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American college basketball final
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
.
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
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Duke Blue Devils
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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
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- 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
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Source
[3]
Game summary
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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
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- 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
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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
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