1998 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

The 1998 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 12, 1998, and ended with the championship game on March 30 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. A total of 63 games were played.

1998 NCAA Division I
Men's Basketball Tournament

Season	1997–98
Teams	64
Finals site	Alamodome San Antonio, Texas
Champions	Kentucky Wildcats (7th title, 10th title game, 13th Final Four)
Runner-up	Utah Utes (2nd title game, 4th Final Four)
Semifinalists	North Carolina Tar Heels (14th Final Four) Stanford Cardinal (2nd Final Four)
Winning coach	Tubby Smith (1st title)
MOP	Jeff Sheppard (Kentucky)
Attendance	663,876
Top scorer	Michael Doleac Utah (115 points)
NCAA Division I Men's Tournaments «1997 1999»

The Final Four consisted of Kentucky, making their third consecutive Final Four, Stanford, making their first appearance since their initial Final Four run in 1942, Utah, making their fourth Final Four and first since 1966, and North Carolina, who returned for a fourteenth overall time and third in four seasons.

Kentucky won the national title, its second in three seasons and seventh overall, by defeating Utah 78–69 in the championship game.

Jeff Sheppard of Kentucky was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Kentucky came back from double-digit deficits in each of its last three games in the tournament, including a 17-point second half comeback against the Duke Blue Devils, leading to the school's fans dubbing the team the "Comeback Cats". This was Kentucky's third straight championship game appearance.

Bryce Drew led the 13th-ranked Valparaiso Crusaders to the Sweet Sixteen, including a memorable play that remains part of March Madness lore.[1]

For the second consecutive season, a #14 seed advanced from the first round; Richmond, coached by John Beilein, upset South Carolina.

For the second time in three years, a top seeded team failed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. That distinction belonged to Midwest Region #1 seed Kansas, who was defeated by #8 seed Rhode Island.

Locations

Sacramento

Boise

Oklahoma City

Chicago

Lexington

Atlanta

Washington, D.C.

Hartford

1998 first and second rounds

Anaheim

St. Louis

St. Petersburg

Greensboro

San Antonio

1998 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

First & Second Rounds

Region	Site	Venue	Host
East	Hartford, Connecticut	Hartford Civic Center	Connecticut
	Washington, D.C.	MCI Center	George Mason
Midwest	Chicago, Illinois	United Center	Big Ten Conference
	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Myriad Convention Center	Oklahoma
South	Atlanta, Georgia	Georgia Dome	Georgia Tech
	Lexington, Kentucky	Rupp Arena	Kentucky
West	Boise, Idaho	BSU Pavilion	Boise State
	Sacramento, California	ARCO Arena	Cal State Sacramento

Regional Sites and Final Four

Region	Site	Venue	Host
East	Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Coliseum	Atlantic Coast Conference
Midwest	St. Louis, Missouri	Kiel Center	Missouri Valley Conference
South	St. Petersburg, Florida	Tropicana Field	South Florida
West	Anaheim, California	Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim	Big West Conference
Final Four	San Antonio, Texas	Alamodome	UTSA

San Antonio became the 26th host city, and the Alamodome the 31st host venue, for the Final Four. The 1998 tournament saw two new cities and two new venues. For the first time ever, the tournament was held within Washington's city limits, at the new MCI Center (now Capital One Arena) downtown; all previous games in the region had been either at Cole Field House on the University of Maryland campus or at the USAir Arena in suburban Landover. The tournament also came to Orange County, California for the first time, at the Arrowhead Pond, home to the NHL's Mighty Ducks. The tournament returned to St. Louis in 1998, playing at the Kiel Center, successor venue to both Kiel Auditorium (whose site it was built on) and the St. Louis Arena. And for the first time in 45 years, the tournament was held within Chicago city limits at the United Center, successor venue to the old Chicago Stadium, which was across the street from the new venue. The tournament also marked the last appearance of the Myriad Convention Center in Oklahoma City, with future games held at the Chesapeake Energy Arena directly across the street.

Teams

East Regional – Greensboro
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Bid type
#1	North Carolina	Bill Guthridge	ACC	30–3	Automatic
#2	Connecticut	Jim Calhoun	Big East	29–4	Automatic
#3	South Carolina	Eddie Fogler	SEC	23–7	At-Large
#4	Michigan State	Tom Izzo	Big Ten	20–7	At-Large
#5	Princeton	Bill Carmody	Ivy League	26–1	Automatic
#6	Xavier	Skip Prosser	Atlantic 10	22–7	Automatic
#7	Indiana	Bob Knight	Big Ten	19–11	At-Large
#8	Charlotte	Melvin Watkins	Conference USA	19–10	At-Large
#9	UIC	Jimmy Collins	MCC	22–5	At-Large
#10	Oklahoma	Kelvin Sampson	Big 12	22–10	At-Large
#11	Washington	Bob Bender	Pac-10	18–9	At-Large
#12	UNLV	Bill Bayno	WAC	20–12	Automatic
#13	Eastern Michigan	Milton Barnes	Mid-American	20–9	Automatic
#14	Richmond	John Beilein	CAA	22–7	Automatic
#15	Fairleigh Dickinson	Tom Green	NEC	23–6	Automatic
#16	Navy	Don DeVoe	Patriot League	19–10	Automatic

West Regional – Anaheim
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Bid Type
#1	Arizona	Lute Olson	Pac-10	27–4	Automatic
#2	Cincinnati	Bob Huggins	Conference USA	26–5	Automatic
#3	Utah	Rick Majerus	WAC	25–3	At-Large
#4	Maryland	Gary Williams	ACC	19–10	At-Large
#5	Illinois	Lon Kruger	Big Ten	22–9	At-Large
#6	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	SEC	23–8	At-Large
#7	Temple	John Chaney	Atlantic 10	21–8	At-Large
#8	Tennessee	Jerry Green	SEC	20–8	At-Large
#9	Illinois State	Kevin Stallings	Missouri Valley	24–5	Automatic
#10	West Virginia	Gale Catlett	Big East	22–8	At–Large
#11	Nebraska	Danny Nee	Big 12	20–11	At–Large
#12	South Alabama	Bob Weltlich	Sun Belt	21–6	Automatic
#13	Utah State	Larry Eustachy	Big West	25–7	Automatic
#14	San Francisco	Phil Mathews	West Coast	19–10	Automatic
#15	Northern Arizona	Ben Howland	Big Sky	21–7	Automatic
#16	Nicholls State	Rickey Broussard	Southland	19–9	Automatic

Midwest Regional – St. Louis
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Bid Type
#1	Kansas	Roy Williams	Big 12	34–3	Automatic
#2	Purdue	Gene Keady	Big Ten	26–7	At-Large
#3	Stanford	Mike Montgomery	Pac-10	26–4	At-Large
#4	Ole Miss	Rob Evans	SEC	22–6	At-Large
#5	TCU	Billy Tubbs	WAC	27–5	At-Large
#6	Clemson	Rick Barnes	ACC	18–13	At-Large
#7	St. John's	Fran Fraschilla	Big East	22–9	At-Large
#8	Rhode Island	Jim Harrick	Atlantic 10	22–8	At-Large
#9	Murray State	Mark Gottfried	Ohio Valley	29–3	Automatic
#10	Detroit	Perry Watson	MCC	24–5	At-Large
#11	Western Michigan	Bob Donewald	Mid-American	20–7	At-Large
#12	Florida State	Steve Robinson	ACC	17–13	At-Large
#13	Valparaiso	Homer Drew	Mid-Continent	21–9	Automatic
#14	College of Charleston	John Kresse	TAAC	24–5	Automatic
#15	Delaware	Mike Brey	America East	20–9	Automatic
#16	Prairie View A&M	Elwood Plummer	SWAC	13–16	Automatic

South Regional – St. Petersburg
Seed	School	Coach	Conference	Record	Bid Type
#1	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	ACC	29–3	At–Large
#2	Kentucky	Tubby Smith	SEC	29–4	Automatic
#3	Michigan (vacated)	Brian Ellerbe	Big Ten	24–8	Automatic
#4	New Mexico	Dave Bliss	WAC	23–7	At-Large
#5	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Big East	24–8	At-Large
#6	UCLA	Steve Lavin	Pac-10	22–8	At-Large
#7	Massachusetts	Bruiser Flint	Atlantic 10	21–10	At-Large
#8	Oklahoma State	Eddie Sutton	Big 12	21–6	At-Large
#9	George Washington	Mike Jarvis	Atlantic 10	24–8	At-Large
#10	Saint Louis	Charlie Spoonhour	Conference USA	21–10	At-Large
#11	Miami (FL)	Leonard Hamilton	Big East	18–9	At-Large
#12	Iona	Tim Welsh	MAAC	27–5	Automatic
#13	Butler	Barry Collier	MCC	22–10	Automatic
#14	Davidson	Bob McKillop	Southern	20–9	Automatic
#15	South Carolina State	Cy Alexander	MEAC	22–7	Automatic
#16	Radford	Ron Bradley	Big South	20–9	Automatic

Bids by conference

Bids by Conference
Bids	Conference(s)
5	Atlantic 10, ACC, Big Ten, Big East, SEC
4	Big 12, Pac-10, WAC
3	C-USA, MCC (Horizon League)
2	MAC
1	19 others

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East Regional – Greensboro, North Carolina

	First Round					Second Round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Final
	1	North Carolina	88
	16	Navy	52
						1	North Carolina	93
	Hartford
						8	Charlotte	83*
	8	Charlotte	77
	9	UIC	62
											1	North Carolina	73
											4	Michigan State	58
	5	Princeton	69
	12	UNLV	57
						5	Princeton	56
	Hartford
						4	Michigan State	63
	4	Michigan State	83
	13	Eastern Michigan	71
																1	North Carolina	75
																2	Connecticut	64
	6	Xavier	68
	11	Washington	69
						11	Washington	81
	Washington, D.C.
						14	Richmond	66
	3	South Carolina	61
	14	Richmond	62
											11	Washington	74
											2	Connecticut	75
	7	Indiana	94
	10	Oklahoma	87*
						7	Indiana	68
	Washington, D.C.
						2	Connecticut	78
	2	Connecticut	93
	15	Fairleigh Dickinson	85

Regional Final Summary

CBS

Saturday, March 21

#1 North Carolina Tar Heels 75, #2 Connecticut Huskies 64
Scoring by half: 36–32, 39–32
Pts: A. Jamison – 20 Rebs: A. Jamison – 11 Asts: E. Cota – 9		Pts: K. El-Amin – 24 Rebs: K. Freeman – 7 Asts: M. Hardnett – 4

Greensboro Coliseum – Greensboro, NC Attendance: 23,235 Referees: Mark Reischling, Eddie Jackson, Dick Cartmell

West Regional – Anaheim, California

	First Round					Second Round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Final
	1	Arizona	99
	16	Nicholls State	60
						1	Arizona	82
	Sacramento
						9	Illinois State	49
	8	Tennessee	81*
	9	Illinois State	82
											1	Arizona	87
											4	Maryland	79
	5	Illinois	64
	12	South Alabama	51
						5	Illinois	61
	Sacramento
						4	Maryland	67
	4	Maryland	82
	13	Utah State	68
																1	Arizona	51
																3	Utah	76
	6	Arkansas	74
	11	Nebraska	65
						6	Arkansas	69
	Boise
						3	Utah	75
	3	Utah	85
	14	San Francisco	68
											3	Utah	65
											10	West Virginia	62
	7	Temple	52
	10	West Virginia	82
						10	West Virginia	75
	Boise
						2	Cincinnati	74
	2	Cincinnati	65
	15	Northern Arizona	62

Regional Final Summary

CBS

Saturday, March 21

box score

#3 Utah Utes 76, #1 Arizona Wildcats 51
Scoring by half: 29–20, 47–31
Pts: A. Miller – 18 Rebs: A. Miller – 14 Asts: A. Miller – 13		Pts: J. Terry – 16 Rebs: B. Davison – 10 Asts: M. Simon – 4

Arrowhead Pond – Anaheim, CA Attendance: 17,851 Referees: Gerald Boudreaux, Tony Greene, Tom Rucker

South Regional – St. Petersburg, Florida

	First Round					Second Round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Final
	1	Duke	99
	16	Radford	63
						1	Duke	79
	Lexington
						8	Oklahoma State	73
	8	Oklahoma State	74
	9	George Washington	59
											1	Duke	80
											5	Syracuse	67
	5	Syracuse	63
	12	Iona	61
						5	Syracuse	56
	Lexington
						4	New Mexico	46
	4	New Mexico	79
	13	Butler	62
																1	Duke	84
																2	Kentucky	86
	6	UCLA	65
	11	Miami (FL)	62
						6	UCLA	85
	Atlanta
						3	Michigan	82
	3	Michigan	80
	14	Davidson	61
											6	UCLA	68
											2	Kentucky	94
	7	Massachusetts	46
	10	Saint Louis	51
						10	Saint Louis	61
	Atlanta
						2	Kentucky	88
	2	Kentucky	82
	15	South Carolina State	67

Regional Final Summary

CBS

Sunday, March 22

box score

#2 Kentucky Wildcats 86, #1 Duke Blue Devils 84
Scoring by half: 39–49, 47–35
Pts: J. Sheppard – 18 Rebs: H. Evans, J. Sheppard – 11 Asts: W. Turner – 8		Pts: R. McLeod – 19 Rebs: R. McLeod, S. Battier – 8 Asts: S. Wojciechowski, T. Langdon – 4

Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, FL Attendance: 40,589 Referees: Tom Harrington, Mike Sanzere, Curtis Shaw

Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri

	First Round					Second Round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Final
	1	Kansas	110
	16	Prairie View A&M	52
						1	Kansas	75
	Oklahoma City
						8	Rhode Island	80
	8	Rhode Island	97
	9	Murray State	74
											8	Rhode Island	74
											13	Valparaiso	68
	5	TCU	87
	12	Florida State	96
						12	Florida State	77*
	Oklahoma City
						13	Valparaiso	83
	4	Ole Miss	69
	13	Valparaiso	70
																8	Rhode Island	77
																3	Stanford	79
	6	Clemson	72
	11	Western Michigan	75
						11	Western Michigan	65
	Chicago
						3	Stanford	83
	3	Stanford	67
	14	College of Charleston	57
											3	Stanford	67
											2	Purdue	59
	7	St. John's	64
	10	Detroit	66
						10	Detroit	65
	Chicago
						2	Purdue	80
	2	Purdue	95
	15	Delaware	56

Regional Final Summary

CBS

Sunday, March 22

box score

#3 Stanford Cardinal 79, #8 Rhode Island 77
Scoring by half: 38–38, 41–39
Pts: A. Lee – 26 Rebs: T. Young – 12 Asts: A. Lee – 7		Pts: T. Wheeler – 24 Rebs: A. Reynolds-Dean – 10 Asts: T. Wheeler – 5

Kiel Center – St. Louis, MO Attendance: 22,172 Referees: Frank Scagliotta, Mike Kitts, Larry Rose

Final Four – San Antonio, Texas

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	E1	North Carolina	59
	W3	Utah	65
						W3	Utah	69
						S2	Kentucky	78
	S2	Kentucky	86
	M3	Stanford	85*

Game Summaries

CBS

Saturday, March 28

box score

#2 Kentucky Wildcats 86, #3 Stanford Cardinal 85 (OT)
Scoring by half: 32–37, 41–36 Overtime: 13–12
Pts: J. Sheppard – 27 Rebs: J.Sheppard, H. Evans, S. Padgett – 6 Asts: J. Sheppard, W. Turner – 4		Pts: A. Lee – 26 Rebs: M. Madsen – 16 Asts: A. Lee – 5

Alamodome – San Antonio, TX Attendance: 40,509 Referees: Tim Higgins, Bob Donato, Larry Rose

CBS

Saturday, March, 28

box score

#3 Utah Utes 65, #1 North Carolina Tar Heels 59
Scoring by half: 35–22, 30–37
Pts: M. Doleac, A. Miller – 16 Rebs: A. Miller – 14 Asts: A. Miller – 7		Pts: V. Carter – 21 Rebs: A. Jamison – 12 Asts: E. Cota – 7

Alamodome – San Antonio, TX Attendance: 40,509 Referees: John Clougherty, Andre Pattillo, Don Rutledge

National Championship

CBS

Monday, March 30

Box score

#2 Kentucky Wildcats 78, #3 Utah Utes 69
Scoring by half: 31–41, 47–28
Pts: S. Padgett – 17 Rebs: H. Evans – 6 Asts: A. Edwards – 5		Pts: A. Miller – 16 Rebs: M. Doleac – 10 Asts: A. Miller – 5

Alamodome – San Antonio, TX Attendance: 40,509 Referees: Jim Burr, Donnie Gray, Mike Sanzere

Announcers

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer – First & Second Round at Atlanta, Georgia; South Regional at St. Petersburg, Florida; Final Four at San Antonio, Texas
• Sean McDonough and Bill Raftery – First & Second Round at Washington, D.C.; East Regional at Greensboro, North Carolina
• Gus Johnson and Jon Sundvold – First & Second Round at Hartford, Connecticut; West Regional at Anaheim, California
• Tim Brando and Al McGuire – First & Second Round at Lexington, Kentucky; Midwest Regional at St. Louis, Missouri
• Ted Robinson and Rolando Blackman – First & Second Round at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Jim Durham and Greg Kelser – First & Second Round at Boise, Idaho
• Tim Ryan and Dan Bonner – First & Second Round at Chicago, Illinois
• Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel – First & Second Round at Sacramento, California

See also

• 1998 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1998 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1998 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
• 1998 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
• 1998 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament
• 1998 National Invitation Tournament
• 1998 Women's National Invitation Tournament
• 1998 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1998 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1998 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
• 1998 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament

References

1. "NCAA honors all-time greats as part of 75 years of March Madness celebration". NCAA. December 11, 2012. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2018.