| National championship game | |||||||||||||
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| Date | April 4, 1988 | ||||||||||||
| Venue | Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri | ||||||||||||
| MVP | Danny Manning, Kansas | ||||||||||||
| Favorite | Oklahoma by 8 | ||||||||||||
| Referees | John Clougherty, Tim Higgins & Ed Hightower | ||||||||||||
| Attendance | 16,392 | ||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||
| Network | CBS | ||||||||||||
| Announcers | Brent Musburger (play-by-play) Billy Packer (color) | ||||||||||||
The 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the final round of the 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and determined the national champion for the 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The game was played on April 4, 1988 at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, and featured the Southeast Regional Champion, #1-seeded Oklahoma versus the Midwest Regional Champion, #6-seeded Kansas, both from the Big Eight Conference. The game remains, as of the 2023 Championship game, the last time two teams from the same conference played for the National Championship. Kansas's upset of Oklahoma was the third-biggest point-spread upset in the national title game in NCAA Tournament history. After the win, the 1988 Kansas team was remembered as "Danny and the Miracles" due to Danny Manning's excellence throughout the tournament, including a double-double in the national championship game with 31 points and 18 rebounds.
Participating teams
Kansas
Danny Manning, a senior forward, was named the Big Eight Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year for the third consecutive season.
- Midwest
- Kansas (6) 85, Xavier (11) 72
- Kansas 61, Murray State (14) 58
- Kansas 77, Vanderbilt (7) 64
- Kansas 71, Kansas State (4) 58
- Final Four
- Kansas 66, Duke (2) 59
Oklahoma
- Southeast
- Oklahoma (1) 94, Chattanooga (16) 66
- Oklahoma 107, Auburn (8) 87
- Oklahoma 108, Louisville (5) 98
- Oklahoma 78, Villanova (6) 59
- Final Four
- Oklahoma 86, Arizona (1) 78
Starting lineups
| Kansas | Position | Oklahoma | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Pritchard | G | Ricky Grace | ||
| Jeff Gueldner | G | Mookie Blaylock | ||
| Chris Piper | F | Harvey Grant | ||
| Milt Newton | F | Dave Sieger | ||
| †Danny Manning | C | Stacey King | ||
| † 1988 Consensus First Team All-American | ||||
Source
Game summary
Source:[1]
April 4, 1988 |
| Kansas Jayhawks 83, Oklahoma Sooners 79 | ||
| Scoring by half: 50-50, 33-29 | ||
| Pts: Danny Manning 31 Rebs: Danny Manning 18 Asts: Kevin Pritchard, Clint Normore 4 |
Pts: Dave Sieger 22 Rebs: Stacey King, Ricky Grace 7 Asts: Dave Sieger, Ricky Grace 7 | |