1997–98 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

• All NCAA Division I teams played as members of conferences for the first time in American college basketball history.
• Tubby Smith led the Kentucky Wildcats to their seventh national championship.

The top 25 from the pre-season AP Poll.

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These schools joined new conferences for the 1997–98 season.

Georgetown, which had used off-campus USAirways Arena (previously known as Capital Centre and USAir Arena) in Landover, Maryland, as its home court since the 1981–82 season, played three last home games there in November 1997 before moving in December 1997 to the new MCI Center (later known as the Verizon Center and as Capital One Arena), an off-campus site in Washington, D.C. The Hoyas played their first home game at the MCI Center on December 3, 1997, losing their Big East Conference opener to {{cbb link|1997|sex=men|team=Villanova Wildcats|school=Villanova University|title=Villanova}} 73–69 before a crowd of 13,181.

Twenty-eight conferences concluded their regular seasons with a single-elimination tournament, with only the Ivy League and the Pacific-10 Conference choosing not to conduct conference tournaments. Most conference tournament winners received an automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

For the seventh consecutive season, the Philadelphia Big 5 did not play a full round-robin schedule in which each team met each other team once, a format it had used from its first season of competition in 1955–56 through the 1990–91 season. Instead, each team played only two games against other Big 5 members, and all five teams finished with 1–1 records in head-to-head competition among the Big 5. The Big 5 did not revive its full round-robin schedule until the 1999–2000 season.

[https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/seasons/men/1998-leaders.html Source for additional stats categories]

{{Main|1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament}}

{{4TeamBracket | RD1=National semifinals | RD2=National championship game | RD1-seed1=E1

| RD1-team1=North Carolina

| RD1-score1=59

| RD1-seed2=W3

| RD1-team2=Utah

| RD1-score2=65

| RD1-seed3=S2

| RD1-team3=Kentucky

| RD1-score3=86

| RD1-seed4=M3

| RD1-team4=Stanford

| RD1-score4=85

| RD2-seed1=W3

| RD2-team1=Utah

| RD2-score1=69

| RD2-seed2=S2

| RD2-team2=Kentucky

| RD2-score2=78

}}

{{Main|1998 National Invitation Tournament}}

{{4TeamBracket | seeds=no | RD1=Semifinals | RD2=Finals | RDb=Third place

| RD1-seed1= 

| RD1-team1=Georgia

| RD1-score1=60

| RD1-seed2= 

| RD1-team2=Penn State

| RD1-score2=66

| RD1-seed3= 

| RD1-team3=Fresno State

| RD1-score3=89

| RD1-seed4= 

| RD1-team4=Minnesota

| RD1-score4=91

| RD2-seed1= 

| RD2-team1=Penn State

| RD2-score1=72

| RD2-seed2= 

| RD2-team2=Minnesota

| RD2-score2=79

| RD2b-seed1= 

| RD2b-team1=Georgia

| RD2b-score1=95

| RD2b-seed2= 

| RD2b-team2=Fresno State

| RD2b-score2=79

}}

{{Main|1998 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans}}[http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/2012/Awards.pdf NCAA Record Book - DIVISION I CONSENSUS ALL-AMERICA SELECTIONS] p.6

• Wooden Award: Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
• Naismith Award: Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
• Associated Press Player of the Year: Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
• NABC Player of the Year: Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
• Oscar Robertson Trophy (USBWA): Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
• Adolph Rupp Trophy: Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
• Sporting News Player of the Year: Antawn Jamison, North Carolina

• USBWA Freshman of the Year: Larry Hughes, St. Louis
• Sporting News Freshman of the Year: Larry Hughes, St. Louis

• Associated Press Coach of the Year: Tom Izzo, Michigan State
• Henry Iba Award (USBWA): Tom Izzo, Michigan State
• NABC Coach of the Year: Bill Guthridge, North Carolina
• Naismith College Coach of the Year: Bill Guthridge, North Carolina
• Sporting News Coach of the Year: Bill Guthridge, North Carolina

• NABC Defensive Player of the Year: Steve Wojciechowski, Duke
• Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (Best player under 6'0): Earl Boykins, Eastern Michigan
• Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): Rashid Bey, St. Joseph's
• NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Felipe López, St. John's
• Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award (Strong personal character): Hassan Booker, Navy

{{expand section|date=August 2024}}

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

{{Reflist|2}}

{{NCAA Division I men's basketball season navbox}}

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