1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1998 Final Four logo
Season	1997–98
Teams	64
Finals site	Alamodome San Antonio
Champions	Kentucky (7th title)
Runner-up	Utah (2nd title game)
Semifinalists	North Carolina (14th Final Four) Stanford (2nd Final Four)
Winning coach	Tubby Smith (1st title)
MOP	Jeff Sheppard Kentucky
Attendance	663,876
Top scorer	Michael Doleac Utah (115 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «1997  1999»

The 1998 NCAA Men's Division I 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, Texas. A total of 63 games were played.

Kentucky, coached by Tubby Smith, won the national title with a 78–69 victory in the final game over Utah, coached by Rick Majerus. 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 Blue Devils of Duke, leading to the school's fans dubbing the team the "Comeback Cats". This was Kentucky's third straight championship game appearance.

Locations

• Atlanta, Georgia (Georgia Dome)
• Boise, Idaho (BSU Pavilion)
• Chicago, Illinois (United Center)
• Hartford, Connecticut (Hartford Civic Center)
• Lexington, Kentucky (Rupp Arena)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Myriad Convention Center)
• Sacramento, California (Arco Arena)
• Washington, D.C. (MCI Center)

Later Rounds

Region	Site
East	Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro Coliseum)
Midwest	St. Louis, Missouri (Kiel Center)
South	St. Petersburg, Florida (Tropicana Field)
West	Anaheim, California (Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim)
Finals	San Antonio, Texas (Alamodome)

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final opponent	Score
East
East	1	North Carolina	Bill Guthridge	National Semifinals	3 Utah	L 65–59
East	2	Connecticut	Jim Calhoun	Regional Runner-up	1 North Carolina	L 75–64
East	3	South Carolina	Eddie Fogler	Round of 64	14 Richmond	L 62–61
East	4	Michigan State	Tom Izzo	Sweet Sixteen	1 North Carolina	L 73–58
East	5	Princeton	Bill Carmody	Round of 32	4 Michigan State	L 63–56
East	6	Xavier	Skip Prosser	Round of 64	11 Washington	L 69–68
East	7	Indiana	Bob Knight	Round of 32	2 Connecticut	L 78–68
East	8	Charlotte	Melvin Watkins	Round of 32	1 North Carolina	L 93–83
East	9	UIC	Jimmy Collins	Round of 64	8 Charlotte	L 77–62
East	10	Oklahoma	Kelvin Sampson	Round of 64	7 Indiana	L 94–87
East	11	Washington	Bob Bender	Sweet Sixteen	2 Connecticut	L 75–74
East	12	UNLV	Bill Bayno	Round of 64	5 Princeton	L 69–57
East	13	Eastern Michigan	Milton Barnes	Round of 64	4 Michigan State	L 83–71
East	14	Richmond	John Beilein	Round of 32	11 Washington	L 87–66
East	15	Fairleigh Dickinson	Tom Green	Round of 64	2 Connecticut	L 93–85
East	16	Navy	Don DeVoe	Round of 64	1 North Carolina	L 88–52
Midwest
Midwest	1	Kansas	Roy Williams	Round of 32	8 Rhode Island	L 80–75
Midwest	2	Purdue	Gene Keady	Sweet Sixteen	3 Stanford	L 67–59
Midwest	3	Stanford	Mike Montgomery	National Semifinals	2 Kentucky	L 86–85
Midwest	4	Ole Miss	Rob Evans	Round of 64	13 Valparaiso	L 70–69
Midwest	5	Texas Christian	Billy Tubbs	Round of 64	12 Florida State	L 96–87
Midwest	6	Clemson	Rick Barnes	Round of 64	11 Western Michigan	L 75–72
Midwest	7	St. John's	Fran Fraschilla	Round of 64	10 Detroit	L 66–64
Midwest	8	Rhode Island	Jim Harrick	Regional Runner-up	3 Stanford	L 79–77
Midwest	9	Murray State	Mark Gottfried	Round of 64	8 Rhode Island	L 97–74
Midwest	10	Detroit	Perry Watson	Round of 32	2 Purdue	L 80–65
Midwest	11	Western Michigan	Bob Donewald	Round of 32	3 Stanford	L 83–65
Midwest	12	Florida State	Steve Robinson	Round of 32	13 Valparaiso	L 83–77
Midwest	13	Valparaiso	Homer Drew	Sweet Sixteen	8 Rhode Island	L 74–68
Midwest	14	College of Charleston	John Kresse	Round of 64	3 Stanford	L 67–57
Midwest	15	Delaware	Mike Brey	Round of 64	2 Purdue	L 95–56
Midwest	16	Prairie View	Elwood Plummer	Round of 64	1 Kansas	L 110–52
South
South	1	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Regional Runner-up	2 Kentucky	L 86–84
South	2	Kentucky	Tubby Smith	Champion	3 Utah	W 78–69
South	3	Michigan	Brian Ellerbe	Round of 32	6 UCLA	L 85–82
South	4	New Mexico	Dave Bliss	Round of 32	5 Syracuse	L 56–46
South	5	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Sweet Sixteen	1 Duke	L 80–67
South	6	UCLA	Steve Lavin	Sweet Sixteen	2 Kentucky	L 94–68
South	7	Massachusetts	Bruiser Flint	Round of 64	10 Saint Louis	L 51–46
South	8	Oklahoma State	Eddie Sutton	Round of 32	1 Duke	L 79–73
South	9	George Washington	Mike Jarvis	Round of 64	8 Oklahoma State	L 74–59
South	10	Saint Louis	Charlie Spoonhour	Round of 32	2 Kentucky	L 88–61
South	11	Miami, Florida	Leonard Hamilton	Round of 64	6 UCLA	L 65–62
South	12	Iona	Tim Welsh	Round of 64	5 Syracuse	L 63–61
South	13	Butler	Barry Collier	Round of 64	4 New Mexico	L 79–62
South	14	Davidson	Bob McKillop	Round of 64	3 Michigan	L 80–61
South	15	South Carolina State	Cy Alexander	Round of 64	2 Kentucky	L 82–67
South	16	Radford	Ron Bradley	Round of 64	1 Duke	L 99–63
West
West	1	Arizona	Lute Olson	Regional Runner-up	3 Utah	L 76–51
West	2	Cincinnati	Bob Huggins	Round of 32	10 West Virginia	L 75–74
West	3	Utah	Rick Majerus	Runner Up	2 Kentucky	L 78–69
West	4	Maryland	Gary Williams	Sweet Sixteen	1 Arizona	L 87–79
West	5	Illinois	Lon Kruger	Round of 32	4 Maryland	L 67–61
West	6	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	Round of 32	3 Utah	L 75–69
West	7	Temple	John Chaney	Round of 64	10 West Virginia	L 82–52
West	8	Tennessee	Jerry Green	Round of 64	9 Illinois State	L 82–81
West	9	Illinois State	Kevin Stallings	Round of 32	1 Arizona	L 82–49
West	10	West Virginia	Gale Catlett	Sweet Sixteen	3 Utah	L 65–62
West	11	Nebraska	Danny Nee	Round of 64	6 Arkansas	L 74–65
West	12	South Alabama	Bob Weltlich	Round of 64	5 Illinois	L 64–51
West	13	Utah State	Larry Eustachy	Round of 64	4 Maryland	L 82–68
West	14	San Francisco	Phil Mathews	Round of 64	3 Utah	L 85–68
West	15	Northern Arizona	Ben Howland	Round of 64	2 Cincinnati	L 65–62
West	16	Nicholls State	Rickey Broussard	Round of 64	1 Arizona	L 99–60

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, Horizon
2	MAC
1	19 others

Bracket

East region

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	North Carolina	88
	16	Navy	52
						1	North Carolina	93
						8	Charlotte	83*
	8	Charlotte	77
	9	UIC	62
											1	North Carolina	73
											4	Michigan St	58
	5	Princeton	69
	12	UNLV	57
						5	Princeton	56
						4	Michigan St	63
	4	Michigan St	83
	13	Eastern Michigan	71
																1	North Carolina	75
															2	Connecticut	64
	6	Xavier	68
	11	Washington	69
						11	Washington	81
						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
						2	Connecticut	78
	2	Connecticut	93
	15	Fairleigh Dickinson	85

West region

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Arizona	99
	16	Nicholls St	60
						1	Arizona	82
						9	Illinois St	49
	8	Tennessee	81
	9	Illinois St	82*
											1	Arizona	87
											4	Maryland	79
	5	Illinois	64
	12	South Alabama	51
						5	Illinois	61
						4	Maryland	67
	4	Maryland	82
	13	Utah St	68
																1	Arizona	51
															3	Utah	76
	6	Arkansas	74
	11	Nebraska	65
						6	Arkansas	69
						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
						2	Cincinnati	74
	2	Cincinnati	65
	15	Northern Arizona	62

South region

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Duke	99
	16	Radford	63
						1	Duke	79
						8	Oklahoma St.	73
	8	Oklahoma St.	74
	9	George Washington	59
											1	Duke	80
											5	Syracuse	67
	5	Syracuse	63
	12	Iona	61
						5	Syracuse	56
						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
						3	Michigan	82
	3	Michigan	80
	14	Davidson	61
											6	UCLA	68
											2	Kentucky	94
	7	Massachusetts	46
	10	St. Louis	51
						10	St. Louis	61
						2	Kentucky	88
	2	Kentucky	82
	15	South Carolina St.	67

Midwest region

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Kansas	110
	16	Prairie View	52
						1	Kansas	75
						8	Rhode Island	80
	8	Rhode Island	97
	9	Murray St	74
											8	Rhode Island	74
											13	Valparaiso	68
	5	TCU	87
	12	Florida St	96
						12	Florida St	77
						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
						3	Stanford	83
	3	Stanford	67
	14	College of Charleston	57
											3	Stanford	67
											2	Purdue	59
	7	St Johns	64
	10	Detroit	66
						10	Detroit	65
						2	Purdue	80
	2	Purdue	95
	15	Delaware	56

Final Four

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

Announcers

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer
• Sean McDonough and Bill Raftery
• Gus Johnson and Jon Sundvold
• Tim Brando and Al McGuire
• Ted Robinson and Rolando Blackman
• Jim Durham and Greg Kelser
• Tim Ryan and Dan Bonner
• Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel