1950–51 NCAA men's basketball season

1950–51 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
1950–51 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	None
NCAA Tournament	1951
Tournament dates	March 20 – 27, 1951
National Championship	Williams Arena; Minneapolis, Minnesota
NCAA Champions	Kentucky
Helms National Champions	Kentucky
Other champions	BYU (NIT)
Player of the Year; (Helms)	Dick Groat, Duke
	← 1949–50 1951–52 →

The 1950–51 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1950, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1951 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 27, 1951, at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Kentucky Wildcats won their second NCAA national championship with a 68–58 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats.

Season headlines

The United Press (later United Press International) Coaches Poll made its debut.
After a two-season hiatus during which its teams competed as non-major programs, the Border Conference resumed basketball competition as a major conference.
During January and February 1951, the CCNY point-shaving scandal is revealed. Over the next few months, it results in the arrests of 32 players from seven schools for point shaving in 86 games between 1947 and 1950.^[1]
The NCAA tournament expanded for the first time, from eight to 16 teams.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The Top 20 from the UP Coaches Poll during the pre-season.^[2]^[3]

UP Coaches
Ranking	Team
1	CCNY
2	Bradley
3	Kentucky
4	NC State
5	Kansas
6	Oklahoma A&M
7	Long Island
8	Iowa
9	St. John's
10	Indiana
11	UCLA
12	Kansas State
13 (tie)	Arkansas
	Syracuse
	Western Kentucky State
16	Washington
17 (tie)	DePaul
17 (tie)	Illinois
19	Ohio State
20	BYU

Conference membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference
Butler Bulldogs	Mid-American Conference	Independent
Houston Cougars	Non-major basketball program	Missouri Valley Conference
Wayne State Warriors	Independent	No NCAA basketball program
West Virginia Mountaineers	Independent	Southern Conference

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner^[4]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Seven Conference	Kansas State	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Illinois	None selected	No Tournament
Border Conference	Arizona		No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Columbia	None selected	No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference	St. John's		No Tournament
Mid-American Conference	Cincinnati	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Oklahoma A&M	None selected	No Tournament
Ohio Valley Conference	Murray State	None selected	1951 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	Jefferson County Armory (Louisville, Kentucky)	Murray State
Pacific Coast Conference	Washington (North); UCLA (South)		No Tournament; Washington defeated UCLA in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Skyline Conference	BYU		No Tournament
Southeastern Conference	Kentucky	None selected	1951 SEC men's basketball tournament	Jefferson County Armory, (Louisville, Kentucky)	Vanderbilt
Southern Conference	NC State	None selected	1951 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Reynolds Coliseum (Raleigh, North Carolina)	NC State^[5]
Southwest Conference	Texas, Texas A&M, & TCU	None selected	No Tournament
Western New York Little Three Conference	St. Bonaventure		No Tournament
Yankee Conference	Connecticut	None selected	No Tournament

Informal championships

Conference	Regular season winner^[6]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Middle Three Conference	Rutgers	None selected	No Tournament

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Semifinals & finals

National Semifinals		National Finals

Illinois	74

Kentucky	76
		Kentucky	68

		Kansas State	58
Kansas State	68

Oklahoma A&M	44

Third Place – Illinois 61, Oklahoma A&M 46

National Invitation tournament

Semifinals & finals

Semifinals			Finals

	BYU	69

	Seton Hall	59
				BYU	62

				Dayton	43
	St. John's	62

	Dayton	69

Third Place – St. John's 70, Seton Hall 68

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

**Consensus First Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Clyde Lovellette	C	Junior	Kansas
Gene Melchiorre	G	Senior	Bradley
Bill Mlkvy	F	Junior	Temple
Sam Ranzino	G	Senior	North Carolina State
Bill Spivey	C	Junior	Kentucky

**Consensus Second Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Ernie Barrett	G/F	Senior	Kansas State
Bill Garrett	F	Senior	Indiana
Dick Groat	G	Junior	Duke
Mel Hutchins	F/C	Senior	BYU
Gale McArthur	G	Senior	Oklahoma A&M

Major player of the year awards

Other major awards

NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): John Azary, Columbia

Coaching changes

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

Team	Former Coach	New Coach
Iowa	Rollie Williams	Bucky O'Connor
John Carroll	Elmer Ripley	Fred George^[7]
Notre Dame	Moose Krause	John Jordan
Stanford	Everett Dean	Bob Burnett

References

^ Goldstein, Joe, "Explosion: 1951 scandals threaten college hoops" - ESPN - November 19, 2003
^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. p. 836. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "1977 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
^ "2021 John Carroll Blue Streaks men's basketball history & records guide, page 28" (PDF). John Carroll Blue Streaks. Retrieved May 9, 2021.

[1] Goldstein, Joe, "Explosion: 1951 scandals threaten college hoops" - ESPN - November 19, 2003

[ESPN-2] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. p. 836. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[3] "1977 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved August 8, 2020.

[4] "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.

[5] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

[6] "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.

[7] "2021 John Carroll Blue Streaks men's basketball history & records guide, page 28" (PDF). John Carroll Blue Streaks. Retrieved May 9, 2021.

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v t e NCAA Division I men's basketball seasons
Pre-regulation	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898-99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06
IAAUS / NCAA pre-Tournament era	1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38
NCAA Tournament era	1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25