The 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the finals of the

2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in Single-elimination tournament, single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 20 ...

and it determined the national champion for the

1999–2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball season 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 basket ...

. The game was played on April 3, 2000, at the

RCA Dome The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons (1984–2007). It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

and matched No. 1-seeded

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

against No. 5-seeded

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The Spartans defeated the Gators, who were appearing in their first championship game, 89–76, earning the Spartans their second national championship. As of 2025, this is the last time a team from the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

won the national championship.

Participants

Florida Gators

The Gators were the SEC regular season champions, winning a share of the title with a 12–4 conference record. They earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament where they advanced to the Final Four and then made the school's first ever appearance in the NCAA championship game where they lost to Michigan State.

Michigan State Spartans

The Spartans finished the regular season 13–3 to win a share of the Big Ten regular season championship for the third consecutive year. They also won the

Big Ten tournament Big Ten Tournament can refer to any Big Ten Conference sport that has a tournament or championship game: * Big Ten Football Championship Game * Big Ten men's basketball tournament * Big Ten women's basketball tournament * Big Ten baseball tournamen ...

championship for the second consecutive year. As a result of their strong finish in the regular season, the Spartans were awarded the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament. From there, the Spartans cruised to their third consecutive Sweet Sixteen with wins over Valparaiso, and

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. MSU continued their national championship push by reaching their second consecutive Final Four with wins over

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

and

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

. MSU won every game by double digits despite playing the best possible seed in each round. In their Final Four matchup, Michigan State faced off against Big Ten foe,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, beating them in a close game, 53–41.

Starting lineups

Game summary

Michigan State senior

Mateen Cleaves Mateen Ahmad Cleaves (born September 7, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played parts of six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was an All-American college player for Michigan State, where he le ...

limped his way to the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) of the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Cleaves sprained his ankle with 16:18 to play in the second half, and this was after Florida had trimmed Michigan State's double digit halftime lead to 50–44. Cleaves returned about four minutes later, and immediately helped lead the Spartans on a 16–6 run to put the game out of reach. The lone top-seed remaining would bring order to a tournament filled with upsets as they salted away the victory for the school's second national championship (

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

). Michigan State coach

Tom Izzo Thomas Michael Izzo (, ; born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo has le ...

earned his first title in his second straight final four appearance.

Morris Peterson Morris Russell Peterson Jr. (born August 26, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans, earning Bi ...

led the Spartans with 21 points. As of 2024, Michigan State's 2000 team is the last

team to win a national championship.

References

{{2000 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball navbox NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game NCAA Division I men's basketball championship games Florida Gators men's basketball Michigan State Spartans men's basketball College basketball tournaments in Indiana Basketball competitions in Indianapolis NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game 2000s in Indianapolis NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game