1998–99 Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball team

The 1998–99 Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball team was the first Purdue basketball team to win an NCAA national championship. The team was undefeated in conference play and finished the regular season with one loss.

1998–99 Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions
Big Ten regular season champions
Big Ten tournament champions
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 1
APNo. 1
Record34–1 (16–0 B1G)
Head coach
Home arenaMackey Arena
Seasons
1998–99 Big Ten women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 Purdue 16 0   1.000 34 1   .971
No. 18 Penn State 12 4   .750 22 8   .733
Illinois 10 6   .625 19 12   .613
Ohio State 9 7   .563 17 12   .586
Wisconsin 9 7   .563 18 14   .563
Michigan 8 8   .500 18 12   .600
Michigan State 8 8   .500 17 14   .548
Iowa 7 9   .438 12 15   .444
Northwestern 5 11   .313 12 16   .429
Indiana 2 14   .125 13 18   .419
Minnesota 2 14   .125 7 20   .259
1999 Big Ten tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

Background

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This season was Carolyn Peck's second and final season coaching Purdue's women's basketball team.[1]

Schedule

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Non-conference

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The season started off with two wins, including a road win at the University of Arizona. They lost their third game to Stanford, their only loss of the season. The team closed out their non-conference schedule with wins against 4th ranked Louisiana Tech and 20th ranked Florida.[2]

Conference

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The team finished their conference schedule undefeated, winning sixteen games in a row. They played two ranked teams, beating them three times.[2]

NCAA tournament

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Purdue began the tournament as a number 1 seed in the Midwest region, played in Normal, Illinois. The team played Oral Roberts, winning 68–48. The team then played 9th seed Kansas. Purdue won that matchup 55–41. They moved on to play 4th seed North Carolina, winning 82–59 in the Regional semifinals. The last game in the Midwest region was played against 3rd seed Rutgers, which Purdue beat 75–62.[2]

Purdue moved on to the Final Four, played in San Jose, California. They played Louisiana Tech, the number 1 seed from the West region. Purdue won 77–63. They faced Duke in the finals, who was coached by a former Purdue coach. Two of the Duke players also formerly played at Purdue before transferring.[3] Carolyn Peck coached Purdue to a 62–45 win, in what was her last game before moving on to the Orlando Miracle. This was the Boilermaker's first national championship. It was also the first, and as of 2023 only, NCAA national title by a women's basketball team from the Big Ten.[2]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Regular season
11/15/1998*
No. 5 No. 1 Tennessee W 78–68  1–0
Mackey Arena (11,788)
West Lafayette, IN
11/19/1998*
No. 1 at Arizona W 65–58  2–0
 (3,076)
 
11/22/1998*
No. 1 at Stanford L 72–73  2–1
 (4,553)
 
11/25/1998*
No. 4 Valparaiso W 92–51  3–1
Mackey Arena (7,920)
West Lafayette, IN
12/04/1998*
No. 4 Northern Illinois W 83–55  4–1
Mackey Arena (8,048)
West Lafayette, IN
12/06/1998*
No. 4 Ball State W 103–58  5–1
Mackey Arena (3,239)
West Lafayette, IN
12/12/1998*
No. 3 at Ohio W 92–52  6–1
 (1,952)
 
12/19/1998*
No. 3 No. 4 Louisiana Tech W 71–65  7–1
Mackey Arena (13,547)
West Lafayette, IN
12/21/1998*
No. 3 at No. 20 Florida W 84–76  8–1
 (3,188)
 
12/30/1998
No. 3 Minnesota W 73–52  9–1
(1–0)
Mackey Arena (9,330)
West Lafayette, IN
1/5/99
No. 3 No. 17 Penn State W 53–48  10–1
(2–0)
Mackey Arena (7,347)
West Lafayette, IN
1/10/99
No. 3 at Iowa W 71–69 OT 11–1
(3–0)
Carver–Hawkeye Arena (4,761)
Iowa City, IA
1/12/99
No. 3 Northwestern W 76–46  12–1
(4–0)
Mackey Arena (7,466)
West Lafayette, IN
1/15/99
No. 3 Michigan State W 70–47  13–1
(5–0)
Mackey Arena (3,519)
West Lafayette, IN
1/18/99
No. 3 at Illinois W 71–60  14–1
(6–0)
 (10,092)
 
1/22/99
No. 3 Indiana W 97–62  15–1
(7–0)
Mackey Arena (10,039)
West Lafayette, IN
1/24/99
No. 3 Wisconsin W 76–56  16–1
(8–0)
Mackey Arena (9,960)
West Lafayette, IN
1/26/99
No. 2 at No. 19 Ohio State W 64–56  17–1
(9–0)
 (8,877)
 
1/29/99
No. 2 at Indiana W 91–86  18–1
(10–0)
 (5,503)
 
1/31/99
No. 2 at Michigan State W 80–66  19–1
(11–0)
 (3,519)
 
2/04/99
No. 2 at Providence W 96–67  20–1
 (321)
 
2/07/99
No. 2 Michigan W 70–64  21–1
(12–0)
Mackey Arena (12,932)
West Lafayette, IN
2/12/99
No. 2 at No. 15 Penn State W 76–74 OT 22–1
(13–0)
 (7,151)
University Park, PA
2/14/99
No. 2 Ohio State W 88–58  23–1
(14–0)
Mackey Arena (14,123)
West Lafayette, IN
2/19/99
No. 2 at Minnesota W 63–61  24–1
(15–0)
 (4,902)
 
2/21/99
No. 2 at Northwestern W 71–62  25–1
(16–0)
 (2,479)
 
Big Ten tournament
2/27/99
No. 1 Northwestern W 79–56  26–1
Mackey Arena (7,317)
West Lafayette, IN
2/28/99
No. 1 Ohio State W 72–59  27–1
Mackey Arena (6,123)
West Lafayette, IN
3/01/99
No. 1 Illinois W 80–76  28–1
Mackey Arena (6,459)
West Lafayette, IN
NCAA tournament
3/13/99
(1 MW) No. 1 (16 MW) Oral Roberts
First Round
W 68–48  29–1
Mackey Arena (9,169)
West Lafayette, IN
3/15/99
(1 MW) No. 1 (8 MW) Kansas
Second Round
W 55–41  30–1
Mackey Arena (9,501)
West Lafayette, IN
3/20/99
(1 MW) No. 1 (4 MW) No. 14 North Carolina
Sweet Sixteen
W 82–59  31–1
Redbird Arena (9,041)
Normal, Illinois
3/22/99
(1 MW) No. 1 (2 MW) No. 9 Rutgers
Elite Eight
W 75–62  32–1
Redbird Arena (8,844)
Normal, Illinois
3/26/99
(1 MW) No. 1 vs. (1 W) No. 3 Louisiana Tech
Final Four
W 77–63  33–1
San Jose Arena (17,773)
San Jose, California
3/28/99
(1 MW) No. 1 vs. (3 E) No. 10 Duke
Championship Game
W 62–45  34–1
San Jose Arena (17,773)
San Jose, California
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
L=Lexington Region.
All times are in Eastern Time.

Source[2]

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314151617Final
AP514433333332222111Not released
Coaches111

^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.

References

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  1. ^ Montville, Leigh (June 14, 1999). "Miracle Worker Carolyn Peck won an NCAA title in her second year at Purdue. Her next trick: building a brand-new WNBA team in Orlando". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Purdue Women's Basketball Statistics". Purdue Sports. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  3. ^ Pennington, Bill (March 29, 1999). "N.C.A.A. Tournament: Women's Championship; Purdue Completes Transfer of Power". New York Times. Retrieved October 15, 2017.