1990 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Season	1989–90
Teams	64
Finals site	McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado
Champions	UNLV Runnin' Rebels (1st title, 1st title game, 3rd Final Four)
Runner-up	Duke Blue Devils (4th title game, 8th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Arkansas Razorbacks (4th Final Four) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Jerry Tarkanian (1st title)
MOP	Anderson Hunt (UNLV)
Attendance	537,138
Top scorer	Dennis Scott (Georgia Tech) (153 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1989 1991»

The1990NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in asingle-elimination tournament to determine theNCAA Division I men's basketball national champion for the1989-1990 season. The 52nd annual edition of the tournament began on March 15, 1990, and ended with thechampionship game on April 2 at theMcNichols Sports Arena inDenver, Colorado. A total of 63 games were played.

UNLV won the national title with a 103–73 victory in the final game overDuke. 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'sMost Outstanding Player.

This tournament is also remembered for an emotional run by theLoyola Marymount Lions (LMU) in the West region. In the quarterfinals of theWest Coast Conference tournament against thePortland Pilots, Lions star forwardHank Gathers collapsed and died due to a heart condition.^[1] The WCC tournament was immediately suspended and LMU, the regular-season champion, was given the conference's automatic bid to the tournament. The team defeatedNew Mexico State, then laid a 34-point thrashing on defending national championMichigan, and defeatedAlabama 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.)^[2] Kimble made all of his left-handed attempts in the tournament.

The tournament employed a new timing system borrowed fromFIBA & theNBA: 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.

Atlanta

Indianapolis

Austin

Hartford

Richmond

Knoxville

Long Beach

Salt Lake City

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1990 first and second rounds

Oakland

Dallas

New Orleans

E. Rutherford

Denver

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1990 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

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)

CBS and NCAA Productions broadcast all tournament games.

• Jim Nantz andJames Brown served as hosts for the first-round games, whileMike Francesca served as analyst for the remaining rounds of the tournament.
• Brent Musburger andBilly 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 andHubie Brown – Second Round at Atlanta, Georgia; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
• James Brown andBill Raftery – Second Round at Hartford, Connecticut and Indianapolis, Indiana; Midwest Regional at Dallas, Texas
• Greg Gumbel andQuinn Buckner – First round (New Mexico State–Loyola-Marymount) and Second Round at Long Beach, California; Southeast Regional at New Orleans, Louisiana
• Brad Nessler andTom Heinsohn – Second Round at Knoxville, Tennessee
• Tim Brant andLen Elmore – Second Round at Salt Lake City, Utah

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 andClark Kellogg – First round (Indiana–California, Clemson–Brigham Young) at Hartford, Connecticut
• Mike Gorman andRon Perry – First round (La Salle–Southern Mississippi) at Hartford, Connecticut
• Fred White andLarry 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 andBob Ortegel – First round (North Carolina–SW Missouri State, Arkansas–Princeton) at Austin, Texas
• Frank Fallon andJack Corrigan – First Round (Dayton–Illinois) at Austin, Texas
• Tom Hammond andGary 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 andDan Bonner – First round (Missouri–Northern Iowa, Syracuse–Coppin State) at Richmond, Virginia
• Bob Rathbun andBucky Waters – First round (Minnesota–UTEP) at Richmond, Virginia
• Bob Rathbun andMimi Griffin – First round (Virginia–Notre Dame) at Richmond, Virginia
• John Sanders andBruce Larson – First round (UNLV–Arkansas-Little Rock, Oregon State–Ball State) at Salt Lake City, Utah
• John Rooney andBob Weltlich – First Round (Michigan St–Murray State, LSU–Villanova) at Knoxville, Tennessee
• Brad Nessler andJack Givens – First Round (USCB–Houston, Georgia Tech–East Tennessee State) at Knoxville, Tennessee
• John Sanders andLen Elmore – First round (Louisville–Idaho) at Salt Lake City, Utah
• Barry Tompkins andMike Rice – First round (Alabama–Colorado State, Michigan–Illinois State) at Long Beach, California

• Loyola Marymount's Jeff Fryer made 11 of his 15 three-point attempts against Michigan to set the NCAA tournament record.^[3]
• 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.^[4]
• 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.^[5]
• 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.^[6]
• 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.^[7]
• 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 Fourconsolation game.)^[6]
• UNLV's 30-point margin of victory in the championship game is also a tournament record.^[8] ESPN called it the 36th “worst blowout in sports history.”^[9]
• As of 2025^[update], UNLV remains the only team from a non-power conference (AAC,ACC,Big East,Big Ten,Big 12,Pac-12, andSEC) to win the national championship, since Louisville in 1986.^[5] 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.^[10]

• 1990 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1990 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 1990 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 1990 National Invitation Tournament
• National Women's Invitation Tournament
• 1990 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament

• NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1989–90 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
• Basketball competitions in Denver
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