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| 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 |
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| Winning coach | Larry Brown (1st title) | ||||
| MOP | Danny Manning (Kansas) | ||||
| Attendance | 558,998 | ||||
| Top scorer | Danny Manning (Kansas) (163 points) | ||||
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The 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 50th annual edition of the tournament began on March 17, 1988, and ended with the championship game on April 4 returning to Kansas City for the 10th time. A total of 63 games were played.
Kansas, coached by Larry Brown, won the national title with an 83–79 victory in the final game over Big Eight Conference rival Oklahoma, coached by Billy Tubbs. As of 2023, this was the last national championship game to feature two schools from the same conference. Danny Manning of Kansas was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Even though the Final Four was contested 40 miles (64 km) from its campus in Lawrence, 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 in 1986 (as a No. 11 seed) and Syracuse in 1987.
The team which was arguably hurt the most by the change was North Carolina, whose Dean 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. Archrival Duke was the No. 2 seed in the East and won its first two games at Chapel Hill on its way to the Final Four.
Arizona, now known as a prominent basketball powerhouse, made their debut in this 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 the 1983 tournament, the longest gap at that point.