2000–01 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team

2000–01 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
2000–01 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
Sun Belt Conference tournament Champion; Sun Belt Conference East Division Champion
NCAA Tournament, first round
Conference	Sun Belt Conference
	East Division
Record	24–7 (14–2 Sun Belt)
Head coach	Dennis Felton;
Assistant coach	Pete Herrmann
Home arena	E. A. Diddle Arena
	Seasons ← 1999–00 2001–02 →

2000–01 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
Western Kentucky †	14	–	2	.875	24	–	7	.774
Arkansas State	10	–	6	.625	17	–	13	.567
Louisiana Tech	10	–	6	.625	17	–	12	.586
Arkansas-Little Rock	9	–	7	.563	18	–	11	.621
Florida International	5	–	11	.313	8	–	21	.276
Middle Tennessee	1	–	15	.063	5	–	22	.185
West
South Alabama	11	–	5	.688	22	–	11	.667
Louisiana–Lafayette	10	–	6	.625	16	–	13	.552
New Orleans	10	–	6	.625	17	–	12	.586
New Mexico State	10	–	6	.625	14	–	14	.500
Denver	5	–	11	.313	10	–	18	.357
North Texas	1	–	15	.063	4	–	24	.143

† 2001 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 2000–01 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky University during the 2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by coach Dennis Felton and Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Chris Marcus.^[1] The team won the East Division Championship and the Sun Belt Basketball tournament, earning an automatic bid to the 2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.^[2] Marcus was SBC tournament MVP and conference Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.^[3] Nashon McPherson joined Marcus on the SBC All-Tournament team.^[4]

Schedule[edit]

^[5]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
11/18/2000*		at Evansville	W 61–59	1–0	Roberts Municipal Stadium (7,904) Evansville, IN
11/21/2000*		Union (KY)	W 75–45	2–0	E. A. Diddle Arena (2,500) Bowling Green, KY
11/25/2000*		Tennessee State	W 90–66	3–0	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,500) Bowling Green, KY
11/28/2000*		Vanderbilt Area Bank Classic	L 66–70	3–1	E. A. Diddle Arena (7,500) Bowling Green, KY
12/2/2000*		at New Mexico	L 57–75	3–2	The Pit (arena) (16,518) Albuquerque, NM
12/5/2000*		at Murray State	L 81–83	3–3	CFSB Center (3,927) Murray, KY
12/9/2000*		at Louisville	W 68–65	4–3	Freedom Hall (18,427) Louisville, KY
12/16/2000*		Akron	W 73–58	5–3	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,000) Bowling Green, KY
12/18/2000*		Savannah State	W 103–60	6–3	E. A. Diddle Arena (2,100) Bowling Green, KY
12/21/2000*		Saint Joseph's (PA)	L 68–74	6–4	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,100) Bowling Green, KY
12/28/2000		at New Orleans	W 68–63	7–4 (1-0)	Lakefront Arena (697) New Orleans, LA
12/31/2000		at Denver	W 80–61	8–4 (2-0)	Magness Arena (433) Denver, CO
1/3/2001*		Asbury (KY)	W 81–29	9–4	E. A. Diddle Arena (2,400) Bowling Green, KY
1/6/2001		Louisiana–Lafayette	W 79–62	10–4 (3-0)	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,800) Bowling Green, KY
1/10/2001		at South Alabama	L 66–74 ^OT	10–5 (3-1)	Mitchell Center (2,421) Mobile, AL
1/13/2001		Arkansas–Little Rock	W 59–49	11–5 (4-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,800) Bowling Green, KY
1/16/2001		New Mexico State	W 72–61	12–5 (5-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,000) Bowling Green, KY
1/18/2001		Louisiana Tech	W 55–47	13–5 (6-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,300) Bowling Green, KY
1/25/2001		Arkansas State	W 79–61	14–5 (7-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,400) Bowling Green, KY
1/27/2001		at FIU	W 55–46	15–5 (8-1)	Ocean Bank Convocation Center (685) University Park, FL
2/1/2001		at Middle Tennessee	W 71–63	16–5 (9-1)	Murphy Center (2,437) Murfreesboro, TN
2/3/2001		North Texas	W 107–63	17–5 (10-1)	E. A. Diddle Arena (5,400) Bowling Green, KY
2/10/2001		at Louisiana Tech	L 72–73 ^OT	17–6 (10-2)	Thomas Assembly Center (2,879) Ruston, LA
2/15/2001		FIU	W 69–49	18–6 (11-2)	E. A. Diddle Arena (3,500) Bowling Green, KY
2/17/2001		at Arkansas–Little Rock	W 86–73	19–6 (12-2)	Alltel Arena (5,912) North Little Rock, AR
2/22/2001		at Arkansas State	W 100–60	20–6 (13-2)	Convocation Center (6,539) Jonesboro, AR
2/24/2001		Middle Tennessee	W 92–51	21–6 (14-2)	E. A. Diddle Arena (6,800) Bowling Green, KY
2001 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
3/3/2001	(E1)	(E5) FIU Second Round	W 68–51	22–6	Mitchell Center (4,975) Mobile, AL
3/5/2001	(E1)	(W2) Louisiana–Lafayette Semifinals	W 82–75	23–6	Mitchell Center (6,128) Mobile, AL
3/6/2001	(E1)	at (W1) South Alabama Championship	W 64–54	24–6	Mitchell Center (8,069) Mobile, AL
2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
3/16/2001*	(14 S)	vs. (3 S) No. 8 Florida First Round	L 56–69	24–7	Louisiana Superdome (10,948) New Orleans, LA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll (S#) during NCAA Tournament is seed with Region. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[6]

References[edit]

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[1] What ever happened to Chris Marcus?, By ELLIOTT PRATT Daily News Apr 28, 2020, retrieved 30 April 2020

[2] Tops going dancing, By the Daily News Online, Mar 7, 2001, retrieved 28 April 2020

[3] SBC 2016-17 Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 28 April 2020

[4] 2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020

[5] 2000-01 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 28 April 2020

[6] "2000-2001 Men's Basketball Statistics" (PDF). WKU Sports.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
Venues	Red Barn (1920–1931) Health & Physical Education Building (1931–1963) E. A. Diddle Arena (1963–present)
Culture & lore	Big Red
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1914–15 1915–16 1916–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics