See also: 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
| 1999 NCAA Tournament Championship Game | |
| Type: | ncg |
| Date: | March 29, 1999 |
| Year: | 1998-99 |
| Visitor School: | University of Connecticut |
| Visitor Name Short: | Connecticut |
| Visitor Nickname: | Huskies |
| Visitor Record: | 33–2 |
| Visitor Conference: | Big East |
| Visitor Ap: | 3 |
| Visitor Coaches: | 3 |
| Visitor Coach: | Jim Calhoun |
| Visitor Per1: | 37 |
| Visitor Per2: | 40 |
| Home School: | Duke University |
| Home Name Short: | Duke |
| Home Nickname: | Blue Devils |
| Home Record: | 37–1 |
| Home Conference: | ACC |
| Home Ap: | 1 |
| Home Coaches: | 1 |
| Home Coach: | Mike Krzyzewski |
| Home Per1: | 39 |
| Home Per2: | 35 |
| Arena: | Tropicana Field |
| City: | St. Petersburg, Florida |
| Attendance: | 41,340 |
| Referee: | Tim Higgins, Gerald Boudreaux, Scott Thornley |
| Mvp: | Richard Hamilton, Connecticut |
| Odds: | Duke by 9.5 |
| Us Network: | CBS |
| Us Announcers: | Jim Nantz (play-by-play) Billy Packer (color) Bonnie Bernstein and Armen Keteyian (sideline) |
| Previous: | 1998 |
| Next: | 2000 |
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.
See main article: 1998–99 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team. Seeding in brackets
See main article: 1998–99 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team.
| Duke | Position | Connecticut | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trajan Langdon 1 | G | Ricky Moore | |||
| William Avery 1 | G | Khalid El-Amin 2 | |||
| Shane Battier 1 | F | Kevin Freeman | |||
| Chris Carrawell 2 | F | † Richard Hamilton 1 | |||
| † Elton Brand 1 | C | Jake Voskuhl 2 | |||
| † | |||||
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.
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.