CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

United States top collegiate-level basketball tournament for 2008; 70th NCAA Tournament

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ2082282 ↗
Source-derived summary

The 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2007–08 season. The 70th annual edition of the tournament began on March 18, 2008, and concluded with the championship game on April 7, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

For the first time since seeding began in 1979 (and the only time until the 2025 tournament), 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.

American University (Patriot), UMBC (America East), Texas–Arlington (Southland), and Portland State (Big Sky) all entered the tournament for the first time in their school's history. Another school, Coppin State, won the MEAC Tournament to become the first 20-loss school to make the field.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament” as united States top collegiate-level basketball tournament for 2008; 70th NCAA Tournament. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around NCAA, Division and men's.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2008, 2007, 1979, 2025—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with NCAA, Division and men's providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament”, the useful work is to connect “united States top collegiate-level basketball tournament for 2008; 70th NCAA Tournament” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2082282. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2008, 2007, 1979 and 2025.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament primary sources, 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament archive and NCAA research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.