1998 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

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 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.

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-seeded 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.

Schedule and venues[]

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)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1998 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

March 12 and 14
- East Region
  - Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)
  - MCI Center, Washington, D.C. (Host: George Mason University)
- West Region
  - BSU Pavilion, Boise, Idaho (Host: Boise State University)
  - ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California (Host: University of the Pacific)
March 13 and 15
- Midwest Region
  - United Center, Chicago, Illinois (Host: Big Ten Conference)
  - Myriad Convention Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Host: University of Oklahoma)
- South Region
  - Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology)
  - Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

March 19 and 21
- East Regional, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference)
- West Regional, Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, Anaheim, California (Host: Big West Conference)
March 20 and 22
- Midwest Regional, Kiel Center, St. Louis, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)
- South Regional, Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida (Host: University of South Florida)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

March 28 and 30
- Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio)

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	22-6	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		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 Mercy	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	21–7	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^{[citation needed]}
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

References[]

^ "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.

[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.

[1]

show v t NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Tournaments	1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 ~~2020~~ 2021 2022
Structure	Selection process Venues No. 1 seeds First Four Elite Eight Final Four National Championship Game
Champions & awards	Champions Most Outstanding Player
Media & culture	Bracketology Broadcasting Tournament Final Four March Madness pools "One Shining Moment"
Records & statistics	All-time team records Bids by school Bids by school and conference Consecutive appearances Final Four appearances by school Final Four participants Final Four appearances by coach Upsets

show v t 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments
Conference	ACC America East Atlantic 10 Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA Conference USA MCC Mid-American Mid-Con Missouri Valley Northeast Patriot SEC Southern Sun Belt TAAC WAC
National	NCAA NIT

1998 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

Contents

Schedule and venues[]

Teams[]

Bids by conference[]

Bracket[]

East Regional – Greensboro, North Carolina[]

Regional Final Summary[]

West Regional – Anaheim, California[]

Regional Final Summary[]

South Regional – St. Petersburg, Florida[]

Regional Final Summary[]

Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri[]

Regional Final Summary[]

Final Four – San Antonio, Texas[]

Game Summaries[]

National Championship[]

Announcers[]

See also[]

References[]