1948–49 NCAA men's basketball season

1948–49 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
1948–49 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	None
NCAA Tournament	1949
Tournament dates	March 18 – 26, 1949
National Championship	Hec Edmundson Pavilion; Seattle, Washington
NCAA Champions	Kentucky
Helms National Champions	Kentucky
Other champions	San Francisco (NIT)
Player of the Year; (Helms)	Tony Lavelli, Yale
	← 1947–48 1949–50 →

The 1948–49 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1948, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1949 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 26, 1949, at Hec Edmundson Pavilion in Seattle, Washington. The Kentucky Wildcats won their second NCAA national championship with a 46–36 victory over the Oklahoma A&M Aggies.

Rule changes[edit]

Coaches were permitted to speak to players during time-outs. Previously, under a rule in place since the 1910–11 season, no coaching of players had been permitted during the progress of a game.^[1]

Season headlines[edit]

The Associated Press (AP) Poll debuted. The first national poll for ranking college basketball teams, it was modeled after the AP college football poll, which had begun in the mid-1930s.^[2] It ranked the Top 20 teams, and continued to do so until the 1961–62 season, when it became a Top 10 poll.^[3]
The Ohio Valley Conference began play, with six original members.
The Border Conference began a hiatus from major college basketball competition, playing at the non-major level for two seasons. It would return to major competition in the 1950–51 season.
The Middle Atlantic States Conference North disbanded at the end of the season.
The National Invitation Tournament expanded from eight to 12 teams.

Conference membership changes[edit]

School	Former conference	New conference
Bradley Braves	Independent	Missouri Valley Conference
Creighton Bluejays	Missouri Valley Conference	Independent
Eastern Kentucky State Colonels	Independent	Ohio Valley Conference
Evansville Purple Aces	Non-major basketball program	Ohio Valley Conference
Louisville Cardinals	Independent	Ohio Valley Conference
Morehead State Eagles	Non-major basketball program	Ohio Valley Conference
Murray State Racers	Non-major basketball program	Ohio Valley Conference
Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers	Independent	Ohio Valley Conference

Regular season[edit]

Conference winners and tournaments[edit]

Conference	Regular season winner^[4]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Seven Conference	Nebraska & Oklahoma	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Illinois	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Yale	None selected	No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference	Manhattan & St. John's		No Tournament
Mid-American Conference	Cincinnati	None selected	No Tournament
Middle Atlantic States Conference North	Lafayette & Muhlenberg		No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Oklahoma A&M	None selected	No Tournament
Ohio Valley Conference	Western Kentucky State	None selected	1949 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	Jefferson County Armory (Louisville, Kentucky)	Western Kentucky State
Pacific Coast Conference	Oregon State (North); UCLA (South)		No Tournament; Oregon State defeated UCLA in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Skyline Conference	Wyoming		No Tournament
Southeastern Conference	Kentucky	None selected	1949 SEC men's basketball tournament	Jefferson County Armory, (Louisville, Kentucky)	Kentucky
Southern Conference	NC State	None selected	1949 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Duke Indoor Stadium (Durham, North Carolina)	NC State^[5]
Southwest Conference	Arkansas, Baylor, & Rice	None selected	No Tournament
Western New York Little Three Conference	Niagara		No Tournament
Yankee Conference	Connecticut	None selected	No Tournament

Informal championships[edit]

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[edit]

Post-season tournaments[edit]

NCAA tournament[edit]

Semifinals & finals[edit]

National semifinals		National Finals

Illinois	47

Kentucky	76
		Kentucky	46

		Oklahoma A&M	36
Oklahoma A&M	55

Oregon State	30

Third Place – Illinois 57, Oregon State 53

National Invitation tournament[edit]

Semifinals & finals[edit]

Semifinals			Finals

	Loyola-Chicago	55

	Bradley	50
				Loyola-Chicago	47

				San Francisco	48
	San Francisco	49

	Bowling Green State	39

Third Place – Bowling Green State 82, Bradley 77

Awards[edit]

Consensus All-American teams[edit]

**Consensus First Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Ralph Beard	G	Senior	Kentucky
Vince Boryla	F	Junior	Denver
Alex Groza	C	Senior	Kentucky
Tony Lavelli	F	Senior	Yale
Ed Macauley	F	Senior	Saint Louis

**Consensus Second Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Bill Erickson	G	Junior	Illinois
Vern Gardner	F	Senior	Utah
Wallace Jones	F	Senior	Kentucky
Jim McIntyre	C	Senior	Minnesota
Ernie Vandeweghe	G	Senior	Colgate

Major player of the year awards[edit]

Helms Player of the Year: Tony Lavelli, Yale

Other major awards[edit]

NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Dick McGuire, St. John's

Coaching changes[edit]

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

Team	Former Coach	New Coach
Georgetown	Elmer Ripley	Buddy O'Grady
John Carroll	Norb Rascher	Elmer Ripley^[7]
La Salle	Charles McGlone	Ken Loeffler
Seton Hall	Jack Reitmeier	Honey Russell
Washington & Lee	Bob Spessard	Conn Davis

References[edit]

^ orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. p. 590. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ sports-reference.com Matchup Finder
^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
^ 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 February 14, 2009.
^ "2021 John Carroll Blue Streaks men's basketball history & records guide, page 28" (PDF). John Carroll Blue Streaks. Retrieved May 9, 2021.

[1] rangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes

[ESPN-2] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. p. 590. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[3] sports-reference.com Matchup Finder

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

[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 February 14, 2009.

[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