The 1998–99 Southwest Missouri State Bears basketball team represented

Southwest Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

during the 1998–99 season. Playing in the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

and led by head coach

Steve Alford Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball, Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference (MWC). ...

, the Bears finished the season with a 22–11 overall record (11–7 MVC). In a season marked by several close losses (and wins), Southwest Missouri State received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 12 seed in the East region, where the Bears made a surprising run to the second weekend of the tournament. The Bears first defeated 5th seeded

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 ...

in the opening round of the tournament, holding the Badgers to 12 first half points, en route to a 43–32 victory. The 75 combined points between the Bears and Badgers resulted in the lowest scoring game in the history of the tournament since the shot clock was first implemented in college basketball. Furthermore, the 32 points scored by 18th ranked Wisconsin were at the time the least amount of points ever scored by a ranked team in regulation during the shot clock era.https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2019-02-02/100-lowest-scoring-college-basketball-games-ranked-teams In the second round, senior Danny Moore delivered a 25–point performance to power the Bears to a shocking blowout of 4th seeded

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history, where the Bears finally fell to the number 1 team in the nation and eventual National runner-up,

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, 61–78. To date, this is the deepest tournament run in school history. Following the season, Alford took the head coaching job at

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Roster

The Southwest Missouri State Bears were represented on the court by a team composed of the following student athletes during the 1998-99 season:

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular Season , - !colspan=9 style=, MVC Tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA Tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1998-99 Missouri State Bears Basketball Team Missouri State Bears basketball seasons

Southwest Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

Missouri State Bears Basketball Team Missouri State Bears Basketball Team