The 1999–2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 11, 1999, with the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game on April 3, 2000, at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Season headlines The Mountain West Conference began play, with eight original members. The preseason AP All-American team was named on November 10. Chris Porter of Auburn was the leading vote-getter (53 of 65 votes). The rest of the team included Quentin Richardson of DePaul (46 votes), Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State (44), Scoonie Penn of Ohio State (44) and Terence Morris of Maryland (30).Mateen Cleaves Named Associated Press Preseason All-America , Michigan State Spartans, retrieved 2010-07-29 David Webber scored 51 points for on February 24, 2000, against Ball State. The total was the highest single-game point total of the season in regulation (second only to Eddie House, who had 61 points in a double-overtime game to tie Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Pacific-10 Conference record). The tally broke Larry Bird's 1977 McGuirk Arena single-game record performance of 45 points. Cincinnati was 28–2 and had been arguably the best team in the country when Player of the Year Kenyon Martin had a season-ending leg fracture three minutes into their first-round Conference USA tournament game against Saint Louis. The Bearcats lost that game and gave the NCAA Tournament selection committee a difficult decision to make about seeding. Ultimately, the Bearcats were made a No. 2 seed in the 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and lost in the second round to Tulsa. Head coach Tom Izzo led Michigan State to its second national championship behind the play of the "Flintstones," a trio of players from Flint, Michigan. Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson and Charlie Bell led the Spartans to an 89–76 win over Florida, with Cleaves named Final Four Most Outstanding Player and Peterson also making the All-Tournament team.State Of Siege, Sports Illustrated, retrieved 2010-08-02
Rules changes On uniforms, the use of the single-digit numbers "1" and "2" as player numbers was once again permitted. Their use had been prohibited since the 1957–58 season.
Season outlook
Pre-season polls The top 25 from the AP Poll November 9, 1999 and the ESPN/USA Today Poll November 4, 1999. Associated PressRankingTeam1Connecticut (21)2Cincinnati (19)3Michigan State (20)4Auburn (4)5Ohio State (3)6North Carolina (3)7Temple (2)8Florida9Arizona10Duke11Kansas12UCLA13Stanford14Kentucky15Utah16Illinois17Syracuse18St. John's19Tennessee20DePaul21Texas22Oklahoma State23Purdue24Gonzaga25Miami (FL) ESPN/USA Today CoachesRankingTeam1Connecticut (9)2Michigan State (8)3Cincinnati (8)4Auburn5North Carolina (2)6Ohio State (2)7Temple8Florida9Arizona10Duke11Kansas12Kentucky13Stanford14UCLA15Utah16Tennessee17Syracuse18Illinois19St. John's20DePaul21Purdue22Texas23Maryland24Miami (FL)25Oklahoma State
Conference membership changes
These schools joined new conferences for the 1999–2000 season.
SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference Western Athletic Conference Mountain West Conference NECC (D-II) NCAA Division I independent NCAA Division II independent NCAA Division I independent Western Athletic Conference Mountain West Conference Trans America Athletic Conference NCAA Division I independent Western Athletic Conference Mountain West Conference NCAA Division I independent Sun Belt Conference NCAA Division II independent Big South Conference NCAA Division II independent Big South Conference Western Athletic Conference Mountain West Conference Western Athletic Conference Mountain West Conference NECC (D-II) Northeast Conference Western Athletic Conference Mountain West Conference NECC (D-II) NCAA Division I independent Western Athletic Conference Mountain West Conference Western Athletic Conference Mountain West Conference
Regular season Conferences Conference winners and tournaments
Twenty-nine conferences concluded their seasons with a single-elimination tournament, with only the Ivy League and the Pacific-10 Conference choosing not to conduct conference tournaments. Conference tournament winners generally received an automatic bid to the 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The Mountain West Conference (MWC) began operation in 1999-2000 and its tournament winner did not receive an automatic bid, although UNLV, the winner of the inaugural MWC tournament, did receive an at-large bid.