1988 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

1988 NCAA Division I
Men's Basketball Tournament
Season	1987–88
Teams	64
Finals site	Kemper Arena; Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Kansas Jayhawks (2nd title, 5th title game,; 8th Final Four)
Runner-up	Oklahoma Sooners (2nd title game,; 3rd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Arizona Wildcats (1st Final Four); Duke Blue Devils (6th Final Four);
Winning coach	Larry Brown (1st title)
MOP	Danny Manning (Kansas)
Attendance	558,998
Top scorer	Danny Manning Kansas; (163 points)
NCAA Division I Men's Tournaments
«1987	1989»

The 1988 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 50th annual edition of the tournament began on March 17, 1988, and ended with the championship game on April 4 returning to Kansas City, Missouri for the 10th time. A total of 63 games were played.

Kansas, coached by Larry Brown, won the national title with an 83–79 victory in the final game over Big Eight Conference rival Oklahoma, coached by Billy Tubbs. As of 2018, this was the last national championship game to feature two schools from the same conference. Danny Manning of Kansas was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Even though the Final Four was contested 40 miles (64 km) from its campus in Lawrence, Kansas, Kansas was considered a long shot against the top rated Sooners because Oklahoma had previously defeated the Jayhawks twice by 8 points that season—at home in Norman, Oklahoma and on the road in Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas's upset was the third biggest point-spread upset in Championship Game history. After this upset, the 1988 Kansas team was remembered as "Danny and the Miracles."

This was the first NCAA Tournament which barred teams from playing on their home courts, or in any facility in which it played four or more regular season games. The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee made this change after each of the previous two Final Fours featured a team which played its first and second round games at home: LSU in 1986 (as a No. 11 seed) and Syracuse in 1987.

The team which was arguably hurt the most by the change was North Carolina, whose Dean Smith Center hosted for the first (and as of 2022, only) time. The Tar Heels were a No. 2 seed, but with the hosting ban now in effect, they were shipped to the West, where they were routed in the regional final by top seed Arizona. Archrival Duke was the No. 2 seed in the East and won its first two games at Chapel Hill on its way to the Final Four.

Schedule and venues[]

Atlanta

South Bend

Cincinnati

Hartford

Lincoln

Chapel Hill

Los Angeles

Salt Lake City

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1988 first and second rounds

Seattle

Pontiac

Birmingham

E. Rutherford

Kansas City

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1988 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1988 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

March 17 and 19
- East Region
  - Dean Smith Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- Midwest Region
  - Edmund P. Joyce Center, South Bend, Indiana
- Southeast Region
  - Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia
- West Region
  - Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
March 18 and 20
- East Region
  - Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut
- Midwest Region
  - Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, Nebraska
- Southeast Region
  - Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio
- West Region
  - Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

March 24 and 26
- East Regional, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey
- Southeast Regional, BJCC Coliseum, Birmingham, Alabama
March 25 and 27
- Midwest Regional, Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan
- West Regional, Kingdome, Seattle, Washington

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

April 2 and 4
- Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City returned as Final Four host for the first time since 1964, with Kemper Arena becoming the 25th arena to host it. 1988 saw two new host locations, in Chapel Hill, part of the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area, and Pontiac, in suburban Detroit, which had never hosted games beforehand. The Silverdome became the seventh domed stadium to host tournament games. This would be the only appearance in the tournament for the Dean Smith Center, and would also be the last year hosting for Pauley Pavilion, the Joyce Center and Bob Devaney Sports Center (all tournament games in Nebraska since 1988 have been played at CHI Health Center Omaha; if the tournament ever returns to Lincoln, games would be played at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Teams[]

A ticket from the tournament's Final Four

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final opponent	Score
East
East	1	Temple	John Chaney	Regional Runner-up	2 Duke	L 63–53
East	2	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	National Semifinals	6 Kansas	L 66–59
East	3	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Round of 32	11 Rhode Island	L 97–94
East	4	Indiana	Bob Knight	Round of 64	13 Richmond	L 72–69
East	5	Georgia Tech	Bobby Cremins	Round of 32	13 Richmond	L 59–55
East	6	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Round of 64	11 Rhode Island	L 87–80
East	7	SMU	Dave Bliss	Round of 32	2 Duke	L 94–79
East	8	Georgetown	John Thompson	Round of 32	1 Temple	L 74–53
East	9	LSU	Dale Brown	Round of 64	8 Georgetown	L 66–63
East	10	Notre Dame	Digger Phelps	Round of 64	7 SMU	L 83–75
East	11	Rhode Island	Tom Penders	Sweet Sixteen	2 Duke	L 73–72
East	12	Iowa State	Johnny Orr	Round of 64	5 Georgia Tech	L 90–78
East	13	Richmond	Dick Tarrant	Sweet Sixteen	1 Temple	L 69–47
East	14	North Carolina A&T	Don Corbett	Round of 64	3 Syracuse	L 69–55
East	15	Boston University	Mike Jarvis	Round of 64	2 Duke	L 85–69
East	16	Lehigh	Fran McCaffery	Round of 64	1 Temple	L 87–73
Midwest
Midwest	1	Purdue	Gene Keady	Sweet Sixteen	4 Kansas State	L 73–70
Midwest	2	Pittsburgh	Paul Evans	Round of 32	7 Vanderbilt	L 80–74
Midwest	3	NC State	Jim Valvano	Round of 64	14 Murray State	L 78–75
Midwest	4	Kansas State	Lon Kruger	Regional Runner-up	6 Kansas	L 71–58
Midwest	5	DePaul	Joey Meyer	Round of 32	4 Kansas State	L 66–58
Midwest	6	Kansas	Larry Brown	Champion	1 Oklahoma	W 83–79
Midwest	7	Vanderbilt	C. M. Newton	Sweet Sixteen	6 Kansas	L 77–64
Midwest	8	Baylor	Gene Iba	Round of 64	9 Memphis State	L 75–60
Midwest	9	Memphis State	Larry Finch	Round of 32	1 Purdue	L 100–73
Midwest	10	Utah State		Round of 64	7 Vanderbilt	L 80–77
Midwest	11	Xavier	Pete Gillen	Round of 64	6 Kansas	L 85–72
Midwest	12	Wichita State	Eddie Fogler	Round of 64	5 DePaul	L 83–62
Midwest	13	La Salle	Speedy Morris	Round of 64	4 Kansas State	L 66–53
Midwest	14	Murray State	Steve Newton	Round of 32	6 Kansas	L 61–58
Midwest	15	Eastern Michigan	Ben Braun	Round of 64	2 Pittsburgh	L 108–90
Midwest	16	Fairleigh Dickinson	Tom Green	Round of 64	1 Purdue	L 94–79
Southeast
Southeast	1	Oklahoma	Billy Tubbs	Runner Up	6 Kansas	L 83–79
Southeast	2	Kentucky (Vacated)	Eddie Sutton	Sweet Sixteen#	6 Villanova	L 80–74
Southeast	3	Illinois	Lou Henson	Round of 32	6 Villanova	L 66–63
Southeast	4	BYU	LaDell Andersen	Round of 32	5 Louisville	L 97–76
Southeast	5	Louisville	Denny Crum	Sweet Sixteen	1 Oklahoma	L 108–98
Southeast	6	Villanova	Rollie Massimino	Regional Runner-up	1 Oklahoma	L 78–59
Southeast	7	Maryland	Bob Wade	Round of 32	2 Kentucky	L 90–81
Southeast	8	Auburn	Sonny Smith	Round of 32	1 Oklahoma	L 107–87
Southeast	9	Bradley	Stan Albeck	Round of 64	8 Auburn	L 90–86
Southeast	10	UC Santa Barbara	Jerry Pimm	Round of 64	7 Maryland	L 92–82
Southeast	11	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	Round of 64	6 Villanova	L 82–74
Southeast	12	Oregon State	Ralph Miller	Round of 64	5 Louisville	L 70–61
Southeast	13	Charlotte	Jeff Mullins	Round of 64	4 BYU	L 98–92
Southeast	14	UTSA	Ken Burmeister	Round of 64	3 Illinois	L 81–72
Southeast	15	Southern	Ben Jobe	Round of 64	2 Kentucky	L 99–84
Southeast	16	Chattanooga	Mack McCarthy	Round of 64	1 Oklahoma	L 94–66
West
West	1	Arizona	Lute Olson	National Semifinals	1 Oklahoma	L 86–78
West	2	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Regional Runner-up	1 Arizona	L 70–52
West	3	Michigan	Bill Frieder	Sweet Sixteen	2 North Carolina	L 78–69
West	4	UNLV	Jerry Tarkanian	Round of 32	5 Iowa	L 104–86
West	5	Iowa	Tom Davis	Sweet Sixteen	1 Arizona	L 99–79
West	6	Florida	Norm Sloan	Round of 32	3 Michigan	L 108–85
West	7	Wyoming	Benny Dees	Round of 64	10 Loyola Marymount	L 119–115
West	8	Seton Hall	P.J. Carlesimo	Round of 32	1 Arizona	L 84–55
West	9	UTEP	Don Haskins	Round of 64	8 Seton Hall	L 80–64
West	10	Loyola Marymount	Paul Westhead	Round of 32	2 North Carolina	L 123–97
West	11	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	Round of 64	6 Florida	L 62–59
West	12	Florida State	Pat Kennedy	Round of 64	5 Iowa	L 102–98
West	13	Southwest Missouri State	Charlie Spoonhour	Round of 64	4 UNLV	L 54–50
West	14	Boise State	Bobby Dye	Round of 64	3 Michigan	L 63–58
West	15	North Texas State		Round of 64	2 North Carolina	L 83–65
West	16	Cornell	Mike Dement	Round of 64	1 Arizona	L 90–50

(#) Kentucky was later stripped of its two NCAA tournament wins due to an ineligible player.

Bracket[]

* – Denotes overtime period

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey[]

First round			Second round			Regional Semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Temple	87

16	Lehigh	73
			1	Temple	74
Hartford
			8	Georgetown	53
8	Georgetown	66

9	LSU	63
						1	Temple	69

						13	Richmond	47
5	Georgia Tech	90

12	Iowa State	78
			5	Georgia Tech	55
Hartford
			13	Richmond	59
4	Indiana	69

13	Richmond	72
									1	Temple	53

									2	Duke	63
6	Missouri	80

11	Rhode Island	87
			11	Rhode Island	97
Chapel Hill
			3	Syracuse	94
3	Syracuse	69

14	North Carolina A&T	55
						11	Rhode Island	72

						2	Duke	73
7	SMU	83

10	Notre Dame	75
			7	SMU	79
Chapel Hill
			2	Duke	94
2	Duke	85

15	Boston University	69

Midwest Regional – Pontiac, Michigan[]

First round			Second round			Regional Semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Purdue	94

16	Fairleigh Dickinson	79
			1	Purdue	100
South Bend
			9	Memphis	73
8	Baylor	60

9	Memphis	75
						1	Purdue	70

						4	Kansas State	73
5	DePaul	83

12	Wichita State	62
			5	DePaul	58
South Bend
			4	Kansas State	66
4	Kansas State	66

13	La Salle	53
									4	Kansas State	58

									6	Kansas	71
6	Kansas	85

11	Xavier	72
			6	Kansas	61
Lincoln
			14	Murray State	58
3	NC State	75

14	Murray State	78
						6	Kansas	77

						7	Vanderbilt	64
7	Vanderbilt	80

10	Utah State	77
			7	Vanderbilt	80
Lincoln
			2	Pittsburgh	74*
2	Pittsburgh	108

15	Eastern Michigan	90

Southeast Regional – Birmingham, Alabama[]

First round			Second round			Regional Semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Oklahoma	94

16	Chattanooga	66
			1	Oklahoma	107
Atlanta
			8	Auburn	87
8	Auburn	90

9	Bradley	86
						1	Oklahoma	108

						5	Louisville	98
5	Louisville	70

12	Oregon State	61
			5	Louisville	97
Atlanta
			4	BYU	76
4	BYU	98

13	Charlotte	92*
									1	Oklahoma	78

									6	Villanova	59
6	Villanova	82

11	Arkansas	74
			6	Villanova	66
Cincinnati
			3	Illinois	63
3	Illinois	81

14	UTSA	72
						6	Villanova	80

						2	Kentucky	74
7	Maryland	92

10	UC Santa Barbara	82
			7	Maryland	81
Cincinnati
			2	Kentucky#	90
2	Kentucky#	99

15	Southern	84

(#) Kentucky was later stripped of its two NCAA tournament wins due to an ineligible player.

West Regional – Seattle, Washington[]

First round			Second round			Regional Semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Arizona	90

16	Cornell	50
			1	Arizona	84
Los Angeles
			8	Seton Hall	55
8	Seton Hall	80

9	UTEP	64
						1	Arizona	99

						5	Iowa	79
5	Iowa	102

12	Florida State	98
			5	Iowa	104
Los Angeles
			4	UNLV	86
4	UNLV	54

13	Southwest Missouri State	50
									1	Arizona	70

									2	North Carolina	52
6	Florida	62

11	St. John's	59
			6	Florida	85
Salt Lake City
			3	Michigan	108
3	Michigan	63

14	Boise State	58
						3	Michigan	69

						2	North Carolina	78
7	Wyoming	115

10	Loyola Marymount	119
			10	Loyola Marymount	97
Salt Lake City
			2	North Carolina	123
2	North Carolina	83

15	North Texas State	65

Final Four – Kansas City, Missouri[]

National Semifinals			National Championship Game

E2	Duke	59

M6	Kansas	66
			M6	Kansas	83

			S1	Oklahoma	79
S1	Oklahoma	86

W1	Arizona	78

Game summaries[]

Final Four
April 2

Box Score

Kansas Jayhawks 66, Duke Blue Devils 59
Scoring by half: 38-27, 28-32
Pts: Danny Manning 25 Rebs: Danny Manning 10 Asts: Kevin Pritchard 5		Pts: Danny Ferry 19 Rebs: Danny Ferry 12 Asts: Quin Snyder 5
Kansas advances to Championship Game

Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 16,392