1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Kansas, coached by Larry Brown, won the national title with an 83–79 victory in the final game over Big Eight Conference rival Oklahoma, coached by Billy Tubbs. As of 2023, this was the last national championship game to feature two schools from the same conference. Danny Manning of Kansas was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Even though the Final Four was contested 40 miles (64 km) from its campus in Lawrence, Kansas, Kansas was considered a long shot against the top rated Sooners because Oklahoma had previously defeated the Jayhawks twice by 8 points that season—at home in Norman, Oklahoma and on the road in Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas's upset was the third biggest point-spread upset in Championship Game history. After this upset, the 1988 Kansas team was remembered as "Danny and the Miracles."

This was the first NCAA Tournament which barred teams from playing on their home courts, or in any facility in which it played four or more regular season games. The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee made this change after each of the previous two Final Fours featured a team which played its first and second-round games at home: LSUin1986 (as a No. 11 seed) and Syracusein1987.

The team which was arguably hurt the most by the change was North Carolina, whose Dean Smith Center hosted for the first (and as of 2023, only) time. The Tar Heels were a No. 2 seed, but with the hosting ban now in effect, they were shipped to the West, where they were routed in the regional final by top seed Arizona. Archrival Duke was the No. 2 seed in the East and won its first two games at Chapel Hill on its way to the Final Four.

Arizona, now known as a prominent basketball powerhouse, made their debut in this year's Final Four, marking the 80th different school (including official NCAA vacations; 78th otherwise) to do so. This is notable because Arizona's Final Four appearance was the first by a new school since the 1983 tournament, the longest gap at that point.

Atlanta

South Bend

Cincinnati

Hartford

Lincoln

Chapel Hill

Los Angeles

Salt Lake City

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1988 first and second rounds

Seattle

Pontiac

Birmingham

E. Rutherford

Kansas City

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1988 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1988 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

March 17 and 19
- East Region
  - Dean Smith Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- Midwest Region
  - Edmund P. Joyce Center, South Bend, Indiana (Host: University of Notre Dame)
- Southeast Region
  - Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Tech)
- West Region
  - Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah)
March 18 and 20
- East Region
  - Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)
- Midwest Region
  - Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, Nebraska (Host: University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
- Southeast Region
  - Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio (Hosts: University of Cincinnati, Xavier University)
- West Region
  - Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: UCLA)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

March 24 and 26
- East Regional, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference)
- Southeast Regional, BJCC Coliseum, Birmingham, Alabama (Host: Southeastern Conference)
March 25 and 27
- Midwest Regional, Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan (Hosts: University of Detroit Mercy, Midwestern Collegiate Conference)
- West Regional, Kingdome, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

April 2 and 4
- Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 8 Conference)

A ticket from the tournament's Final Four

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Conference	Finished	Final opponent	Score
East
East	1	Temple	John Chaney	Atlantic 10	Regional Runner-up	2Duke	L 63–53
East	2	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Atlantic Coast	National semifinals	6Kansas	L 66–59
East	3	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Big East	Round of 32	11Rhode Island	L 97–94
East	4	Indiana	Bob Knight	Big Ten	Round of 64	13Richmond	L 72–69
East	5	Georgia Tech	Bobby Cremins	Atlantic Coast	Round of 32	13Richmond	L 59–55
East	6	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Big Eight	Round of 64	11Rhode Island	L 87–80
East	7	SMU	Dave Bliss	Southwest	Round of 32	2Duke	L 94–79
East	8	Georgetown	John Thompson	Big East	Round of 32	1Temple	L 74–53
East	9	LSU	Dale Brown	Southeastern	Round of 64	8Georgetown	L 66–63
East	10	Notre Dame	Digger Phelps	Independent	Round of 64	7SMU	L 83–75
East	11	Rhode Island	Tom Penders	Atlantic 10	Sweet Sixteen	2Duke	L 73–72
East	12	Iowa State	Johnny Orr	Big Eight	Round of 64	5Georgia Tech	L 90–78
East	13	Richmond	Dick Tarrant	Colonial	Sweet Sixteen	1Temple	L 69–47
East	14	North Carolina A&T	Don Corbett	Mid-Eastern	Round of 64	3Syracuse	L 69–55
East	15	Boston University	Mike Jarvis	ECAC North	Round of 64	2Duke	L 85–69
East	16	Lehigh	Fran McCaffery	East Coast	Round of 64	1Temple	L 87–73
Midwest
Midwest	1	Purdue	Gene Keady	Big Ten	Sweet Sixteen	4Kansas State	L 73–70
Midwest	2	Pittsburgh	Paul Evans	Big East	Round of 32	7Vanderbilt	L 80–74
Midwest	3	NC State	Jim Valvano	Atlantic Coast	Round of 64	14Murray State	L 78–75
Midwest	4	Kansas State	Lon Kruger	Big Eight	Regional Runner-up	6Kansas	L 71–58
Midwest	5	DePaul	Joey Meyer	Independent	Round of 32	4Kansas State	L 66–58
Midwest	6	Kansas	Larry Brown	Big Eight	Champion	1Oklahoma	W 83–79
Midwest	7	Vanderbilt	C. M. Newton	Southeastern	Sweet Sixteen	6Kansas	L 77–64
Midwest	8	Baylor	Gene Iba	Southwest	Round of 64	9Memphis State	L 75–60
Midwest	9	Memphis State	Larry Finch	Metro	Round of 32	1Purdue	L 100–73
Midwest	10	Utah State	Rod Tueller	Pacific Coast	Round of 64	7Vanderbilt	L 80–77
Midwest	11	Xavier	Pete Gillen	Midwestern	Round of 64	6Kansas	L 85–72
Midwest	12	Wichita State	Eddie Fogler	Missouri Valley	Round of 64	5DePaul	L 83–62
Midwest	13	La Salle	Speedy Morris	Metro Atlantic	Round of 64	4Kansas State	L 66–53
Midwest	14	Murray State	Steve Newton	Ohio Valley	Round of 32	6Kansas	L 61–58
Midwest	15	Eastern Michigan	Ben Braun	Mid-American	Round of 64	2Pittsburgh	L 108–90
Midwest	16	Fairleigh Dickinson	Tom Green	ECAC Metro	Round of 64	1Purdue	L 94–79
Southeast
Southeast	1	Oklahoma	Billy Tubbs	Big Eight	Runner Up	6Kansas	L 83–79
Southeast	2	Kentucky (Vacated)	Eddie Sutton	Southeastern	Sweet Sixteen#	6Villanova	L 80–74
Southeast	3	Illinois	Lou Henson	Big Ten	Round of 32	6Villanova	L 66–63
Southeast	4	BYU	LaDell Andersen	Western Athletic	Round of 32	5Louisville	L 97–76
Southeast	5	Louisville	Denny Crum	Metro	Sweet Sixteen	1Oklahoma	L 108–98
Southeast	6	Villanova	Rollie Massimino	Big East	Regional Runner-up	1Oklahoma	L 78–59
Southeast	7	Maryland	Bob Wade	Atlantic Coast	Round of 32	2Kentucky	L 90–81
Southeast	8	Auburn	Sonny Smith	Southeastern	Round of 32	1Oklahoma	L 107–87
Southeast	9	Bradley	Stan Albeck	Missouri Valley	Round of 64	8Auburn	L 90–86
Southeast	10	UC Santa Barbara	Jerry Pimm	Pacific Coast	Round of 64	7Maryland	L 92–82
Southeast	11	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	Southwest	Round of 64	6Villanova	L 82–74
Southeast	12	Oregon State	Ralph Miller	Pacific-10	Round of 64	5Louisville	L 70–61
Southeast	13	Charlotte	Jeff Mullins	Sun Belt	Round of 64	4BYU	L 98–92
Southeast	14	UTSA	Ken Burmeister	Trans America	Round of 64	3Illinois	L 81–72
Southeast	15	Southern	Ben Jobe	Southwest Athletic	Round of 64	2Kentucky	L 99–84
Southeast	16	Chattanooga	Mack McCarthy	Southern	Round of 64	1Oklahoma	L 94–66
West
West	1	Arizona	Lute Olson	Pacific-10	National semifinals	1Oklahoma	L 86–78
West	2	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Atlantic Coast	Regional Runner-up	1Arizona	L 70–52
West	3	Michigan	Bill Frieder	Big Ten	Sweet Sixteen	2North Carolina	L 78–69
West	4	UNLV	Jerry Tarkanian	Pacific Coast	Round of 32	5Iowa	L 104–86
West	5	Iowa	Tom Davis	Big Ten	Sweet Sixteen	1Arizona	L 99–79
West	6	Florida	Norm Sloan	Southeastern	Round of 32	3Michigan	L 108–85
West	7	Wyoming	Benny Dees	Western Athletic	Round of 64	10Loyola Marymount	L 119–115
West	8	Seton Hall	P.J. Carlesimo	Big East	Round of 32	1Arizona	L 84–55
West	9	UTEP	Don Haskins	Western Athletic	Round of 64	8Seton Hall	L 80–64
West	10	Loyola Marymount	Paul Westhead	West Coast	Round of 32	2North Carolina	L 123–97
West	11	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	Big East	Round of 64	6Florida	L 62–59
West	12	Florida State	Pat Kennedy	Metro	Round of 64	5Iowa	L 102–98
West	13	Southwest Missouri State	Charlie Spoonhour	Mid-Continent	Round of 64	4UNLV	L 54–50
West	14	Boise State	Bobby Dye	Big Sky	Round of 64	3Michigan	L 63–58
West	15	North Texas State	Jimmy Gales	Southland	Round of 64	2North Carolina	L 83–65
West	16	Cornell	Mike Dement	Ivy League	Round of 64	1Arizona	L 90–50

(#) Kentucky was later stripped of its two NCAA tournament wins due to an ineligible player.

* – Denotes overtime period

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

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First round			Quarter-finals			Regional semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Temple	87

16	Lehigh	73
			1	Temple	74
Hartford
			8	Georgetown	53
8	Georgetown	66

9	LSU	63
						1	Temple	69

						13	Richmond	47
5	Georgia Tech	90

12	Iowa State	78
			5	Georgia Tech	55
Hartford
			13	Richmond	59
4	Indiana	69

13	Richmond	72
									1	Temple	53

									2	Duke	63
6	Missouri	80

11	Rhode Island	87
			11	Rhode Island	97
Chapel Hill
			3	Syracuse	94
3	Syracuse	69

14	North Carolina A&T	55
						11	Rhode Island	72

						2	Duke	73
7	SMU	83

10	Notre Dame	75
			7	SMU	79
Chapel Hill
			2	Duke	94
2	Duke	85

15	Boston University	69

Midwest Regional – Pontiac, Michigan

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First round			Quarter-finals			Regional semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Purdue	94

16	Fairleigh Dickinson	79
			1	Purdue	100
South Bend
			9	Memphis	73
8	Baylor	60

9	Memphis	75
						1	Purdue	70

						4	Kansas State	73
5	DePaul	83

12	Wichita State	62
			5	DePaul	58
South Bend
			4	Kansas State	66
4	Kansas State	66

13	La Salle	53
									4	Kansas State	58

									6	Kansas	71
6	Kansas	85

11	Xavier	72
			6	Kansas	61
Lincoln
			14	Murray State	58
3	NC State	75

14	Murray State	78
						6	Kansas	77

						7	Vanderbilt	64
7	Vanderbilt	80

10	Utah State	77
			7	Vanderbilt	80*
Lincoln
			2	Pittsburgh	74
2	Pittsburgh	108

15	Eastern Michigan	90

Southeast Regional – Birmingham, Alabama

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First round			Quarter-finals			Regional semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Oklahoma	94

16	Chattanooga	66
			1	Oklahoma	107
Atlanta
			8	Auburn	87
8	Auburn	90

9	Bradley	86
						1	Oklahoma	108

						5	Louisville	98
5	Louisville	70

12	Oregon State	61
			5	Louisville	97
Atlanta
			4	BYU	76
4	BYU	98*

13	Charlotte	92
									1	Oklahoma	78

									6	Villanova	59
6	Villanova	82

11	Arkansas	74
			6	Villanova	66
Cincinnati
			3	Illinois	63
3	Illinois	81

14	UTSA	72
						6	Villanova	80

						2	Kentucky#	74
7	Maryland#	92

10	UC Santa Barbara	82
			7	Maryland#	81
Cincinnati
			2	Kentucky#	90
2	Kentucky#	99

15	Southern	84

# - Kentucky was later stripped of its two NCAA tournament wins due to an ineligible player. Maryland also vacated its appearance in the 1988 tournament due to usage of ineligible players.^[1]^[2] Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with Maryland and Kentucky removing the wins from their own records.

West Regional – Seattle, Washington

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First round			Quarter-finals			Regional semifinals			Regional Finals

1	Arizona	90

16	Cornell	50
			1	Arizona	84
Los Angeles
			8	Seton Hall	55
8	Seton Hall	80

9	UTEP	64
						1	Arizona	99

						5	Iowa	79
5	Iowa	102

12	Florida State	98
			5	Iowa	104
Los Angeles
			4	UNLV	86
4	UNLV	54

13	Southwest Missouri State	50
									1	Arizona	70

									2	North Carolina	52
6	Florida	62

11	St. John's	59
			6	Florida	85
Salt Lake City
			3	Michigan	108
3	Michigan	63

14	Boise State	58
						3	Michigan	69

						2	North Carolina	78
7	Wyoming	115

10	Loyola Marymount	119
			10	Loyola Marymount	97
Salt Lake City
			2	North Carolina	123
2	North Carolina	83

15	North Texas State	65

Final Four – Kansas City, Missouri

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National semifinals			National Championship Game

E2	Duke	59

MW6	Kansas	66
			MW6	Kansas	83

			SE1	Oklahoma	79
SE1	Oklahoma	86

W1	Arizona	78

Final Four
April 2

Box Score

Kansas Jayhawks 66, Duke Blue Devils 59
Scoring by half: 38–27, 28–32
Pts: Danny Manning25 Rebs: Danny Manning 10 Asts: Kevin Pritchard5		Pts: Danny Ferry19 Rebs: Danny Ferry 12 Asts: Quin Snyder5
Kansas advances to Championship Game

Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 16,392
Referees: Booker Turner, Jim Burr, Larry Lembo

Final Four
April 2

Box Score

Arizona Wildcats 78, Oklahoma Sooners 86
Scoring by half: 27–39, 51–47
Pts: Sean Elliott31 Rebs: Tom Tolbert13 Asts: Steve Kerr5		Pts: Mookie Blaylock/Harvey Grant21 Rebs: Harvey Grant 10 Asts: Ricky Grace8
Oklahoma advances to Championship game

Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 16,392

Television

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CBS Sports

Jim Nantz & James Brown served as studio hosts.
Brent Musburger and Billy Packer – first round (Florida–St. John's) at Salt Lake City, Utah; second round at Hartford, Connecticut and Chapel Hill, North Carolina; West Regional at Seattle, Washington; Final Four at Kansas City, Missouri
Tim Brant and Bill Raftery – First (UNLV–SW Missouri State) and Second Rounds at Los Angeles, California; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
Dick Stockton and Billy Cunningham – second round at Lincoln, Nebraska and Salt Lake City, Utah; Southeast Regional at Birmingham, Alabama
Verne Lundquist and Tom Heinsohn – second round at Cincinnati, Ohio and South Bend, Indiana; Midwest Regional at Pontiac, Michigan
Tim Ryan and Curry Kirkpatrick – second round at Atlanta, Georgia

ESPN and NCAA Productions

John Saunders (NCAA Tournament Today) and Bob Ley (NCAA Tournament Tonight) served as studio hosts and Dick Vitale served as studio analyst.
Mike Gorman and Ron Perry – first round (Temple–Lehigh, Georgia Tech–Iowa State) at Hartford, Connecticut
Bob Carpenter and Dan Belluomini – first round (Indiana–Richmond, Georgetown–LSU) at Hartford, Connecticut
Ralph Hacker and Bucky Waters – first round (Duke–Boston University, Missouri–Rhode Island) at Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Bob Rathbun and Dan Bonner – first round (Syracuse–North Carolina A&T, SMU–Notre Dame) at Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Fred White and Larry Conley – first round (Oklahoma–Chattanooga, Louisville–Oregon State) at Atlanta, Georgia
Mike Patrick and Bob Ortegel – first round (Brigham Young–Charlotte, Auburn–Bradley) at Atlanta, Georgia
Tom Hammond and Mike Pratt – first round (Kentucky–Southern, Illinois–UTSA) at Cincinnati, Ohio
Mick Hubert and Jack Givens – first round (Villanova–Arkansas, Maryland–UC Santa Barbara) at Cincinnati, Ohio
Eddie Doucette and John Laskowski – first round (Purdue–Fairleigh Dickinson, Kansas State–La Salle) at South Bend, Indiana
Wayne Larrivee and Jim Gibbons – first round (DePaul–Wichita State, Baylor–Memphis State) at South Bend, Indiana
Ron Franklin and Quinn Buckner – first round (Pittsburgh–Eastern Michigan, N.C. State–Murray State) at Lincoln, Nebraska
John Sanders and Gary Thompson – first round (Kansas–Xavier, Vanderbilt–Utah State) at Lincoln, Nebraska
Pete Solomon and Derrek Dickey – first round (Arizona–Cornell) at Los Angeles, California
Phil Stone and Lynn Shackelford – first round (Iowa–Florida State, Seton Hall–UTEP) at Los Angeles, California
Ted Robinson and Bruce Larson – first round (North Carolina–North Texas) at Salt Lake City, Utah
Frank Fallon and Bruce Larson – first round (Michigan–Boise State) at Salt Lake City, Utah
Frank Fallon and Irv Brown – first round (Wyoming–Loyola Marymount) at Salt Lake City, Utah

1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Contents

Schedule and venues

Teams

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

Midwest Regional – Pontiac, Michigan

Southeast Regional – Birmingham, Alabama

West Regional – Seattle, Washington

Final Four – Kansas City, Missouri

Game summaries

Announcers

Television

See also

References

Languages