1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the NCAA Division I men's basketball national champion for the 1989-1990 season. The 52nd annual edition of the tournament began on March 15, 1990, and ended with the championship game on April 2 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado. A total of 63 games were played.

UNLV won the national title with a 103–73 victory in the final game over Duke. In doing so, UNLV set the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament record for largest margin of victory in a championship game. UNLV's championship win marked the last time a school from a non-power conference had won the tournament until UConn from the American Conference in 2014. Anderson Hunt of UNLV was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

This tournament is also remembered for an emotional run by the Loyola Marymount Lions (LMU) in the West region. In the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference tournament against the Portland Pilots, Lions star forward Hank Gathers collapsed and died due to a heart condition. The WCC tournament was immediately suspended and LMU, the regular-season champion, was given the conference's automatic bid to the tournament. The team defeated New Mexico State, then laid a 34-point thrashing on defending national champion Michigan, and defeated Alabama in the Sweet Sixteen (the only game in which LMU did not score 100 or more points in the tournament) before running into eventual champion UNLV in the regional final. Gathers' childhood friend, Bo Kimble, the team's undisputed floor leader in the wake of the tragedy, paid tribute to his friend by attempting his first free throw in each game left-handed despite being right-handed (Gathers was right-handed, but struggled so much with free throws that he tried shooting them left-handed for a time.) Kimble made all of his left-handed attempts in the tournament.

The tournament employed a new timing system borrowed from FIBA & the NBA: when the game was played in an NBA arena, the final minute of the period is measured in tenths-seconds, rather than whole seconds as in previous years.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1990 tournament, and their host(s):

First and Second Rounds March 15 and 17 East Region Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut) Midwest Region Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin) Southeast Region Thompson–Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee) West Region Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah) March 16 and 18 East Region Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology) Midwest Region Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Butler University, Midwestern Collegiate Conference) Southeast Region Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia (Hosts: University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University) West Region Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California (Host: Long Beach State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 22 and 24 East Regional, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference) Midwest Regional, Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas (Host: Southwest Conference) March 23 and 25 Southeast Regional, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (Hosts: Tulane University, University of New Orleans) West Regional, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, California (Host: University of California, Berkeley)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) March 31 and April 2 McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado (Hosts: University of Colorado Boulder, Big 8 Conference)

Teams Region Seed Team Coach Conference Finished Final Opponent Score East East 1 Connecticut Jim Calhoun Big East Elite 83 DukeL 79–78 East 2 Kansas Roy Williams Big Eight Round of 327 UCLAL 71–70 East 3 Duke Mike Krzyzewski Atlantic Coast National Runner Up1 UNLVL 103–73 East 4 La Salle Speedy Morris Metro Atlantic Round of 325 ClemsonL 79–75 East 5 Clemson Cliff Ellis Atlantic Coast Sweet Sixteen1 ConnecticutL 71–70 East 6 St. John's Lou Carnesecca Big East Round of 323 DukeL 76–72 East 7 UCLA Jim Harrick Pacific-10 Sweet Sixteen3 DukeL 90–81 East 8 Indiana Bob Knight Big Ten Round of 649 CaliforniaL 65–63 East 9 California Lou Campanelli Pacific-10 Round of 321 ConnecticutL 74–54 East 10 UAB Gene Bartow Sun Belt Round of 647 UCLAL 68–56 East 11 Temple John Chaney Atlantic 10 Round of 646 St. John'sL 81–65 East 12 BYU Roger Reid Western Athletic Round of 645 ClemsonL 49–47 East 13 Southern Miss M.K. Turk Metro Round of 644 La SalleL 79–63 East 14 Richmond Dick Tarrant Colonial Round of 643 DukeL 81–46 East 15 Robert Morris Jarrett Durham Northeast Round of 642 KansasL 79–71 East 16 Boston University Mike Jarvis North Atlantic Round of 641 ConnecticutL 76–52 Midwest Midwest 1 Oklahoma Billy Tubbs Big Eight Round of 328 North CarolinaL 79–77 Midwest 2 Purdue Gene Keady Big Ten Round of 3210 TexasL 73–72 Midwest 3 Georgetown John Thompson Big East Round of 326 XavierL 74–71 Midwest 4 Arkansas Nolan Richardson Southwest National semifinals3 DukeL 97–83 Midwest 5 Illinois Lou Henson Big Ten Round of 6412 DaytonL 88–86 Midwest 6 Xavier Pete Gillen Midwestern Sweet Sixteen10 TexasL 102–89 Midwest 7 Georgia Hugh Durham Southeastern Round of 6410 TexasL 100–88 Midwest 8 North Carolina Dean Smith Atlantic Coast Sweet Sixteen4 ArkansasL 96–73 Midwest 9 Southwest Missouri State Charlie Spoonhour Mid-Continent Round of 648 North CarolinaL 83–70 Midwest 10 Texas Tom Penders Southwest Elite 84 ArkansasL 88–85 Midwest 11 Kansas State Lon Kruger Big Eight Round of 646 XavierL 87–79 Midwest 12 Dayton Jim O'Brien Midwestern Round of 324 ArkansasL 86–84 Midwest 13 Princeton Pete Carril Ivy League Round of 644 ArkansasL 68–64 Midwest 14 Texas Southern Robert Moreland Southwest Athletic Round of 643 GeorgetownL 70–52 Midwest 15 Northeast Louisiana Mike Vining Southland Round of 642 PurdueL 75–63 Midwest 16 Towson State Terry Truax East Coast Round of 641 OklahomaL 77–68 Southeast Southeast 1 Michigan State Jud Heathcote Big Ten Sweet Sixteen4 Georgia TechL 81–80 Southeast 2 Syracuse Jim Boeheim Big East Sweet Sixteen6 MinnesotaL 82–75 Southeast 3 Missouri Norm Stewart Big Eight Round of 6414 Northern IowaL 74–71 Southeast 4 Georgia Tech Bobby Cremins Atlantic Coast National semifinals1 UNLVL 90–81 Southeast 5 LSU Dale Brown Southeastern Round of 324 Georgia TechL 94–91 Southeast 6 Minnesota Clem Haskins Big Ten Elite 84 Georgia TechL 93–91 Southeast 7 Virginia Terry Holland Atlantic Coast Round of 322 SyracuseL 63–61 Southeast 8 Houston Pat Foster Southwest Round of 649 UC Santa BarbaraL 70–66 Southeast 9 UC Santa Barbara Jerry Pimm Big West Round of 321 Michigan StateL 62–58 Southeast 10 Notre Dame Digger Phelps Independent Round of 647 VirginiaL 75–67 Southeast 11 UTEP Don Haskins Western Athletic Round of 646 MinnesotaL 64–61 Southeast 12 Villanova Rollie Massimino Big East Round of 645 LSUL 70–63 Southeast 13 East Tennessee State Les Robinson Southern Round of 644 Georgia TechL 99–83 Southeast 14 Northern Iowa Eldon Miller Mid-Continent Round of 326 MinnesotaL 81–78 Southeast 15 Coppin State Ron Mitchell Mid-Eastern Round of 642 SyracuseL 70–48 Southeast 16 Murray State Steve Newton Ohio Valley Round of 641 Michigan StateL 75–71 West West 1 UNLV Jerry Tarkanian Big West Champion3 DukeW 103–73 West 2 Arizona Lute Olson Pacific-10 Round of 327 AlabamaL 77–55 West 3 Michigan Steve Fisher Big Ten Round of 3211 Loyola MarymountL 149–115 West 4 Louisville Denny Crum Metro Round of 3212 Ball StateL 62–60 West 5 Oregon State Jim Anderson Pacific-10 Round of 6412 Ball StateL 54–53 West 6 New Mexico State Neil McCarthy Big West Round of 6411 Loyola MarymountL 111–92 West 7 Alabama Wimp Sanderson Southeastern Sweet Sixteen11 Loyola MarymountL 62–60 West 8 Ohio State Randy Ayers Big Ten Round of 321 UNLVL 76–65 West 9 Providence Rick Barnes Big East Round of 648 Ohio StateL 84–83 West 10 Colorado State Boyd Grant Western Athletic Round of 647 AlabamaL 71–54 West 11 Loyola Marymount Paul Westhead West Coast Elite 81 UNLVL 131–101 West 12 Ball State Dick Hunsaker Mid-American Sweet Sixteen1 UNLVL 69–67 West 13 Idaho Kermit Davis Big Sky Round of 644 LouisvilleL 78–59 West 14 Illinois State Bob Bender Missouri Valley Round of 643 MichiganL 76–70 West 15 South Florida Bobby Paschal Sun Belt Round of 642 ArizonaL 79–67 West 16 Little Rock Mike Newell Trans America Round of 641 UNLVL 102–72

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

Regional Final summary

Midwest Regional – Dallas, Texas

Regional Final summary

Southeast Regional – New Orleans, Louisiana

Regional Final summary

West Regional – Oakland, California

Regional Final summary

Final Four – Denver, Colorado

Game summaries

National Championship

Announcers

CBS CBS and NCAA Productions broadcast all tournament games. Jim Nantz and James Brown served as hosts for the first-round games, while Mike Francesca served as analyst for the remaining rounds of the tournament. Brent Musburger and Billy Packer – First round (Ohio State–Providence) at Salt Lake City, Utah; Second Round at Austin, Texas and Richmond, Virginia; West Regional at Oakland, California; Final Four at Denver, Colorado. Musburger's final games for CBS. Dick Stockton and Hubie Brown – Second Round at Atlanta, Georgia; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey James Brown and Bill Raftery – Second Round at Hartford, Connecticut and Indianapolis, Indiana; Midwest Regional at Dallas, Texas Greg Gumbel and Quinn Buckner – First round (New Mexico State–Loyola-Marymount) and Second Round at Long Beach, California; Southeast Regional at New Orleans, Louisiana Brad Nessler and Tom Heinsohn – Second Round at Knoxville, Tennessee Tim Brant and Len Elmore – Second Round at Salt Lake City, Utah

ESPN/NCAA Productions This would be the last year that ESPN would be involved in broadcasting games of the tournament, as CBS took over exclusive coverage of the tournament the following year. Bob Carpenter and Clark Kellogg – First round (Indiana–California, Clemson–Brigham Young) at Hartford, Connecticut Mike Gorman and Ron Perry – First round (La Salle–Southern Mississippi) at Hartford, Connecticut Fred White and Larry Conley – First round (St. John's–Temple, Kansas–Robert Morris) at Atlanta, Georgia Ralph Hacker and Dan Belluomini – First round (UCLA–UAB) at Atlanta, Georgia Ron Franklin and Bob Ortegel – First round (North Carolina–SW Missouri State, Arkansas–Princeton) at Austin, Texas Frank Fallon and Jack Corrigan – First Round (Dayton–Illinois) at Austin, Texas Tom Hammond and Gary Thompson – First round (Georgetown–Texas Southern, Georgia–Texas) at Indianapolis, Indiana Mick Hubert and Jim Gibbons – First round (Xavier–Kansas State) at Indianapolis, Indiana; First round (Arizona–South Florida) at Long Beach, California Mike Patrick and Dan Bonner – First round (Missouri–Northern Iowa, Syracuse–Coppin State) at Richmond, Virginia Bob Rathbun and Bucky Waters – First round (Minnesota–UTEP) at Richmond, Virginia Bob Rathbun and Mimi Griffin – First round (Virginia–Notre Dame) at Richmond, Virginia John Sanders and Bruce Larson – First round (UNLV–Arkansas-Little Rock, Oregon State–Ball State) at Salt Lake City, Utah John Rooney and Bob Weltlich – First Round (Michigan St–Murray State, LSU–Villanova) at Knoxville, Tennessee Brad Nessler and Jack Givens – First Round (UCSB–Houston, Georgia Tech–East Tennessee State) at Knoxville, Tennessee John Sanders and Len Elmore – First round (Louisville–Idaho) at Salt Lake City, Utah Barry Tompkins and Mike Rice – First round (Alabama–Colorado State, Michigan–Illinois State) at Long Beach, California