The 1998–99 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1998 and concluded with the 64-team 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, whose finals were held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Connecticut Huskies earned their first national championship by defeating the Duke Blue Devils, 77–74, on March 29, 1999. They were coached by Jim Calhoun, and the NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player was Richard Hamilton.
In the 32-team 1999 National Invitation Tournament, the California Golden Bears defeated the Clemson Tigers at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Following the season, the 1999 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American Consensus First Team included Elton Brand, Mateen Cleaves, Richard Hamilton, Andre Miller and Jason Terry. The consensus second team was composed of Evan Eschmeyer, Steve Francis, Trajan Langdon, Chris Porter, and Wally Szczerbiak.
Season headlines The preseason AP All-American team was named on November 10. Richard Hamilton of Connecticut was the leading vote-getter (66 of 72 votes). The rest of the team included Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State (58 votes), Elton Brand of Duke (55), Lee Nailon of TCU (50) and Andre Miller of Utah (44).
Conference membership changes
These schools joined new conferences for the 1998–99 season.
SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference SIAC (D-II) Southwestern Athletic Conference Mid-Continent Conference Mid-American Conference Trans America Athletic Conference Southern Conference NCAA Division II Independent NCAA Division I Independent Trans America Athletic Conference Sun Belt Conference NCAA Division II Independent Mid-Continent Conference Sun Belt Conference Trans America Athletic Conference Sun Belt Conference Southland Conference Big South Conference Northeast Conference Mid-Continent Conference Discontinued athletic programs Northeast-10 Conference (D-II) Northeast Conference Sun Belt Conference NCAA Division I Independent
Season outlook
Pre-season polls The top 25 from the AP Poll November 6, 1998 and the ESPN/USA Today Poll November 5, 1998.
'Associated Press'RankingTeam1Duke (34)2Connecticut (25)3Stanford (12)4Kentucky (1)5Michigan State6Maryland7Temple8Kansas9Tennessee10Utah11North Carolina12UCLA13Oklahoma State14Washington15Cincinnati16Purdue17Xavier18Arizona19Arkansas 20New MexicoSyracuse22Indiana23Rhode Island24Massachusetts25TCU ESPN/USA Today CoachesRankingTeam1Duke (22)2Stanford (3)3Connecticut (4)4Michigan State5Maryland6Kentucky (1)7Temple8Kansas9Tennessee10Xavier11North Carolina12Utah13UCLA14Washington15Cincinnati16Purdue17Indiana18Oklahoma State19Arkansas20Arizona21New Mexico22Syracuse23Massachusetts24TCU25Rhode Island
Regular season Conferences Conference winners and tournaments Twenty-eight conferences concluded their seasons with a single-elimination tournament, with only the Ivy League and Pacific-10 Conference choosing not to conduct conference tournaments. Most conference tournament winners received an automatic bid to the 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.