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 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.

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]

Schedule and venues

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)

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

First and Second Rounds

• March 11 and 13
  • South Region
    • RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Butler University, Midwestern Collegiate Conference)
    • Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida (Host: Stetson University)
  • West Region
    • McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado (Hosts: Western Athletic Conference, Colorado State University)
    • KeyArena, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington)
• March 12 and 14
  • East Region
    • FleetCenter, Boston, Massachusetts (Host: Boston College)
    • Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
  • Midwest Region
    • Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Host: Marquette University)
    • Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (Host: Tulane University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• 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 (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference)
  • Midwest Regional, Trans World Dome, St. Louis, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

• March 27 and 29
  • Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida (Hosts: University of South Florida, Conference USA)

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

Listed by region and seeding