1999 College Basketball

1.       Richard Hamilton: Was the MOP of the Final Four. He was a consensus All-American.

He was the MVP of the West Region, and Big East and on the All Big East tournament team.

He finished his career with 2,036 points in three seasons, 2^nd all-time in UConn history.

Rip was 2^nd in Big East with 21.5 PPG. He led the conference in FGs, FTs and was 2^nd in three-pointers made. He also averaged five rebounds per contest.

In the Big East Final against #10 St. Johns he scored 23 on 8-11 fgs (3-6 on 3s) had 7 rb, 4 ast, and 3 st.

He led all NCAA players with 145 points in the tournament (24.2 per game).

He had 24 and four assists in UConn’s sweet 16 win over #20 Iowa in 38 minutes.

He added 24 more in the Huskies Final Four win over #14 Ohio St.

Hamilton helped Connecticut to a historic upset over top ranked Duke in the NCAA final. Duke was a 9.5 point favorite, the largest in NCAA final.

He played 38 minutes and scored a game high 27 points. He added seven boards, and three assists. He scored five straight points to give UConn a 73-68 lead that they would never give up.

Connecticut won their first national title 77-74 over Duke. They finished the season 34-2 16-2 in Big East #3 in polls. They were #1 several weeks during the season. They won back to back Big East tourney championships.

2.       Elton Brand: Was consensus Player of the Year. He was the ACC Player of the Year, All Final Four Team and All-East Region.

During the regular season he averaged 17.7 points, 10 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and shot 62% from the field in 39 games.

He averaged 19 points and 10 boards in ACC games as Duke went 16-0.

He had 22-8 vs the defending champion #8 Kentucky.

Brand had 24 and 13 on 9-11 fgs vs. #11 UNC in ACC final. He was named tourney MVP.

EB was first in the ACC in fts and fgs, 2^nd in ppg, and rpg, 5^th bpg.

His averages went to 19.3 ppg 10.3 rpg 64% fgs in six NCAA games.

In the Final Four #1-#2 matchup vs Michigan State, Duke escaped with a 68-82 win behind 18-15 from Brand who played just 29 minutes with foul trouble.

Brand put up 15 pts, 13 rbs, and 2 blks in the Final vs. #3 UConn. The Blue Devils would fall 77-74.

Duke tied a NCAA record with 37 wins, including 32 straight from December to March. They were 37-2, ACC regular season and tournament champions. They were #1 in polls.

The Blue Devils advanced to the Final Four by defeating their opponents by an average of 30 points.

3.       Wally Szczerbiak: Was 1^st team All-American by the Sporting News and 2^nd team by AP, NABC, and the U.S Basketball Writers.

He was a finalist for national Player  of the Year and MAC POY.

He was third in the NCAA with 24.2 points per game, including 34 vs. #20 Tennessee in an upset win.

Wally was also 2^nd in the MAC in rebounding (8.5), 3^rd in FT% (83%), and 4^th in field goal % (52%).

He played 37 minutes a game, and had 22 double-doubles.

In the first round of the NCAA tournament he lit up seven seed Washington for 43 (18-33, five 3s) and 12 rebounds. Miami (OH) would upset the Huskies 59-58.

He scored 73% of his teams points, an NCAA tourney record.

Wally’s World kept going against two seed and last year’s runner up Utah. Szczerbiak dropped 24 more and added 7 rb. and 5 ast.

Miami would win 66-58.

The Redhawks would eventually fall to reigning champ Kentucky 58-43 in the Sweet 16 despite 23 from Szczerbiak.

His 30 point per game was tops among all players in the tournament and landed him a spot on the a spot on the all Midwest region team.

Miami went 24-8 and were MAC regular season and tournament champions.