State SoCon 27–5 Automatic#14 Princeton Ivy 20–7 Automatic#15 Monmouth Northeast 21–11 Automatic#16 Alabama State SWAC 16–14 Automatic Phoenix RegionalSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth Type#1 Stanford Pac-10 29–1 Automatic#2 Connecticut Big East 27–6 Automatic#3 NC State ACC 20–9 At-large#4 Maryland ACC 19–11 Automatic#5 Syracuse Big East 21–7 At-large#6 Vanderbilt SEC 21–9 At-large#7 DePaul C-USA 21–9 At-large#8 Alabama SEC 17–12 At-large#9 Southern Illinois Missouri Valley 25–4 At-large#10 Dayton Atlantic 10 24–8 At-large#11 Western Michigan Mid-American 26–4 Automatic#12 BYU Mountain West 21–8 At-large#13 UTEP WAC 24–7 At-large#14 Louisiana–Lafayette (vacated) Sun Belt 20–8 Automatic#15 Vermont America East 22–8 Automatic#16 UTSA Southland 19–13 Automatic

Bids by conference BidsConferenceSchools 6 ACC Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest Big East Boston College, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Providence, Seton Hall, Syracuse C-USA Charlotte, Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Memphis, UAB SEC Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt 4 Atlantic 10 Dayton, Richmond, Saint Joseph's, Xavier Big 12 Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech3 Big Ten Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin Mountain West Air Force, BYU, Utah Pac-10 Arizona, Stanford, Washington 2 Missouri Valley Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois WAC Nevada, UTEP 1 20 other conferences

Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin %R32S16E8F4CG Big East 6 12–5 .706 5 3 1 1 1 SEC 6 7–6 .538 4 2 1 – – Big Ten 3 3–3 .500 2 1 – – – ACC 6 14–6 .700 6 3 2 2 1 Big 12 4 10–4 .714 4 3 2 1 – Pac-10 3 1–3 .250 1 – – – – Missouri Valley 2 0–2 .000 – – – – – Atlantic 10 4 6–4 .600 2 2 2 – – C–USA 6 5–6 .455 4 1 – – – MWC 3 0–3 .000 – – – – – WAC 2 2–2 .500 1 1 – – – MAAC 1 1–1 .500 1 – – – – WCC 1 1–1 .500 1 – – – – Big West 1 1–1 .500 1 – – – – MEAC 1 1–1* .500 – – – – –

*Florida A&M University won the Opening Round game.

The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, CAA, Horizon League, Mid-Continent, Ivy, MAC, MEAC, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, SoCon, Southland, SWAC, and Sun Belt conferences all went 0–1.

The columns R32, S16, E8, F4, and CG respectively stand for the Round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and championship Game.

Final Four

At Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas

National semifinals April 3, 2004 Connecticut (W2) 79, Duke (S1) 78 With the Connecticut Huskies trailing by 8 points with less than 3 minutes to go, it looked as if the Duke Blue Devils were going to spoil Jim Calhoun's chance at a second national title. Connecticut's All-American center Emeka Okafor was limited to just 22 minutes because of early foul trouble, but he came up clutch with several big plays down the stretch and finished with 18 points and only 3 fouls. By contrast, all three of Duke's centers fouled out, including Shelden Williams, who committed his fifth foul with 3:04 to play. In addition, Duke went without a field goal for the last 4 minutes until Chris Duhon's meaningless three-pointer at the buzzer. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was denied his 65th NCAA Tournament victory which would have tied him with Dean Smith for the all-time record. He later broke that record. Georgia Tech (M3) 67, Oklahoma State (E2) 65 Will Bynum's layup in the final moments kept the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets dream for a National Championship alive as they defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys, in a nail-biter, in the first of the national semifinal doubleheader. Georgia Tech led for most of the game including a seven-point edge at halftime. However, Oklahoma State was able to tie the game on John Lucas's three-pointer with 26.3 seconds left. Georgia Tech then milked the clock which set up Bynum's game-winner. Georgia Tech advanced to their first ever National Championship appearance. Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton was denied yet another chance at an elusive national title.

National Championship Game April 5, 2004 Connecticut (W2) 82, Georgia Tech (M3) 73 The 2004 National Championship Game proved to be a coronation for the Connecticut Huskies as they handled Paul Hewitt's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Emeka Okafor led Connecticut with 24 points and was an easy choice for Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Guard Ben Gordon added 21 points to Connecticut's cause. The victory gave Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun his second National Championship (1999).

Bracket Opening Round game – Dayton, Ohio Winner advances to 16th seed in St. Louis Regional vs. (1) Kentucky.

East Rutherford Regional

St. Louis Regional

Atlanta Regional

Phoenix Regional

Final Four – San Antonio, Texas

Game summaries

Final four

National Championship

Announcers Jim Nantz/Billy Packer/Bonnie Bernstein – First & Second Round at Denver, Colorado; East Rutherford Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey; Final Four at San Antonio, Texas Dick Enberg/Matt Guokas/Armen Keteyian/Heather Cox – First & Second Round at Columbus, Ohio; Phoenix Regional at Phoenix, Arizona Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery/Solomon Wilcots – First & Second Round at Buffalo, New York; Atlanta Regional at Atlanta, Georgia Gus Johnson/Len Elmore/Dwayne Ballen – First & Second Round at Orlando, Florida; St. Louis Regional at St. Louis, Missouri Kevin Harlan/Dan Bonner/Tracy Wolfson – First & Second Round at Raleigh, North Carolina Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel – First & Second Round at Seattle, Washington Craig Bolerjack/Bob Wenzel/Scott Kaplan – First & Second Round at Kansas City, Missouri