1974–75 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

1974–75 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
1974–75 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	NC State
NCAA Tournament	1975
Tournament dates	March 15 – 31, 1975
National Championship	San Diego Sports Arena; San Diego, California
NCAA Champions	UCLA
Helms National Champions	UCLA
Other champions	Princeton Tigers (NIT)
Player of the Year; (Naismith, Wooden)	David Thompson, NC State
Player of the Year; (Helms)	David Thompson, NC State
	← 1973–74 1975–76 →

The 1974–75 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1974, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1975 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship Game on March 31, 1975, at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California. The UCLA Bruins won their tenth NCAA national championship with a 92–85 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats.

Season headlines[edit]

The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament expanded from 40 to 48 teams.^[3]
In the Pacific 8 Conference, UCLA won its ninth of what would ultimately be 13 consecutive conference titles.

Season outlook[edit]

Pre-season polls[edit]

The top 20 from the AP Poll during the pre-season.^[4]^[5]

'Associated Press'
Ranking	Team
1	NC State
2	UCLA
3	Indiana
4	Maryland
5	Marqette
6	Kansas
7	South Carolina
8	Louisville
9	Alabama
10	USC
11	North Carolina
12	Notre Dame
13	Purdue
14	Providence
15	Memphis State
16	Kentucky
17	Michigan
18	Minnesota
19	Arizona
20	Penn

UPI Coaches
Ranking	Team
1	NC State
2	UCLA
3	Indiana
4	Louisville
5	North Carolina
6	USC
7	Marquette
8	Alabama
9	Kansas
10	Maryland
11	Notre Dame
12	South Carolina
13	Penn
14	Arizona State
15	Arizona
16 (tie)	Oregon State
16 (tie)	Purdue
18	Memphis State
19 (tie)	Michigan
19 (tie)	Oregon

Conference membership changes[edit]

School	Former conference	New conference
American Eagles	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
Bucknell Bison	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
Cal State Fullerton Titans	Non-Division I	Pacific Coast Athletic Association
Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
Drexel Dragons	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
Hofstra Pride	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
La Salle Explorers	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
Lafayette Leopards	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
Lehigh Engineers	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
Rider Broncs	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
St. Joseph's Hawks	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
Saint Louis Billikens	Missouri Valley Conference	Division I independent
Temple Owls	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference
West Chester Golden Rams	Middle Atlantic Conference	East Coast Conference

Regular season[edit]

Conference winners and tournaments[edit]

From 1975 to 1982, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), a loosely organized sports federation of Northeastern colleges and universities, organized Division I ECAC regional tournaments for those of its members that were independents in basketball. Each 1975 tournament winner received an automatic bid to the 1975 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in the same way that the tournament champions of conventional athletic conferences did.^[6]

Conference	Regular season winner^[7]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	Maryland	David Thompson, NC State^[8]	1975 ACC men's basketball tournament	Greensboro Coliseum (Greensboro, North Carolina)	North Carolina
Big Eight Conference	Kansas	Alvan Adams, Oklahoma^[9]	No Tournament
Big Sky Conference	Montana	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Indiana	None Selected	No Tournament
East Coast Conference	American & La Salle (East) Lafayette (West)	Wilbur Thomas, American (East) & Henry Horne, Lafayette (West)	1975 East Coast Conference men's basketball tournament	Kirby Sports Center (Easton, Pennsylvania)	La Salle
Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC)	Division I ECAC members played as independents during the regular season		1975 ECAC Metro Region tournament	Madison Square Garden (New York, New York)	Rutgers
			1975 ECAC New England Region tournament	Springfield Civic Center (Springfield, Massachusetts)	Boston College
			1975 ECAC Southern Region tournament	WVU Coliseum (Morgantown, West Virginia)	Georgetown
			1975 ECAC Upstate Region tournament	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium (Buffalo, New York)	Syracuse
Ivy League	Penn	Ron Haigler, Penn^[10]	No Tournament
Mid-American Conference	Central Michigan	Dan Roundfield, Central Michigan^[11]	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Louisville	Junior Bridgeman, Louisville	No Tournament
Ohio Valley Conference	Middle Tennessee	George Sorrell, Middle Tennessee	1975 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	Murphy Center (Murfreesboro, Tennessee) (Semifinals and Finals)	Middle Tennessee
Pacific-8 Conference	UCLA	None Selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Athletic Association	Long Beach State	Bob Gross, Long Beach State	No Tournament
Southeastern Conference	Alabama & Kentucky	Kevin Grevey, Kentucky, & Bernard King, Tennessee^[12]	No Tournament
Southern Conference	Furman	Clyde Mayes, Furman^[13]	1975 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Greenville Memorial Auditorium (Greenville, South Carolina) (Semifinals and Finals)	Furman^[14]
Southland Conference	McNeese State	Henry Ray, McNeese State^[15]	No Tournament
Southwest Conference	Texas A&M	Rick Bullock, Texas Tech	No Tournament
West Coast Athletic Conference	UNLV	Ricky Sobers, UNLV	No Tournament
Western Athletic Conference	Arizona State	None Selected	No Tournament
Yankee Conference	Massachusetts	None Selected	No Tournament

Informal championships[edit]

Conference	Regular season winner	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Philadelphia Big 5	La Salle	None selected	No Tournament

Statistical leaders[edit]

Post-season tournaments[edit]

NCAA tournament[edit]

Final Four[edit]

National semifinals			National finals

E	Syracuse	79

ME	Kentucky	95
			ME	Kentucky	85

			W	UCLA	92
ME	Louisville	74

MW	UCLA	75

Third Place – Louisville 96, Syracuse 88

National Invitation tournament[edit]

Semifinals & finals[edit]

Semifinals			Finals

	Providence	85

	St. John's	72
				Providence	69

				Princeton	80
	Oregon	79

	Princeton	58

Third Place – Oregon 80, St. John's 76

Awards[edit]

Consensus All-American teams[edit]

**Consensus First Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Adrian Dantley	F	Sophomore	Notre Dame
John Lucas	G	Junior	Maryland
Scott May	F	Junior	Indiana
Dave Meyers	F	Senior	UCLA
David Thompson	G/F	Senior	North Carolina State

**Consensus Second Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Luther Burden	G	Junior	Utah
Leon Douglas	F/C	Junior	Alabama
Kevin Grevey	G	Senior	Kentucky
Ron Lee	G	Junior	Oregon
Gus Williams	G	Senior	Southern California

Coaching changes[edit]

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

Team	Former Coach	New Coach	Reason
Army	Dan Dougherty	Mike Krzyzewski
Hardin–Simmons	Russell Berry	Preston Vice
Illinois	Gene Bartow	Lou Henson	Bartow left for UCLA and was replaced by New Mexico State coach Lou Henson.
New Mexico State	Lou Henson	Ken Hayes
Tulsa	Ken Hayes	Jim King
UCLA	John Wooden	Gene Bartow	Wooden announced his retirement during the 1975 Final Four, where he won his record tenth NCAA title. He was replaced by Illinois head coach Bartow.

References[edit]

^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. p. 846. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "1978 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
^ "Burnsed, Brian, "A Brief History of Men's College Basketball," Champion, Fall 2018 Accessed April 6, 2021". Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
^ 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.
^ Varsity Pride: ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments
^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
^ 2008–09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Year by Year section Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2009-02-14
^ 2008–09 Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Guide – Awards section, Big 12 Conference, retrieved 2009-02-04
^ Men's Ivy League Outstanding performers Archived 2008-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, Ivy League, retrieved 2009-02-01
^ 2008–09 MAC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Records Section, Mid-American Conference, retrieved 2009-02-14
^ 2008–09 SEC Men's Basketball Record Book, Southeastern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-06
^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
^ 2008–09 Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Media Guide, Southland Conference, retrieved 2009-02-07

[preseason-1] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. p. 846. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[2] "1978 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved August 8, 2020.

[3] "Burnsed, Brian, "A Brief History of Men's College Basketball," Champion, Fall 2018 Accessed April 6, 2021". Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

[ESPN-4] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. p. 836. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[5] "1977 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved August 8, 2020.

[varsitypride-6] Varsity Pride: ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments

[7] "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.

[8] 2008–09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Year by Year section Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2009-02-14

[9] 2008–09 Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Guide – Awards section, Big 12 Conference, retrieved 2009-02-04

[10] Men's Ivy League Outstanding performers Archived 2008-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, Ivy League, retrieved 2009-02-01

[11] 2008–09 MAC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Records Section, Mid-American Conference, retrieved 2009-02-14

[12] 2008–09 SEC Men's Basketball Record Book, Southeastern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-06

[13] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

[14] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

[15] 2008–09 Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Media Guide, Southland Conference, retrieved 2009-02-07

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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