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1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Edition of USA college basketball tournament

Field	Value
Year	1990
Image	1990 Final Four logo.png
Teams	64
FinalFourArena	McNichols Sports Arena
FinalFourCity	Denver, Colorado
Champions	UNLV Runnin' Rebels
TitleCount	1st
ChampGameCount	1st
ChampFFCount	3rd
RunnerUp	Duke Blue Devils
GameCount	4th
RunnerFFCount	8th
Semifinal1	Arkansas Razorbacks
FinalFourCount	4th
Semifinal2	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
FinalFourCount2	1st
Coach	Jerry Tarkanian
CoachCount	1st
MOP	Anderson Hunt
MOPTeam	UNLV
Attendance	537,138
TopScorer	Dennis Scott
TopScorerTeam	Georgia Tech
Points	153

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 marks the last time a school from a non-power conference has won the tournament. 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	1	Connecticut	Jim Calhoun	Big East	Elite 8	3 Duke	L 79–78
East	2	Kansas	Roy Williams	Big Eight	Round of 32	7 UCLA	L 71–70
East	3	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Atlantic Coast	National Runner Up	1 UNLV	L 103–73
East	4	La Salle	Speedy Morris	Metro Atlantic	Round of 32	5 Clemson	L 79–75
East	5	Clemson	Cliff Ellis	Atlantic Coast	Sweet Sixteen	1 Connecticut	L 71–70
East	6	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	Big East	Round of 32	3 Duke	L 76–72
East	7	UCLA	Jim Harrick	Pacific-10	Sweet Sixteen	3 Duke	L 90–81
East	8	Indiana	Bob Knight	Big Ten	Round of 64	9 California	L 65–63
East	9	California	Lou Campanelli	Pacific-10	Round of 32	1 Connecticut	L 74–54
East	10	UAB	Gene Bartow	Sun Belt	Round of 64	7 UCLA	L 68–56
East	11	Temple	John Chaney	Atlantic 10	Round of 64	6 St. John's	L 81–65
East	12	BYU	Roger Reid	Western Athletic	Round of 64	5 Clemson	L 49–47
East	13	Southern Miss	M.K. Turk	Metro	Round of 64	4 La Salle	L 79–63
East	14	Richmond	Dick Tarrant	Colonial	Round of 64	3 Duke	L 81–46
East	15	Robert Morris	Jarrett Durham	Northeast	Round of 64	2 Kansas	L 79–71
East	16	Boston University	Mike Jarvis	North Atlantic	Round of 64	1 Connecticut	L 76–52
Midwest	1	Oklahoma	Billy Tubbs	Big Eight	Round of 32	8 North Carolina	L 79–77
Midwest	2	Purdue	Gene Keady	Big Ten	Round of 32	10 Texas	L 73–72
Midwest	3	Georgetown	John Thompson	Big East	Round of 32	6 Xavier	L 74–71
Midwest	4	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	Southwest	National semifinals	3 Duke	L 97–83
Midwest	5	Illinois	Lou Henson	Big Ten	Round of 64	12 Dayton	L 88–86
Midwest	6	Xavier	Pete Gillen	Midwestern	Sweet Sixteen	10 Texas	L 102–89
Midwest	7	Georgia	Hugh Durham	Southeastern	Round of 64	10 Texas	L 100–88
Midwest	8	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Atlantic Coast	Sweet Sixteen	4 Arkansas	L 96–73
Midwest	9	Southwest Missouri State	Charlie Spoonhour	Mid-Continent	Round of 64	8 North Carolina	L 83–70
Midwest	10	Texas	Tom Penders	Southwest	Elite 8	4 Arkansas	L 88–85
Midwest	11	Kansas State	Lon Kruger	Big Eight	Round of 64	6 Xavier	L 87–79
Midwest	12	Dayton	Jim O'Brien	Midwestern	Round of 32	4 Arkansas	L 86–84
Midwest	13	Princeton	Pete Carril	Ivy League	Round of 64	4 Arkansas	L 68–64
Midwest	14	Texas Southern	Robert Moreland	Southwest Athletic	Round of 64	3 Georgetown	L 70–52
Midwest	15	Northeast Louisiana	Mike Vining	Southland	Round of 64	2 Purdue	L 75–63
Midwest	16	Towson State	Terry Truax	East Coast	Round of 64	1 Oklahoma	L 77–68
Southeast	1	Michigan State	Jud Heathcote	Big Ten	Sweet Sixteen	4 Georgia Tech	L 81–80
Southeast	2	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Big East	Sweet Sixteen	6 Minnesota	L 82–75
Southeast	3	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Big Eight	Round of 64	14 Northern Iowa	L 74–71
Southeast	4	Georgia Tech	Bobby Cremins	Atlantic Coast	National semifinals	1 UNLV	L 90–81
Southeast	5	LSU	Dale Brown	Southeastern	Round of 32	4 Georgia Tech	L 94–91
Southeast	6	Minnesota	Clem Haskins	Big Ten	Elite 8	4 Georgia Tech	L 93–91
Southeast	7	Virginia	Terry Holland	Atlantic Coast	Round of 32	2 Syracuse	L 63–61
Southeast	8	Houston	Pat Foster	Southwest	Round of 64	9 UC Santa Barbara	L 70–66
Southeast	9	UC Santa Barbara	Jerry Pimm	Big West	Round of 32	1 Michigan State	L 62–58
Southeast	10	Notre Dame	Digger Phelps	Independent	Round of 64	7 Virginia	L 75–67
Southeast	11	UTEP	Don Haskins	Western Athletic	Round of 64	6 Minnesota	L 64–61
Southeast	12	Villanova	Rollie Massimino	Big East	Round of 64	5 LSU	L 70–63
Southeast	13	East Tennessee State	Les Robinson	Southern	Round of 64	4 Georgia Tech	L 99–83
Southeast	14	Northern Iowa	Eldon Miller	Mid-Continent	Round of 32	6 Minnesota	L 81–78
Southeast	15	Coppin State	Ron Mitchell	Mid-Eastern	Round of 64	2 Syracuse	L 70–48
Southeast	16	Murray State	Steve Newton	Ohio Valley	Round of 64	1 Michigan State	L 75–71
West	1	UNLV	Jerry Tarkanian	Big West	Champion	3 Duke	W 103–73
West	2	Arizona	Lute Olson	Pacific-10	Round of 32	7 Alabama	L 77–55
West	3	Michigan	Steve Fisher	Big Ten	Round of 32	11 Loyola Marymount	L 149–115
West	4	Louisville	Denny Crum	Metro	Round of 32	12 Ball State	L 62–60
West	5	Oregon State	Jim Anderson	Pacific-10	Round of 64	12 Ball State	L 54–53
West	6	New Mexico State	Neil McCarthy	Big West	Round of 64	11 Loyola Marymount	L 111–92
West	7	Alabama	Wimp Sanderson	Southeastern	Sweet Sixteen	11 Loyola Marymount	L 62–60
West	8	Ohio State	Randy Ayers	Big Ten	Round of 32	1 UNLV	L 76–65
West	9	Providence	Rick Barnes	Big East	Round of 64	8 Ohio State	L 84–83
West	10	Colorado State	Boyd Grant	Western Athletic	Round of 64	7 Alabama	L 71–54
West	11	Loyola Marymount	Paul Westhead	West Coast	Elite 8	1 UNLV	L 131–101
West	12	Ball State	Dick Hunsaker	Mid-American	Sweet Sixteen	1 UNLV	L 69–67
West	13	Idaho	Kermit Davis	Big Sky	Round of 64	4 Louisville	L 78–59
West	14	Illinois State	Bob Bender	Missouri Valley	Round of 64	3 Michigan	L 76–70
West	15	South Florida	Bobby Paschal	Sun Belt	Round of 64	2 Arizona	L 79–67
West	16	Little Rock	Mike Newell	Trans America	Round of 64	1 UNLV	L 102–72

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

Regional Final summary

End of Regulation: 72–72

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

Main article: 1990 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game

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

Tournament notes

Loyola Marymount's Jeff Fryer made 11 of his 15 three-point attempts against Michigan to set the NCAA tournament record.
Loyola Marymount's 149–115 win over Michigan set a new tournament record for most combined points (264).
UNLV at the time had the largest accumulated victory margin (112 points), over the entire tournament by a championship team that played 6 games. To date, it is the fifth-largest.
UNLV's 103–73 win over Duke marked the first (and to date, only) time in the history of the tournament that at least 100 points were scored by one team in the championship game.
UNLV's 571 points over six games set the record for most points scored by a single team in any one year of the tournament.
UNLV is the only team in tournament history to average more than 95 points per game, over six games. In six tournament games, they won three by exactly 30 points, while scoring more than 100 points in each 30-point victory.
UNLV and UCLA in 1965 are the only teams in tournament history to win three games all while scoring at least 100 points in each win. (Loyola Marymount also scored at least 100 points in three games in the 1990 tournament, but lost their last game, where they scored 101 points, to UNLV, by 30 points. UNLV also scored at least 100 points in three victories in the 1977 tournament, but their last one was in the Final Four consolation game.)
UNLV's 30-point margin of victory in the championship game is also a tournament record. ESPN called it the 36th “worst blowout in sports history.”
, UNLV remains the only team from a non-power conference (AAC, ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) to win the national championship, since Louisville in 1986. Louisville was in the Metro Conference in 1986, which was considered a major basketball conference throughout its history, 1975–1995.)
The championship game was UNLV's eleventh consecutive win. They would eventually run the win streak to 45 games. That is the fourth-longest win streak in NCAA Division I basketball history, and the longest win streak since the longest ever, by UCLA from 1971 to 1974.

References

Nehus Saxon, Lisa. (March 6, 1990). "Winning and losing: Players, friends believed Gathers was invincible". The Vindicator.
(March 19, 1990). "This Bo knows heartache, happiness". The Argus-Press.
[https://fs.ncaa.org.s3.amazonaws.com/Docs/stats/m_final4/MFFBook.pdf#page=60 2025 Men's Final Four Records Book]. National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA).
Nagel, Cody. (April 7, 2024). "March Madness: College basketball's most dominant NCAA Tournament champions since 1985".
(6 April 2017). "Which is the only basketball team to have scored over 100 points in a NCAA championship game?".
"The Tournament".
"The highest-scoring men's basketball games in NCAA March Madness history | NCAA.com".
"March Madness History".
(15 September 2015). "100 worst blowouts in history: Nos. 50-26".
"The longest winning streaks in college basketball history | NCAA.com".

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