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1939–40 NCAA men's basketball season

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The 1939–40 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1939, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1940 NCAA basketball tournament Championship Game on March 30, 1940, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The Indiana Hoosiers won their first NCAA national championship with a 60–42 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks.

Rule changes

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After a foul, teams received the option of either taking a free throw or taking the ball at mid-court.[1]

Season headlines

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Conference membership changes

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School Former conference New conference
Brooklyn Bulldogs Metropolitan New York Conference Independent
Carnegie Tech Tartans Eastern Intercollegiate Conference Non-major basketball program
CCNY Beavers Metropolitan New York Conference Independent
Columbia Lions Metropolitan New York Conference See note
Fordham Rams Metropolitan New York Conference Independent
Georgetown Hoyas Eastern Intercollegiate Conference Independent
Grinnell Pioneers Missouri Valley Conference Non-major basketball program
Long Island Blackbirds Metropolitan New York Conference Independent
Manhattan Jaspers Metropolitan New York Conference Independent
NYU Violets Metropolitan New York Conference Independent
Pacific Tigers Northern California Conference Non-major basketball program
Penn State Nittany Lions Eastern Intercollegiate Conference Independent
Pittsburgh Panthers Eastern Intercollegiate Conference Independent
St. Francis (NY) Terriers Metropolitan New York Conference Independent
St. John's Redmen Metropolitan New York Conference Independent
Saint Mary's (Calif.) Gaels Northern California Conference Independent
San Francisco Dons Northern California Conference Independent
San Jose State Spartans Northern California Conference Non-major basketball program
Santa Clara Broncos Northern California Conference Independent
Temple Owls Eastern Intercollegiate Conference Independent
West Virginia Mountaineers Eastern Intercollegiate Conference Independent

NOTE: Columbia left the Metropolitan New York Conference while retaining membership in the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League. It was a member of both from 1933 until 1939.

Regular season

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Conferences

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Conference winners and tournaments

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Conference Regular
season winner[6]
Conference
player of the year
Conference
tournament
Tournament
venue (City)
Tournament
winner
Big Six Conference Kansas, Missouri, & Oklahoma None selected No Tournament
Big Ten Conference Purdue None selected No Tournament
Border Conference New Mexico State None selected No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Dartmouth None selected No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference Did not play as conference
Missouri Valley Conference Oklahoma A&M None selected No Tournament
Mountain States (Skyline) Conference Colorado No Tournament
New England Conference Rhode Island State No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference Oregon State (North); USC (South) No Tournament;
USC defeated Oregon State in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Southeastern Conference Kentucky None selected 1940 SEC men's basketball tournament Alumni Memorial Gym (Knoxville, Tennessee) Kentucky
Southern Conference Duke None selected 1940 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament Thompson Gym
(Raleigh, North Carolina)
North Carolina[7]
Southwest Conference Rice None selected No Tournament

Conference standings

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1939–40 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Kansas 8 2   .800 19 6   .760
Missouri 8 2   .800 13 6   .684
Oklahoma 8 2   .800 12 7   .632
Iowa State 2 8   .200 9 9   .500
Kansas State 2 8   .200 6 12   .333
Nebraska 2 8   .200 6 12   .333
1939–40 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Purdue 10 2   .833 16 4   .800
Indiana 9 3   .750 20 3   .870
Ohio State 8 4   .667 13 7   .650
Illinois 7 5   .583 14 6   .700
Northwestern 7 5   .583 13 7   .650
Michigan 6 6   .500 13 7   .650
Minnesota 5 7   .417 12 8   .600
Iowa 4 8   .333 9 12   .429
Wisconsin 3 9   .250 5 15   .250
Chicago 1 11   .083 5 15   .250
1939–40 Border Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
New Mexico A&M 12 4   .750 16 7   .696
Arizona 12 4   .750 15 10   .600
Texas State M&M 10 6   .625 15 11   .577
Arizona State–Flagstaff 7 9   .438 8 12   .400
Arizona State–Tempe 7 11   .389 8 13   .381
New Mexico 1 15   .063 3 22   .120
1939–40 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Dartmouth 11 1   .917 15 6   .714
Princeton 8 4   .667 14 8   .636
Yale 7 5   .583 13 6   .684
Cornell 7 5   .583 10 13   .435
Columbia 4 8   .333 5 12   .294
Harvard 3 9   .250 5 14   .263
Penn 2 10   .167 5 13   .278
1939–40 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Oklahoma A&M 12 0   1.000 26 3   .897
Creighton 8 4   .667 11 9   .550
Drake 7 5   .583 13 12   .520
Washburn 6 6   .500 8 8   .500
Tulsa 5 7   .417 12 15   .444
Washington University 2 10   .167 7 13   .350
Saint Louis 2 10   .167 4 14   .222
1939–40 Mountain States Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Colorado 11 1   .917 17 4   .810
Utah 8 4   .667 19 4   .826
BYU 7 5   .583 17 8   .680
Utah State 7 5   .583 11 7   .611
Wyoming 3 9   .250 6 10   .375
Colorado State 3 9   .250 6 12   .333
Denver 3 9   .250 6 15   .286
1939–40 New England Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Rhode Island State 8 0   1.000 19 3   .864
Connecticut 6 2   .750 9 7   .563
New Hampshire 3 5   .375 5 10   .333
Northeastern 3 5   .375 4 13   .235
Maine 0 8   .000 3 9   .250
1939–40 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
North
Oregon State 12 4   .750 27 11   .711
Oregon 10 6   .625 19 12   .613
Washington State 9 7   .563 23 10   .697
Washington 6 10   .375 10 15   .400
Idaho 3 13   .188 11 15   .423
South
USC 10 2   .833 20 3   .870
Stanford 6 6   .500 14 9   .609
California 5 7   .417 15 17   .469
UCLA 3 9   .250 8 17   .320
† Conference playoff series winner
1939–40 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Alabama 14 4   .778 18 5   .783
Tennessee 7 3   .700 14 7   .667
Georgia 9 4   .692 20 6   .769
LSU 8 4   .667 10 8   .556
Florida 5 4   .556 13 9   .591
Georgia Tech 6 6   .500 7 8   .467
Kentucky 4 4   .500 15 6   .714
Auburn 6 7   .462 7 10   .412
Mississippi State 4 5   .444 9 6   .600
Vanderbilt 5 7   .417 10 12   .455
Ole Miss 3 8   .273 9 10   .474
Tulane 2 8   .200 2 13   .133
Sewanee 0 9   .000 2 13   .133
† Regular-season championship and SEC Tournament winner
1939–40 Southern Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Duke 13 2   .867 19 7   .731
North Carolina 11 2   .846 23 3   .885
Washington and Lee 7 3   .700 13 5   .722
Wake Forest 10 5   .667 13 9   .591
Maryland 7 5   .583 14 9   .609
Clemson 9 7   .563 9 12   .429
Richmond 5 4   .556 11 6   .647
The Citadel 6 5   .545 8 9   .471
William & Mary 6 5   .545 12 11   .522
Furman 4 6   .400 11 11   .500
North Carolina State 5 10   .333 8 11   .421
Davidson 4 11   .267 8 13   .381
South Carolina 3 10   .231 5 13   .278
VMI 2 9   .182 3 12   .200
Virginia Tech 1 9   .100 4 15   .211
Southern Conference Tournament winner
1939–40 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Rice 10 2   .833 25 4   .862
Texas 8 4   .667 18 5   .783
Baylor 7 5   .583 12 9   .571
Arkansas 6 6   .500 12 10   .545
Texas A&M 5 7   .417 11 11   .500
SMU 5 7   .417 7 13   .350
TCU 1 11   .083 7 16   .304

Major independents

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A total of 66 college teams played as major independents. Seton Hall (19–0) was undefeated, and Marshall (26–3) finished with the most wins.[9]

1939–40 NCAA men's basketball independents standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Seton Hall   19 0   1.000
NYU   18 1   .947
Marshall   26 3   .897
Villanova   17 2   .895
Duquesne   20 3   .870
Santa Clara   17 3   .850
Indiana State   15 3   .833
LIU   19 4   .826
Toledo   24 6   .800
Western Kentucky State   24 6   .800
DePaul   22 6   .786
Bowling Green State   16 5   .762
Virginia   16 5   .762
Ohio   19 6   .760
St. John's   15 5   .750
Texas Tech   21 7   .750
Butler   17 6   .739
Army   11 4   .733
St. Francis (NY)   13 5   .722
Notre Dame   15 6   .714
Bradley   14 6   .700
Michigan State Normal   14 6   .700
Brown   13 6   .684
George Washington   13 6   .684
West Virginia   13 6   .684
Montana   17 8   .680
Colgate   12 6   .667
Miami (Ohio)   12 6   .667
St. Joseph's   10 5   .667
Penn State   15 8   .652
Bucknell   13 7   .650
St. Bonaventure   11 6   .647
Loyola (Md.)   14 8   .636
Niagara   12 7   .632
Siena   12 7   .632
Detroit   14 9   .609
Manhattan   14 9   .609
La Salle   12 8   .600
Fordham   11 8   .579
Lafayette   11 8   .579
Kent State   13 10   .565
Temple   13 10   .565
Syracuse   10 8   .556
Wichita Municipal   10 8   .556
Muhlenberg   11 9   .550
San Francisco   9 8   .529
Western State Teachers   10 9   .526
Brooklyn   9 9   .500
CCNY   8 8   .500
Canisius   8 9   .471
Cincinnati   8 9   .471
Pittsburgh   8 9   .471
Boston University   6 7   .462
Georgetown   8 10   .444
Marquette   7 9   .438
Holy Cross   2 3   .400
Montana State   10 16   .385
Saint Mary's   7 12   .368
Lehigh   5 10   .333
Valparaiso   6 14   .300
Loyola (Ill.)   5 14   .263
Rutgers   5 14   .263
Xavier   6 17   .261
Navy   3 11   .214
Dayton   4 17   .190
Louisville   1 18   .053

Statistical leaders

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Post-season tournaments

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NCAA tournament

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Semifinals & final

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National Semifinals National Final
    
Indiana 39
Duquesne 30
Indiana 60
Kansas 42
USC 42
Kansas 43

National Invitation tournament

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Semifinals & finals

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Semifinals Finals
    
Colorado 52
DePaul 37
Colorado 51
Duquesne 40
Oklahoma A&M 30
Duquesne 34 Third place
DePaul 22
Oklahoma A&M 23

Awards

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Consensus All-American teams

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Consensus First Team
Player Class Team
Gus Broberg Junior Dartmouth
John Dick Senior Oregon
George Glamack Junior North Carolina
Bill Hapac Senior Illinois
Ralph Vaughn Senior USC


Consensus Second Team
Player Class Team
Jack Harvey Senior Colorado
Marv Huffman Senior Indiana
Jimmy McNatt Senior Oklahoma
Jesse Renick Senior Oklahoma A&M

Major player of the year awards

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Other major awards

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Coaching changes

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References

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  1. ^ orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
  2. ^ a b "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. p. 12. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  3. ^ Anonymous, "How the NCAA Overtook Its Rival, the NIT," Sport History Weekly, March 24, 2019 Accessed May 4, 2021
  4. ^ Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  5. ^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. pp. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
  6. ^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
  7. ^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
  8. ^ "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  9. ^ "1939-40 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved August 2, 2024.