1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

1999 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament
Season	1998–99
Teams	64
Finals site	Tropicana Field; St. Petersburg, Florida
Champions	Connecticut Huskies (1st title, 1st title game,; 1st Final Four)
Runner-up	Duke Blue Devils (8th title game,; 12th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Michigan State Spartans (3rd Final Four); Ohio State Buckeyes (Vacated) (9th Final Four);
Winning coach	Jim Calhoun (1st title)
MOP	Richard Hamilton (Connecticut)
Attendance	720,685
Top scorer	Richard Hamilton (Connecticut); (145 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments
«1998	2000»

The 1999 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1999, and ended with the championship game on March 29 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. A total of 63 games were played. This year's Final Four was the first—and so far, only—to be held in a baseball-specific facility, as Tropicana Field is home to the Tampa Bay Rays (then known as the Devil Rays).

The Final Four consisted of Connecticut, making their first ever Final Four appearance; Ohio State, making their ninth Final Four appearance and first since 1968; Michigan State, making their third Final Four appearance and first since their 1979 national championship; and Duke, the overall number one seed and making their first Final Four appearance since losing the national championship game in 1994.

In the national championship game, Connecticut defeated Duke 77–74 to win their first ever national championship, snapping Duke's 32-game winning streak, and scoring the biggest point-spread upset in Championship Game history. Duke nonetheless tied the record for most games won during a single season, with 37, which they co-held until Kentucky's 38-win seasons in 2011–12 and 2014–15. The 2007–08 Memphis team actually broke this record first, but the team was later forced to forfeit their entire season due to eligibility issues surrounding the team.

Richard "Rip" Hamilton of Connecticut was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. This was a significant victory for the program, as it cemented Connecticut's reputation as a true basketball power after decades of barely missing the Final Four. Also, the Huskies did not play football at the level now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision (known as Division I-A from 1978 to 2006) at the time of their title. Connecticut then played football in Division I-AA, now the Football Championship Subdivision; by the time of the Huskies' next men's basketball title in 2004, the school's football team had upgraded to the current FBS level. The next team to win a title that did not also have an FBS football team was Villanova in 2016.

This tournament is also historically notable as the coming-out party for Gonzaga as a rising mid-major power. The Bulldogs became the nation's basketball darlings during a run to the West Regional final in which they defeated three major-conference powers, including 1998 Final Four participant Stanford, and took UConn literally to the last minute before losing. Gonzaga has made every NCAA tournament since then, and is now generally considered to be a high-major program despite its mid-major conference affiliation.

Due to violations committed by Ohio State head coach Jim O'Brien, the Buckeyes were forced to vacate their appearance in the 1999 Final Four.^[1]

Locations

Boston

Charlotte

Indianapolis

Orlando

Milwaukee

New Orleans

Denver

Seattle

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1999 first and second rounds

Phoenix

St. Louis

Knoxville

E. Rutherford

St. Petersburg

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1999 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

First & Second Rounds

Region	Site	Venue	Host
East	Boston, Massachusetts	FleetCenter	Boston College/Boston
East	Charlotte, North Carolina	Charlotte Coliseum	Davidson
Midwest	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Bradley Center	Marquette
Midwest	Indianapolis, Indiana	RCA Dome	Butler/IUPUI
South	New Orleans, Louisiana	Louisiana Superdome	Tulane
South	Orlando, Florida	Orlando Arena	Stetson/UCF
West	Denver, Colorado	McNichols Sports Arena	Colorado
West	Seattle, Washington	KeyArena	Seattle University/Washington

Regional Sites and Final Four

Region	Site	Venue	Host
East	East Rutherford, New Jersey	Continental Airlines Arena	Seton Hall
Midwest	St. Louis, Missouri	Trans World Dome	Missouri Valley Conference
South	Knoxville, Tennessee	Thompson–Boling Arena	Tennessee
West	Phoenix, Arizona	America West Arena	Arizona State
Final Four	St. Petersburg, Florida	Tropicana Field	South Florida

St. Petersburg became the 27th host city, and Tropicana Field the 32nd host venue, for the Final Four. Tropicana Field, the home of baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, was the sixth different domed stadium to host a Final Four, and the only one designed specifically for baseball; given its inability to be converted to a center court arena, it is unlikely to host one again. There were four new venues in the 1999 tournament, two in completely new host cities for the tournament. For the first time, the tournament came to Boston at the FleetCenter, which had replaced the Boston Garden in 1995. Despite the original Garden's rich college and NBA history, it never had hosted any NCAA tournament games. The tournament also came to downtown Phoenix for the first time, at the NBA home of the Phoenix Suns. Previous games in the metropolitan area were played in suburban Tempe at Arizona State University. For the second straight year, the Midwest Regional games were held in a new venue in St. Louis, this time at the Trans World Dome, then home to the NFL's St. Louis Rams. The tournament also returned to Seattle, this time at KeyArena, the downtown home to the Seattle SuperSonics. This tournament would be the last held at McNichols Sports Arena, which was scheduled to close later in the year and is now the site of parking for Empower Field at Mile High; subsequent games in Denver have moved to the Ball Arena. It is also the last tournament to date to include Tropicana Field and Thompson–Boling Arena, as neither has hosted since. Any future tournament games to be held in Tampa would be played at the Amalie Arena.

Teams

East Regional – East Rutherford
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Bid Type
#1	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	ACC	32–1	Automatic
#2	Miami (FL)	Leonard Hamilton	Big East	22–6	At-Large
#3	Cincinnati	Bob Huggins	Conference USA	26–5	At-Large
#4	Tennessee	Jerry Green	SEC	20–8	At-Large
#5	Wisconsin	Dick Bennett	Big Ten	22–9	At-Large
#6	Temple	John Chaney	Atlantic 10	21–10	At-Large
#7	Texas	Rick Barnes	Big 12	19–12	At-Large
#8	College of Charleston	John Kresse	Southern	28–2	Automatic
#9	Tulsa	Bill Self	WAC	22–9	At-Large
#10	Purdue	Gene Keady	Big Ten	19–12	At-Large
#11	Kent State	Gary Waters	Mid-American	23–6	Automatic
#12	Southwest Missouri State	Steve Alford	Missouri Valley	20–12	At-Large
#13	Delaware	Mike Brey	America East	25–5	Automatic
#14	George Mason	Jim Larranaga	CAA	19–10	Automatic
#15	Lafayette	Fran O'Hanlon	Patriot League	22–7	Automatic
#16	Florida A&M	Mickey Clayton	MEAC	12–18	Automatic

Midwest Regional – St. Louis
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Bid Type
#1	Michigan State	Tom Izzo	Big Ten	29–4	Automatic
#2	Utah	Rick Majerus	WAC	27–4	Automatic
#3	Kentucky	Tubby Smith	SEC	25–8	Automatic
#4	Arizona	Lute Olson	Pac-10	22–6	At-Large
#5	UNC-Charlotte	Bobby Lutz	Conference USA	22–10	Automatic
#6	Kansas	Roy Williams	Big 12	22–9	Automatic
#7	Washington	Bob Bender	Pac-10	17–11	At-Large
#8	Villanova	Steve Lappas	Big East	21–10	At-Large
#9	Ole Miss	Rod Barnes	SEC	19–12	At-Large
#10	Miami (OH)	Charlie Coles	Mid-American	22–7	At-Large
#11	Evansville	Jim Crews	Missouri Valley	23–9	At-Large
#12	Rhode Island	Jim Harrick	Atlantic 10	20–10	Automatic
#13	Oklahoma	Kelvin Sampson	Big 12	20–10	At-Large
#14	New Mexico State	Lou Henson	Big West	23–9	Automatic
#15	Arkansas State	Dickey Nutt	Sun Belt	18–11	Automatic
#16	Mount St. Mary's	Jim Phelan	NEC	15–14	Automatic

South Regional – Knoxville
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Bid Type
#1	Auburn	Cliff Ellis	SEC	27–3	At-Large
#2	Maryland	Gary Williams	ACC	26–5	At-Large
#3	St. John's	Mike Jarvis	Big East	25–8	At-Large
#4	Ohio State (vacated)	Jim O'Brien	Big Ten	23–8	At-Large
#5	UCLA (vacated)	Steve Lavin	Pac-10	22–8	At-Large
#6	Indiana	Bob Knight	Big Ten	22–10	At-Large
#7	Louisville	Denny Crum	Conference USA	19–10	At-Large
#8	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Big East	21–11	At-Large
#9	Oklahoma State	Eddie Sutton	Big 12	22–10	At-Large
#10	Creighton	Dana Altman	Missouri Valley	21–8	Automatic
#11	George Washington	Tom Penders	Atlantic 10	20–8	At-Large
#12	Detroit	Perry Watson	MCC	24–5	Automatic
#13	Murray State	Tevester Anderson	Ohio Valley	27–5	Automatic
#14	Samford	Jimmy Tillette	TAAC	24–5	Automatic
#15	Valparaiso	Homer Drew	Mid-Continent	23–8	Automatic
#16	Winthrop	Gregg Marshall	Big South	17–13	Automatic

West Regional – Phoenix
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Bid Type
#1	Connecticut	Jim Calhoun	Big East	28–2	Automatic
#2	Stanford	Mike Montgomery	Pac-10	25–6	Automatic
#3	North Carolina	Bill Guthridge	ACC	24–9	At-Large
#4	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	SEC	22–10	At-Large
#5	Iowa	Tom Davis	Big Ten	18–9	At-Large
#6	Florida	Billy Donovan	SEC	20–8	At-Large
#7	Minnesota	Clem Haskins	Big Ten	17–10	At-Large
#8	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Big 12	20–8	At-Large
#9	New Mexico	Dave Bliss	WAC	24–8	At-Large
#10	Gonzaga	Dan Monson	West Coast	25–6	Automatic
#11	Penn	Fran Dunphy	Ivy League	21–5	Automatic
#12	UAB	Murry Bartow	Conference USA	20–11	At-Large
#13	Siena	Paul Hewitt	MAAC	25–5	Automatic
#14	Weber State	Ron Abegglen	Big Sky	24–7	Automatic
#15	Alcorn State	Davey Whitney	SWAC	23–6	Automatic
#16	Texas-San Antonio	Tim Carter	Southland	18–10	Automatic

Bids by conference

Bids by Conference
Bids	Conference(s)
7	Big Ten
6	SEC
5	Big 12, Big East
4	C-USA, Pac-10
3	Atlantic 10, ACC, Missouri Valley, WAC
2	Mid-American
1	19 others

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

First round			Quarter-finals			Regional Semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Duke	99

16	Florida A&M	58
			1	Duke	97
Charlotte
			9	Tulsa	56
8	College of Charleston	53

9	Tulsa	62
						1	Duke	78

						12	SW Missouri St.	61
5	Wisconsin	32

12	SW Missouri St.	43
			12	SW Missouri St.	81
Charlotte
			4	Tennessee	51
4	Tennessee	62

13	Delaware	52
									1	Duke	85

									6	Temple	64
6	Temple	61

11	Kent St.	54
			6	Temple	64
Boston
			3	Cincinnati	54
3	Cincinnati	72

14	George Mason	48
						6	Temple	77

						10	Purdue	55
7	Texas	54

10	Purdue	58
			10	Purdue	73
Boston
			2	Miami-FL	63
2	Miami-FL	75

15	Lafayette	54

Regional Final summary

CBS

Sunday, March 21

box score

#1 Duke Blue Devils 85, #6 Temple Owls 64
Scoring by half: 43–31, 42–33
Pts: T. Langdon – 23 Rebs: E. Brand – 8 Asts: C. Carrawell – 7		Pts: L. Barnes, M. Karcher – 19 Rebs: L. Barnes – 8 Asts: P. Sánchez – 4

Continental Airlines Arena – East Rutherford, NJ
Attendance: 19,557
Referees: Frankie Bourdeaux, Ted Valentine, Scott Thornley

Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri

First round			Quarter-finals			Regional Semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Michigan State	76

16	Mount St. Mary's	53
			1	Michigan State	74
Milwaukee
			9	Ole Miss	66
8	Villanova	70

9	Ole Miss	72
						1	Michigan State	54

						13	Oklahoma	46
5	Charlotte	81

12	Rhode Island	70
			5	Charlotte	72
Milwaukee
			13	Oklahoma	85
4	Arizona	60

13	Oklahoma	61
									1	Michigan State	73

									3	Kentucky	66
6	Kansas	95

11	Evansville	74
			6	Kansas	88*
New Orleans
			3	Kentucky	92
3	Kentucky	82

14	New Mexico State	60
						3	Kentucky	58

						10	Miami-OH	43
7	Washington	58

10	Miami-OH	59
			10	Miami-OH	66
New Orleans
			2	Utah	58
2	Utah	80

15	Arkansas State	58

Regional Final summary

CBS

Sunday, March 21

box score

#1 Michigan State Spartans 73, #3 Kentucky 66
Scoring by half: 35–36, 38–30
Pts: M. Peterson – 19 Rebs: M. Peterson – 10 Asts: M. Cleaves – 7		Pts: H. Evans, T. Prince – 12 Rebs: H. Evans – 6 Asts: W. Turner – 8

Trans World Dome – St. Louis, MO
Attendance: 42,519
Referees: Jim Burr, Bob Donato, Reggie Greenwood

South Regional – Knoxville, Tennessee

First round			Quarter-finals			Regional Semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Auburn	80

16	Winthrop	41
			1	Auburn	81
Indianapolis
			9	Oklahoma State	74
8	Syracuse	61

9	Oklahoma State	69
						1	Auburn	64

						4	Ohio State	72
5	UCLA	53

12	Detroit	56
			12	Detroit	44
Indianapolis
			4	Ohio State	75
4	Ohio State	72

13	Murray State	58
									4	Ohio State	77

									3	St. John's	74
6	Indiana	108

11	George Washington	88
			6	Indiana	61
Orlando
			3	St. John's	86
3	St. John's	69

14	Samford	43
						3	St. John's	76

						2	Maryland	62
7	Louisville	58

10	Creighton	62
			10	Creighton	63
Orlando
			2	Maryland	75
2	Maryland	82

15	Valparaiso	60

Regional Final summary

CBS

Saturday, March 20

box score

#4 Ohio State Buckeyes 77, #3 St. John's Red Storm 74
Scoring by half: 41–33, 36–41
Pts: S. Penn – 22 Rebs: S. Penn – 8 Asts: S. Penn – 8		Pts: L. Postell – 24 Rebs: L. Postell, R. Artest – 9 Asts: E. Barkley – 7

Thompson–Boling Arena – Knoxville, TN
Attendance: 24,248
Referees: Dave Libbey, Gene Monje, Mark Whitehead

West Regional – Phoenix, Arizona

First round			Quarter-finals			Regional Semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Connecticut	91

16	Texas-San Antonio	66
			1	Connecticut	78
Denver
			9	New Mexico	56
8	Missouri	59

9	New Mexico	61
						1	Connecticut	78

						5	Iowa	68
5	Iowa	77

12	UAB	64
			5	Iowa	82
Denver
			4	Arkansas	72
4	Arkansas	94

13	Siena	80
									1	Connecticut	67

									10	Gonzaga	62
6	Florida	75

11	Pennsylvania	61
			6	Florida	82
Seattle
			14	Weber State	74*
3	North Carolina	74

14	Weber State	76
						6	Florida	72

						10	Gonzaga	73
7	Minnesota	63

10	Gonzaga	75
			10	Gonzaga	82
Seattle
			2	Stanford	74
2	Stanford	69

15	Alcorn State	57

Regional Final summary

CBS

Saturday, March 20

box score

#1 Connecticut Huskies 67, #10 Gonzaga 62
Scoring by half: 31–32, 36–30
Pts: R. Hamilton – 21 Rebs: K. Freeman – 15 Asts: K. El-Amin – 4		Pts: Q. Hall – 18 Rebs: Q. Hall, C. Calvary – 8 Asts: M. Santangelo, R. Floyd, R. Frahm – 2

America West Arena – Phoenix, AZ
Attendance: 18,053
Referees: Mike Patterson, Larry Rose, Bobby Hunt

Final four

St. Petersburg, Florida

National Semifinals			National Championship Game

E1	Duke	68

M1	Michigan State	62
			E1	Duke	74

			W1	Connecticut	77
S4	Ohio State	58

W1	Connecticut	64

Game summaries

Final four

CBS

March 27
5:00 pm

box score

#1 Connecticut Huskies 64, #4 Ohio State Buckeyes 58
Scoring by half: 36–35, 28–23
Pts: R. Hamilton – 24 Rebs: Ricky Moore – 8 Asts: K. El-Amin – 6		Pts: M. Redd – 15 Rebs: M. Redd – 8 Asts: J. Singleton, S. Penn – 4

Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, FL
Attendance: 41,340
Referees: Jim Burr, Larry Rose, Mark Whitehead

CBS

March 27
8:00 pm

box score

#1 Duke Blue Devils 68, #1 Michigan State Spartans 62
Scoring by half: 32–20, 36–42
Pts: E. Brand – 18 Rebs: E. Brand – 15 Asts: T. Langdon – 3		Pts: M. Peterson – 15 Rebs: A. Smith – 10 Asts: M. Cleaves – 10

Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, FL
Attendance: 41,340
Referees: Dave Libbey, Curtis Shaw, John Cahill

National Championship

CBS

March 29
9:00 pm

Box score

#1 Connecticut Huskies 77, #1 Duke Blue Devils 74
Scoring by half: 37–39, 40–35
Pts: R. Hamilton – 27 Rebs: Ricky Moore, K. Freeman – 8 Asts: K. El-Amin – 4		Pts: T. Langdon – 25 Rebs: E. Brand – 13 Asts: W. Avery – 5

Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, FL
Attendance: 41,340
Referees: Tim Higgins, Gerald Boudreaux, Scott Thornley

Announcers

Jim Nantz and Billy Packer – First & Second Round at New Orleans, Louisiana; Midwest Regional at St. Louis; Final Four at St. Petersburg, Florida
Sean McDonough and Bill Raftery – First & Second Round at Indianapolis, Indiana; South Regional at Knoxville, Tennessee
Verne Lundquist and Al McGuire – First & Second Round at Charlotte, North Carolina; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
Gus Johnson and Dan Bonner – First & Second Round at Orlando, Florida; West Regional at Phoenix, Arizona
Tim Brando and James Worthy – First & Second Round at Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Kevin Harlan and Jon Sundvold – First & Second Round at Seattle, Washington
Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel – First & Second Round at Denver, Colorado
Craig Bolerjack and Rolando Blackman – First & Second Round at Boston, Massachusetts

Additional notes

Despite their loss in the finals to Connecticut, the 1998–1999 Duke team won 37 games.^[2] This tied them with Duke's 1985–86 team, UNLV's 1986–87 squad, and later, Illinois' 2004–05 team and Kansas's 2007–08 team, for the most wins in a season, until their record was broken by the 38-win Memphis team in 2007–08. However, as the NCAA vacated Memphis' 2007–2008 season due to the ineligibility of Derrick Rose, they reclaimed the 37-win record. The mark would once again be raised to 38 wins after Kentucky's dominant title run in 2012, which then tied with Kentucky's 2014–15 team. Only one of the first 5 teams to be the winningest single-season teams won a national championship; UNLV's squad lost in the national semifinal to Indiana, and the other teams lost in the finals, to Louisville, UConn, and North Carolina, while Kansas defeated Memphis in the 2008 national championship game. Kentucky's 2014–15 squad suffered their only loss that season in the national semifinal to Wisconsin.
Connecticut's victory in the finals marks the biggest upset in Championship Game history in the NCAA Tournament, as they were 9.5-point underdogs in the contest despite having compiled a 33–2 record going into the Championship game, including a 14–2 record in the tough Big East Conference. In fact, Connecticut had spent more weeks as the number 1 team in the country, according to the AP Top 25 Poll, than had Duke. The previous record was held by Villanova, who defeated Georgetown as 9-point underdogs in 1985.^[3]
The 1999 Final Four would be the last time Tropicana Field would host NCAA tournament games. For Duke, they had 2 straight promising seasons end on the Tropicana Field floor, with an 86–84 loss to Kentucky in the 1998 South Regional final, and then the 1999 National Championship game.

North Carolina lost to Weber State which marked the first time the Tar Heels had lost in the first round of the expanded field era with 64 or more teams.

Notes

^ Jim O'Brien – Firing controversy (references included)
^ "Men's College Basketball 1998–1999 Chi Square Linear WL – SD". Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
^ "Gold Sheet College Basketball Log". Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.

v t e NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
Tournaments	1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Structure	Selection process Venues No. 1 seeds First Four Elite Eight Final four
Champions & awards	List of champions Most Outstanding Player
Media & culture	Blue bloods Bracketology Broadcasting Tournament Final Four Cutting down the nets March Madness pools "One Shining Moment"
Records & statistics	Team records Bids by school Consecutive appearances Final Four participants Final Four appearances by coach Overall records Upsets Team appearances by seed
See also: Division I Women's Tournament, Division II Tournament, Division III Tournament

v t e 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments
Conference	ACC America East Atlantic 10 Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA Conference USA MAAC MCC MEAC Mid-American Mid-Con Missouri Valley Northeast Ohio Valley Patriot SEC Southern Southland SWAC Sun Belt TAAC WAC West Coast
National	NCAA NIT

Locations

First & Second Rounds

Regional Sites and Final Four

Teams

Bids by conference

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

Regional Final summary

Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri

Regional Final summary

South Regional – Knoxville, Tennessee

Regional Final summary

West Regional – Phoenix, Arizona

Regional Final summary

Final four

St. Petersburg, Florida

Game summaries

Final four

National Championship

Announcers

Additional notes

Notes

See also