1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game

See also: 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

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.

1999 NCAA Tournament Championship Game

National championship game
Connecticut Huskies Duke Blue Devils Big East ACC (33–2) (37–1) 77 74 Head coach: Jim Calhoun Head coach: Mike Krzyzewski
AP: 3 Coaches: 3 AP: 1 Coaches: 1
1st half 2nd half Total Connecticut Huskies 37 40 77 Duke Blue Devils 39 35 74
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)
← 1998 2000 →

UConn upset the heavily favored Blue Devils 77-74 to win their first national championship in program history, marking the start of a dynasty for the Huskies.

Participants

Duke Blue Devils

Main article: 1998–99 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team

Seeding in brackets

• East
  • (1) Duke 99, (16) Florida A&M 58
  • (1) Duke 97, (9) Tulsa 56
  • (1) Duke 78, (12) Missouri State 61
  • (1) Duke 85, (6) Temple 64
• Final Four
  • (E1) Duke 68, (MW1) Michigan State 62

^[1]

Connecticut Huskies

Main article: 1998–99 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team

• West
  • (1) Connecticut 91, (16) UTSA 66
  • (1) Connecticut 78, (9) New Mexico 56
  • (1) Connecticut 78, (5) Iowa 68
  • (1) Connecticut 67, (10) Gonzaga 62
• Final Four
  • (W1) Connecticut 64, (S4) Ohio State 58

^[2]

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

Box score

#E1 Connecticut Huskies 77, #W1 Duke Blue Devils 74
Scoring by half: 37–39, 40–35
Pts: Richard Hamilton 27 Rebs: Ricky Moore, Kevin Freeman 8 Asts: Khalid El-Amin 4		Pts: Trajan Langdon 25 Rebs: Elton Brand 13 Asts: William Avery 5

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

Trajon Langdon committed a traveling violation with 5.4 seconds left with Duke trailing UConn 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 the Huskies their first national championship.

Game notes

• In the national championship game, UConn 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 vacate 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.
• UConn was a 9.5 point underdog in this game, and is tied with the 1985 Villanova Wildcats for the biggest point spread underdog to ever win the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game.

Aftermath

The victory against Duke marked the start of a dynasty for the Huskies, as they would go on to win five more national championships in 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, and 2024. UConn is now tied with North Carolina for the third most national championships, trailing only Kentucky (8 titles) and UCLA (11 titles).

Despite the loss to UConn, Duke would rebound and win another national championship two years later. They would also win two more national championships in 2010 and 2015.

References

1. "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
2. "1999 NCAA basketball tournament Bracket". Databasesports.com. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
3. "Duke vs. Connecticut Box Score (Men), March 29, 1999". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
4. . Archived from the original on April 10, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2010.