The 1999âÂÂ2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 11, 1999, with the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game on April 3, 2000, at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Season headlines
- The Mountain West Conference began play, with eight original members.
- The preseason AP All-American team was named on November 10. Chris Porter of Auburn was the leading vote-getter (53 of 65 votes). The rest of the team included Quentin Richardson of DePaul (46 votes), Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State (44), Scoonie Penn of Ohio State (44) and Terence Morris of Maryland (30).
- David Webber scored 51 points for on February 24, 2000, against Ball State. The total was the highest single-game point total of the season in regulation (second only to Eddie House, who had 61 points in a double-overtime game to tie Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Pacific-10 Conference record). The tally broke Larry Bird's 1977 McGuirk Arena single-game record performance of 45 points.
- Cincinnati was 28âÂÂ2 and had been arguably the best team in the country when Player of the Year Kenyon Martin had a season-ending leg fracture three minutes into their first-round Conference USA tournament game against Saint Louis. The Bearcats lost that game and gave the NCAA Tournament selection committee a difficult decision to make about seeding. Ultimately, the Bearcats were made a No. 2 seed in the 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and lost in the second round to Tulsa.
- Head coach Tom Izzo led Michigan State to its second national championship behind the play of the "Flintstones," a trio of players from Flint, Michigan. Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson and Charlie Bell led the Spartans to an 89âÂÂ76 win over Florida, with Cleaves named Final Four Most Outstanding Player and Peterson also making the All-Tournament team.
Rules changes
- On uniforms, the use of the single-digit numbers "1" and "2" as player numbers was once again permitted. Their use had been prohibited since the 1957âÂÂ58 season.
Season outlook
Pre-season polls
The top 25 from the AP Poll November 9, 1999 and the ESPN/USA Today Poll November 4, 1999.
Conference membership changes
These schools joined new conferences for the 1999âÂÂ2000 season.
Regular season
Conferences
Conference winners and tournaments
Twenty-nine conferences concluded their seasons with a single-elimination tournament, with only the Ivy League and the Pacific-10 Conference choosing not to conduct conference tournaments. Conference tournament winners generally received an automatic bid to the 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The Mountain West Conference (MWC) began operation in 1999-2000 and its tournament winner did not receive an automatic bid, although UNLV, the winner of the inaugural MWC tournament, did receive an at-large bid.
Conference standings
Division I independents
Five schools played as Division I independents.
Informal championships
After eight seasons in which each of Philadelphia Big 5 member played only two games against other Big 5 schools each year, the Big 5 returned to a full round-robin schedule in which each team met each other team once, a format it had used from its first season of competition in 1955âÂÂ56 through the 1990âÂÂ91 season. Temple and Villanova both finished with 3âÂÂ1 records in head-to-head competition among the Big 5.
Statistical leaders
Source for additional stats categories
Post-season tournaments
NCAA tournament
National Invitation tournament
Semifinals & finals
Award winners
Consensus All-American teams
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Major player of the year awards
Major freshman of the year awards
Major coach of the year awards
Other major awards
Coaching changes
A number of teams changed coaches throughout the season and after the season ended.
Attendances
The top 10 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams by average home attendance in the 1999-2000 season:
References