1989–90 NCAA Division I men's basketball season explained

Year:	1989
Preseason Ap:	UNLV
Tourney Start:	March 15, 1990
Nc Date:	April 2, 1990
Champ Stad:	McNichols Sports Arena
Champ City:	Denver, Colorado
Champ:	UNLV
Nit Champ:	Vanderbilt
Playeroftheyear:	Lionel Simmons, La Salle

The 1989–90 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1989 and ended with the Final Four at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado on April 2, 1990. The UNLV Runnin' Rebels won their first NCAA national championship with a 103–73 victory over the Duke Blue Devils.

Season headlines

The Associated Press (AP) Poll expanded from a Top 20 to a Top 25 format.^[1]
In a 1990 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament semifinal game on March 4, 1990, Loyola Marymount forward Hank Gathers collapsed during the first half and stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead two hours later. The game and the rest of the tournament were cancelled. Regular-season champion Loyola Marymount received the conference's automatic bid in 1990 NCAA tournament and made a run to the Elite Eight.^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5]
Lionel Simmons became the first NCAA Division I player to score more than 3,000 points and gather more than 1,100 rebounds. The senior forward from La Salle averaged 26.5 points and 11.1 rebounds to earn National Player of the Year.

Major rule changes

Beginning in 1989–90, the following rules changes were implemented:

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The top 20 from the AP Poll and Coaches Poll during the pre-season.^[6]

Associated Press
Ranking	Team
1	UNLV
2	LSU
3	Syracuse
4	Michigan
5	Georgetown
6	Arizona
7	North Carolina
8	Illinois
9	Arkansas
10	Duke
11	Missouri
12	Louisville
13	UCLA
14	Indiana
15	Temple
16	Oklahoma
17	Notre Dame
18	Pittsburgh
19	NC State
20	Minnesota
21
22	Georgia Tech
23
24
25	St. John's

UPI Coaches
Ranking	Team
1	UNLV
2	Syracuse
3	LSU
4	Georgetown
5	Michigan
6	Arizona
7	North Carolina
8	Illinois
9	Duke
10	Arkansas
Arizona
12	Indiana
13	UCLA
14
15	Georgia Tech
16	Oklahoma
17	Temple
18	Pittsburgh
19	Notre Dame
20

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Regular season first place	Conference player of the year	Conference Coach of the Year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (city)	Tournament winner
Louisiana Tech &	Tony Harris, New Orleans		1990 American South Conference men's basketball tournament	Convocation Center Jonesboro, Arkansas	New Orleans
Temple	Kenny Green, Rhode Island	Bruce Parkhill, Penn State	1990 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament	The Palestra & Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Temple
Clemson	Dennis Scott,	Cliff Ellis, Clemson	1990 ACC men's basketball tournament	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina	Georgia Tech
Connecticut & Syracuse	Derrick Coleman, Syracuse	Jim Calhoun, Connecticut	1990 Big East men's basketball tournament	Madison Square Garden New York, New York	Connecticut
Missouri	Doug Smith, Missouri	Roy Williams, Kansas	1990 Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament	Kemper Arena Kansas City, Missouri	Oklahoma
Idaho	Riley Smith, Idaho	Bob Hofman, Eastern Washington	1990 Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament	BSU Pavilion Boise, Idaho	Idaho
Coastal Carolina	Tony Dunkin, Coastal Carolina	Russ Bergman, Coastal Carolina	1990 Big South Conference men's basketball tournament	Winthrop Coliseum Rock Hill, South Carolina	Coastal Carolina
Michigan State	Steve Scheffler, Purdue	Gene Keady, Purdue	No Tournament
UNLV	Larry Johnson, UNLV	Neil McCarthy,	1990 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament	Long Beach Arena Long Beach, California	UNLV
James Madison	Steve Hood, James Madison	Lefty Driesell, James Madison	1990 CAA men's basketball tournament	Richmond Coliseum Richmond, Virginia	Richmond
Hofstra, Lehigh, &	Kurk Lee, Towson State	Dave Duke, Lehigh	1990 East Coast Conference men's basketball tournament	Towson Center Towson, Maryland	Towson State
Princeton	Kit Mueller, Princeton	Not named	No Tournament
Louisville	Clarence Weatherspoon, Southern Mississippi	Bob Huggins, Cincinnati	1990 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament	Mississippi Coast Coliseum Biloxi, Mississippi	Louisville
	Lionel Simmons, La Salle	George Blaney, Holy Cross	1990 MAAC men's basketball tournament	Knickerbocker Arena Albany, New York	La Salle
Ball State	Dave Jamerson, Ohio	Jim McDonald, Kent State	1990 MAC men's basketball tournament	Cobo Arena Detroit, Michigan	Ball State
SW Missouri State	Lee Campbell, SW Missouri State	Dick Bennett,	1990 Mid-Continent Conference men's basketball tournament	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, Iowa	Northern Iowa
Coppin State	Larry Stewart, Coppin State	Fang Mitchell, Coppin State	1990 MEAC men's basketball tournament	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina	Coppin State
Xavier	Tyrone Hill, Xavier	Pete Gillen, Xavier	1990 Midwestern Collegiate Conference men's basketball tournament	UD Arena Dayton, Ohio	Dayton
Southern Illinois	Bob Harstad, Creighton	Rich Herrin, Southern Illinois	1990 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	Redbird Arena Normal, Illinois	Illinois State
Northeastern	Steven Key,	Mike Jarvis, Boston University	1990 North Atlantic Conference men's basketball tournament	Hartford Civic Center Hartford, Connecticut	Boston University
Robert Morris	Desi Wilson, Fairleigh Dickinson	Jarrett Durham, Robert Morris	1990 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament	Charles L. Sewall Center Moon Township, Pennsylvania	Robert Morris
Murray State	Popeye Jones, Murray State	Steve Newton, Murray State	1990 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	Racer Arena Murray, Kentucky	Murray State
Arizona & Oregon State	Gary Payton, Oregon State	Jimmy Anderson, Oregon State	1990 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament	University Activity Center Tempe, Arizona	Arizona
Georgia	Chris Jackson, LSU	Tommy Joe Eagles, Auburn	1990 SEC men's basketball tournament	Orlando Arena Orlando, Florida	Alabama
East Tennessee State	Keith Jennings, East Tennessee State, & John Taft, Marshall	Dana Altman, Marshall, & Les Robinson East Tennessee State	1990 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Asheville Civic Center Asheville, North Carolina	East Tennessee State
Northeast Louisiana	Anthony Pullard, McNeese State	Mike Vining, Northeast Louisiana	1990 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament	Fant–Ewing Coliseum Monroe, Louisiana	Northeast Louisiana
Arkansas	Travis Mays, Texas	Nolan Richardson, Arkansas	1990 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament	Reunion Arena Dallas, Texas	Arkansas
Southern	Joe Faulkner, Southern		1990 SWAC men's basketball tournament	Health and Physical Education Arena Houston, Texas	Texas Southern
UAB	Chris Gatling, Old Dominion	Bobby Paschal, South Florida	1990 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament	Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center Birmingham, Alabama	South Florida
Centenary	Larry Robinson, Centenary	Tommy Vardeman, Centenary	1990 TAAC men's basketball tournament	Barton Coliseum Little Rock, Arkansas	Arkansas–Little Rock
Loyola Marymount	Bo Kimble, Loyola Marymount	Paul Westhead, Loyola Marymount	1990 West Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament	Gersten Pavilion Los Angeles, California	Semifinals and championship canceled
BYU & Colorado State	Mike Mitchell, Colorado State	Roger Reid, BYU	1990 WAC men's basketball tournament	Special Events Center El Paso, Texas	UTEP

Statistical leaders

PPG	Player	RPG	Player	APG	Player	BPG

35.3		13.8		9.3		4.8
31.3	Eric McArthur	13.0	Aaron Mitchell	9.1		4.1
31.2		12.6		8.7		3.8
29.9		12.6		8.5		3.8
29.7	Lee Campbell	12.5		8.1	Omar Roland	3.6

Conference standings

Postseason tournaments

NCAA Tournament

See main article: 1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

National Invitation Tournament

See main article: 1990 National Invitation Tournament.

NIT Semifinals and Final

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

See main article: 1990 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans.

**Consensus First Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Derrick Coleman	F	Senior	Syracuse
Chris Jackson	G	Sophomore	Louisiana State
Larry Johnson	F	Junior	UNLV
Gary Payton	G	Senior	Oregon State
Lionel Simmons	F	Senior	La Salle

**Consensus Second Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Hank Gathers	F/C	Senior	Loyola Marymount
Kendall Gill	G	Senior	Illinois
Bo Kimble	G/F	Senior	Loyola Marymount
Alonzo Mourning	C	Sophomore	Georgetown
Rumeal Robinson	G	Senior	Michigan
Dennis Scott	F	Junior	Georgia Tech
Doug Smith	F	Junior	Missouri

Other major awards

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (Best player under 6'0): Greg "Boo" Harvey, St. John's
Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): Lionel Simmons, La Salle (3-time recipient)
NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Greg "Boo" Harvey, St. John's

Coaching changes

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

Team	Former Coach	Interim Coach	New Coach
Drake	Tom Abatemarco	Eddie Fields	Rudy Washington
Florida	Norm Sloan	Don DeVoe	Lon Kruger
Kansas State	Lon Kruger		Dana Altman
Marshall	Dana Altman		Dwight Freeman
Miami (Florida)	Bill Foster		Leonard Hamilton
Oklahoma State	Leonard Hamilton		Eddie Sutton
Virginia	Terry Holland		Jeff Jones

Notes and References

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/play-index/matchup_finder.cgi?request=1&year_min=1950&year_max=2021&school_id=georgetown&opp_id=saint-josephs&comp_school=le&rank_school=ANY&comp_opp=le&rank_opp=ANY&game_type=A&game_month=&game_location=&game_result=&is_overtime=&order_by=date_game sports-reference.com Matchup Finder
Death on the court . Sports Illustrated . Smith . Shelley . Shelley Smith (sports reporter). March 12, 1990 . 14 .
News: Loyola's Gathers dies . Spokesman-Review . (Spokane, Washington) . (Los Angeles Times) . Jones . Gary . March 5, 1990 . C1 .
News: Marymount's Gathers dies; Games halted . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Associated Press . March 5, 1990 . 1D.
Web site: The tragedy of Hank Gathers and triumph of Loyola Marymount . 13 March 2021 .
- Book: ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 976. 2009. 978-0-345-51392-2.