1988 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Season	1987–88
Teams	64
Finals site	Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Kansas Jayhawks (2nd title, 5th title game, 8th Final Four)
Runner-up	Oklahoma Sooners (2nd title game, 3rd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Arizona Wildcats (1st Final Four) Duke Blue Devils (6th Final Four)
Winning coach	Larry Brown (1st title)
MOP	Danny Manning (Kansas)
Attendance	558,998
Top scorer	Danny Manning (Kansas) (163 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1987 1989»

The1988NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing insingle-elimination play to determine the national champion of men'sNCAA Division Icollege basketball. The 50th annual edition of the tournament began on March 17, 1988, and ended with thechampionship game on April 4 returning toKansas City for the 10th time. A total of 63 games were played.

Kansas, coached byLarry Brown, won the national title with an 83–79 victory in the final game overBig Eight Conference rivalOklahoma, coached byBilly Tubbs. As of 2024, this was the last national championship game to feature two schools from the same conference.Danny Manning of Kansas was named the tournament'sMost Outstanding Player. Even though the Final Four was contested 40 miles (64 km) from its campus inLawrence, 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:LSU in1986 (as a No. 11 seed) andSyracuse in1987.

The team which was arguably hurt the most by the change wasNorth Carolina, whoseDean 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.ArchrivalDuke was the No. 2 seed in the East and won its first two games atChapel Hill on its way to the Final Four.

Arizona, now known as a prominent basketball powerhouse, made their debut inthis 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 the1983 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)

Kentucky and Maryland were later stripped of its NCAA tournament wins due to ineligible players.

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.

CBS Sports

• Jim Nantz &James Brown served as studio hosts.
• Brent Musburger andBilly 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 andBill Raftery – First (UNLV–SW Missouri State) and Second Rounds at Los Angeles, California; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Dick Stockton andBilly Cunningham – second round at Lincoln, Nebraska and Salt Lake City, Utah; Southeast Regional at Birmingham, Alabama
• Verne Lundquist andTom 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) andBob Ley (NCAA Tournament Tonight) served as studio hosts andDick Vitale served as studio analyst.
• Mike Gorman andRon 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 andBucky Waters – first round (Duke–Boston University, Missouri–Rhode Island) at Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Bob Rathbun andDan Bonner – first round (Syracuse–North Carolina A&T, SMU–Notre Dame) at Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Fred White andLarry Conley – first round (Oklahoma–Chattanooga, Louisville–Oregon State) at Atlanta, Georgia
• Mike Patrick andBob 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 andJack Givens – first round (Villanova–Arkansas, Maryland–UC Santa Barbara) at Cincinnati, Ohio
• Eddie Doucette andJohn 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 andQuinn Buckner – first round (Pittsburgh–Eastern Michigan, N.C. State–Murray State) at Lincoln, Nebraska
• John Sanders andGary Thompson – first round (Kansas–Xavier, Vanderbilt–Utah State) at Lincoln, Nebraska
• Pete Solomon andDerrek Dickey – first round (Arizona–Cornell) at Los Angeles, California
• Phil Stone andLynn 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 andIrv Brown – first round (Wyoming–Loyola Marymount) at Salt Lake City, Utah

• 1988 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1988 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 1988 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 1988 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 1988 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 1988 National Invitation Tournament
• 1988 National Women's Invitation Tournament
• 1988 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1988 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament

• NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
• 1988 in sports in Missouri
• March 1988 sports events in the United States
• April 1988 sports events in the United States

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2023