1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1999 Final Four logo
Season	1998–99
Teams	64
Finals site	Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, Florida
Champions	Connecticut (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Runner-up	Duke (8th title game, 12th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Michigan State (3rd Final Four) Ohio State (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 Men's Division I Tournaments «1998 2000»

The 1999 NCAA Men's Division I 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 season in 2011–12. 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.

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

1999 first and second rounds

Phoenix

St. Louis

Knoxville

E. Rutherford

St. Petersburg

1999 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

First and second rounds

March 11 and 13

KeyArena, Seattle (Host: University of Washington)

McNichols Sports Arena, Denver

Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida

RCA Dome, Indianapolis

March 12 and 14

Bradley Center, Milwaukee

Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)

FleetCenter, Boston (Host: Boston College)

Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans (Host: Tulane University)

Regionals

March 18 and 20

South Regional, Thompson–Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee)

West Regional, America West Arena, Phoenix, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University)

March 19 and 21

East Regional, Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey

Midwest Regional, Trans World Dome, St. Louis, Missouri

Final Four

March 27 and 29

Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida

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	Automatic
#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

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

	First round					Second round					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
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 Halftime Score: Duke, 43-31

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

Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri

	First round					Second round					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
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 Halftime Score: Kentucky, 36-35

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

South Regional – Knoxville, Tennessee

	First round					Second round					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	63
											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
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 Halftime Score: Ohio State, 41-33

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

West Regional – Phoenix, Arizona

	First round					Second round					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
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 Halftime Score: Gonzaga, 32-31

America West Arena – Phoenix, Arizona 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
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 Halftime Score: Connecticut, 36-35

Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, Florida 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
Pts: E. Brand 18 Rebs: E. Brand 15 Asts: T. Langdon 3		Pts: M. Peterson 15 Rebs: A. Smith 10 Asts: M. Cleaves 10 Halftime Score: Duke, 32-20

Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, Florida 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
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 Halftime Score: Duke, 39-37

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

Announcers

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer – First & Second Round at New Orleans; Midwest Regional at St. Louis; Final Four at St. Petersburg, Florida
• Sean McDonough and Bill Raftery – First & Second Round at Indianapolis; 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
• Kevin Harlan and Jon Sundvold – First & Second Round at Seattle
• Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel – First & Second Round at Denver
• Craig Bolerjack and Rolando Blackman – First & Second Round at Boston

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. Interestingly, 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.
• 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 a 86-84 loss to Kentucky in the 1998 South Regional final, and then the 1999 National Championship game.

Notes

1. Jim O'Brien – Firing controversy (references included)
2. "Men's College Basketball 1998–1999 Chi Square Linear WL – SD". Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
3. "Gold Sheet College Basketball Log". Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.