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 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 ...

championship game on April 3, 2000, at the RCA Dome in

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 ...

Season headlines

* The

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

began play, with eight original members. * The preseason AP All-American team was named on November 10. Chris Porter of Auburn was the leading vote-getter (53 of 65 votes). The rest of the team included Quentin Richardson of DePaul (46 votes), Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State (44), Scoonie Penn of Ohio State (44) and Terence Morris of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

(30). * David Webber scored 51 points for on February 24, 2000, against Ball State. The total was the highest single-game point total of the season in regulation (second only to Eddie House, who had 61 points in a double-overtime game to tie

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

's Pacific-10 Conference record). The tally broke

Larry Bird Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend" Bird is widely regarded a ...

's 1977 McGuirk Arena single-game record performance of 45 points. *

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

was 28–2 and had been arguably the best team in the country when Player of the Year Kenyon Martin had a season-ending leg fracture three minutes into their first-round

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

tournament game against Saint Louis. The Bearcats lost that game and gave the NCAA Tournament selection committee a difficult decision to make about seeding. Ultimately, the Bearcats were made a No. 2 seed in the

and lost in the second round to

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

. * Head coach Tom Izzo led Michigan State to its second national championship behind the play of the " Flintstones," a trio of players from

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

. Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson and Charlie Bell led the Spartans to an 89–76 win over

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 ...

, with Cleaves named Final Four Most Outstanding Player and Peterson also making the All-Tournament team.

Rules changes

* On uniforms, the use of the single-digit numbers "1" and "2" as player numbers was once again permitted. Their use had been prohibited since the 1957–58 season.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The top 25 from the AP Poll November 9, 1999 and the ESPN/USA Today Poll November 4, 1999.

Conference membership changes

These schools joined new conferences for the 1999–2000 season.

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Twenty-nine conferences concluded their seasons with a single-elimination tournament, with only the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

and the Pacific-10 Conference choosing not to conduct conference tournaments. Conference tournament winners generally received an automatic bid to the

. The

(MWC) began operation in 1999-2000 and its tournament winner did not receive an automatic bid, although

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

, the winner of the inaugural MWC tournament, did receive an at-large bid.

Conference standings

Division I independents

Five schools played as Division I independents.

Informal championships

After eight seasons in which each of Philadelphia Big 5 member played only two games against other Big 5 schools each year, the Big 5 returned to a full round-robin schedule in which each team met each other team once, a format it had used from its first season of competition in 1955–56 through the 1990–91 season. Temple and Villanova both finished with 3–1 records in head-to-head competition among the Big 5.

Statistical leaders

Source for additional stats categories

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Final Four – RCA Dome,
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 ...

National Invitation tournament

Semifinals & finals

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

* Wooden Award: Kenyon Martin,

* Naismith Award: Kenyon Martin,

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Player of the Year: Kenyon Martin,

NABC Player of the Year The NABC Player of the Year is an award given annually by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) to recognize the top player in men's college basketball across the three largest college athletic associations in the United States. Th ...

: Kenyon Martin,

* Oscar Robertson Trophy ( USBWA): Kenyon Martin,

* Adolph Rupp Trophy: Kenyon Martin,

* ''Sporting News'' Player of the Year: Kenyon Martin,

Major freshman of the year awards

* USBWA Freshman of the Year: Jason Gardner,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

* ''

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

'' Freshman of the Year: Jason Williams,

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 ...

Major coach of the year awards

Coach of the Year: Larry Eustachy, Iowa State *

Henry Iba Award The Henry Iba Award was established in 1959 to recognize the best college basketball coach of the year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Five nominees are presented and the individual with the most votes receives the ...

( USBWA): Larry Eustachy, Iowa State *

NABC Coach of the Year The NABC Coach of the Year is an award given annually by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) to recognize the top head coach in men's college basketball across the four largest college athletic associations in the United States. ...

: Gene Keady, Purdue * Naismith College Coach of the Year: Mike Montgomery, Stanford * CBS/

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

Coach of the Year:

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( , ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980–81 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, 1980 to 2021� ...

* ''Sporting News'' Coach of the Year:

Bob Huggins Robert Edward Huggins (born September 21, 1953), nicknamed "Huggy Bear", is an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach at Walsh, Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State, and West Virginia. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial ...

& Bill Self,

Other major awards

Pete Newell Big Man Award The Pete Newell Big Man Award has been awarded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) since 2000. It is presented to the best low-post player each season. The award is named after Pete Newell, the coach who ran the Pete Newell ...

(Best big man):

Marcus Fizer Darnell Marcus Lamar Fizer (born August 10, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. High school career Fizer played high school basketball at Arcadia High School in Arcadia, Louisiana. As a senior, Fizer was selected to pla ...

, Iowa State *

NABC Defensive Player of the Year The NABC Defensive Player of the Year is a college basketball award given annually by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) to recognize the top men's defensive player in NCAA Division I competition. It has been given since 1987 a ...

: Shane Battier,

& Kenyon Martin,

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award was an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor players who excelled on the court in spite of their height. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter-in-law, was establi ...

(Best player under 6'0): Scoonie Penn, Ohio State * Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): Pepe Sanchez,

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

* NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

metro area): Craig "Speedy" Claxton, Hofstra * Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award (Strong personal character): Eduardo Nájera,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Coaching changes

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

References

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