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1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

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. The 61st annual edition of the tournament 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 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 vacate 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 a decade 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. 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. Gonzaga is expected to join the newly revamped Pac-12 Conference in the 2025–26 academic year.

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.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1999 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

Teams

There were 30 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 28 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while two were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference (Ivy League and Pac-10).

Five conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Arkansas State (Sun Belt), Florida A&M (MEAC), Kent State (MAC), Samford (TAAC), and Winthrop (Big South).

Automatic qualifiers

<span class="RegionSeeds">Listed by region and seeding</span>

<section begin="RegionSeeds" /> <section end="RegionSeeds" />

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

Game summaries

First Round

Second Round

Regional Semifinals

Regional Final

Final Four

St. Petersburg, Florida

Ohio State vacated 34 games, including all NCAA Tournament wins from the 1998–99 season due to the Jim O’Brien scandal. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Ohio State removing the wins from its own record.

Game summaries

Final four

National Championship

Media coverage

Television

CBS Sports

Commentary teams

Radio

Westwood One

First and Second Rounds

  • – East Region First and Second Rounds at Charlotte, North Carolina
  • – East Region First and Second Rounds at Boston, Massachusetts
  • – Midwest Region First and Second Rounds at Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • – Midwest Region First and Second Rounds at New Orleans, Louisiana
  • – South Region First and Second Rounds at Indianapolis, Indiana
  • – South Region First and Second Rounds at Orlando, Florida
  • – West Region First and Second Rounds at Denver, Colorado
  • – West Region First and Second Rounds at Seattle, Washington

Regionals

  • – East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
  • – Midwest Regional at St. Louis, Missouri
  • – South Regional at Knoxville, Tennessee
  • – West Regional at Phoenix, Arizona

Final Four and National Championship

  • Marty Brennaman and Ron Franklin – (Connecticut–Ohio State) Final Four at St. Petersburg, Florida
  • John Rooney and Bill Raftery – (Duke–Michigan State) Final Four and National Championship Game at St. Petersburg, Florida

Local Radio

<section begin="RegionSeeds" /> <section end="RegionSeeds" />

Additional notes

  • Despite their loss in the finals to Connecticut, the 1998–1999 Duke team won 37 games. 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.
  • 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.
  • This is the only tournament in which all four 7-seeds lost in the first round to their 10-seeded opponents.

Notes

See also