| National championship game | |||||||||||||
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| Date | March 29, 1999 | ||||||||||||
| Venue | Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida | ||||||||||||
| MVP | Richard Hamilton, Connecticut | ||||||||||||
| Favorite | Duke by 9.5 | ||||||||||||
| Referees | Tim Higgins, Gerald Boudreaux, Scott Thornley | ||||||||||||
| Attendance | 41,340 | ||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||
| Network | CBS | ||||||||||||
| Announcers | Jim Nantz (play-by-play) Billy Packer (color) Bonnie Bernstein and Armen Keteyian (sideline) | ||||||||||||
The 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the finals of the 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and it determined the national champion for the 1998-99 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The game was played on March 29, 1999, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida and featured the East Regional Champion, #1-seeded Duke against the West Regional Champion, #1-seeded Connecticut.
Participants
Duke
Seeding in brackets
- East
- Duke (1) 99, Florida A&M (16) 58
- Duke 97, Tulsa (9) 56
- Duke 78, Missouri State (12) 61
- Duke 85, Temple (6) 64
- Final Four
- Duke 68, Michigan State 62
Connecticut
- West Regional
- Connecticut (1) 91, UTSA 66
- Connecticut 78, New Mexico 56
- Connecticut 78, Iowa 68
- Connecticut 67, Gonzaga 62
- Final Four
- Connecticut 64, Ohio State 58
Starting lineups
| Duke | Position | Connecticut | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trajan Langdon 1 | G | Ricky Moore | ||
| William Avery 1 | G | Khalid El-Amin 2 | ||
| Shane Battier 1 | F | Kevin Freeman | ||
| Chris Carrawell 2 | F | † Richard Hamilton 1 | ||
| † Elton Brand 1 | C | Jake Voskuhl 2 | ||
| † 1999 Consensus First Team All-American | ||||
| Players selected in an NBA draft (number indicates round) | ||||
Source[3]
Game summary
CBS
|
March 29
9:00 pm |
| #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 |
Trajon Langdon committed a traveling violation with 5.4 seconds left with his Duke Blue Devils trailing the UConn Huskies by one, 75-74. Khalid El-Amin was immediately fouled, and he made both free throws to put the Huskies up by three points. The Blue Devils, who were out of timeouts, had a final chance to tie the game and force overtime, but Langdon, one of college basketball's best three-point shooters, was unable to get off a shot in the final seconds when he got triple-teamed and fell to the floor, and UConn escaped with a 77-74 victory, giving Jim Calhoun's Huskies their first national championship.
Game notes
- 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 2011-2012 and in 2014-2015 (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).[4]
- The 1999 National Championship game 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.
- Connecticut was a 9.5 point underdog in this game, and is the biggest point spread underdog to ever win the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game.
References
- ^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
- ^ "1999 NCAA basketball tournament Bracket". Databasesports.com. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ^ "Duke vs. Connecticut Box Score (Men), March 29, 1999". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
- ^ "Gold Sheet College Basketball Log". Archived from the original on April 10, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
This page was last edited on 9 April 2024, at 19:57