1934–35 NCAA men's basketball season

1934–35 NCAA men's basketball season
1934–35 NCAA men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	NYU (retroactive selection in 1943)
Player of the Year; (Helms)	Leroy Edwards, Kentucky (retroactive selection in 1944)
NCAA Division I basketball seasons
«1933–34	1935–36»

The 1934–35 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1934, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1935.

Rules changes[]

The regulation basketball was reduced in circumference, from 32 inches (81 cm) to between 29.5 and 30.25 inches (74.9 and 76.8 cm).^[1]

Season headlines[]

Ned Irish began to promote college basketball doubleheaders between New York City-area teams at Madison Square Garden and intersectional games there between New York City-area teams and teams from other regions.^[2] The first intersectional game — an NYU 25–18 victory over Notre Dame on December 29, 1934 — drew 16,138 fans, a world record for attendance at a college basketball game.^[2] In the next game on January 5, 1935, NYU defeated Kentucky 23–22 before another new world record crowd of 16,539.^[2]^[3] After the NYU–Kentucky game, Kentucky head coach Adolph Rupp called for the creation of a round-robin national championship college basketball tournament.^[2]
The American Legion Bowl, promoted as a basketball game "for the national collegiate championship," took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the end of the season.^[2] LSU defeated Pittsburgh 41–37 and called itself the national collegiate basketball champion for the 1934–35 season, although this assertion was unofficial.^[2]
In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected NYU as its national champion for the 1934–35 season.^[2]
In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected NYU as its national champion for the 1934–35 season.^[4]

Conference membership changes[]

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Brooklyn Bulldogs	Metropolitan New York Conference	Non-major basketball program
Bucknell Bison	Eastern Intercollegiate Conference	Independent
Butler Bulldogs	Missouri Valley Conference	Independent
CCNY Beavers	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Fordham Rams	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Long Island Blackbirds	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Manhattan Jaspers	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
NYU Violets	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Pratt Cannoneers	Metropolitan New York Conference	Non-major basketball program
St. Francis (NY) Terriers	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
St. John's Redmen	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Tulsa Golden Hurricane	Independent	Missouri Valley Conference
Washburn Ichabods	Independent	Missouri Valley Conference

Regular season[]

Conference winners and tournaments[]

Conference	Regular Season Winner^[5]	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Big Six Conference	Iowa State	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Illinois, Purdue, & Wisconsiin	None selected	No Tournament
Border Conference	Texas Tech	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Penn	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Conference	Pittsburgh & West Virginia	None selected	No Tournament; Pittsburgh defeated West Virginia in a single-game conference playoff
Metropolitan New York Conference	Did not play as a conference
Missouri Valley Conference	Creighton & Drake	None selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Oregon State (North); USC (South)		No Tournament; USC defeated Oregon State in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado State College (Eastern); Utah State (Western)		No Tournament
Southeastern Conference	Kentucky & LSU	None selected	No Tournament
Southern Conference	North Carolina	None selected	1935 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Thompson Gym (Raleigh, North Carolina)	North Carolina^[6]
Southwest Conference	Arkansas, Rice, & SMU	None selected	No Tournament

Statistical leaders[]

Awards[]

Consensus All-American team[]

**Consensus Team**
Player	Class	Team
Omar Browning	Senior	Oklahoma
Claire Cribbs	Senior	Pittsburgh
Leroy Edwards	Sophomore	Kentucky
Jack Gray	Senior	Texas
Lee Guttero	Senior	USC

Major player of the year awards[]

Helms Player of the Year: Leroy Edwards, Kentucky (retroactive selection in 1944)

Coaching changes[]

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

Team	Former Coach	Interim Coach	New Coach	Reason
Oregon	William Reinhart		Howard Hobson
Yale	Elmer Ripley		Ken Loeffler

References[]

^ Schleyer, Claudia, "The Rules of Basketball: Boy How They've Changed!", Youth Hoops 101 Accessed 15 May 2021
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Scott, Jon (Nov 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved 2015-12-14.
^ Kentucky vs. New York University (January 5, 1935) bigbluehistory.net Accessed May 6, 2021
^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "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

[1] Schleyer, Claudia, "The Rules of Basketball: Boy How They've Changed!", Youth Hoops 101 Accessed 15 May 2021

[jps-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Scott, Jon (Nov 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved 2015-12-14.

[3] Kentucky vs. New York University (January 5, 1935) bigbluehistory.net Accessed May 6, 2021

[ESPN_526-4] ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[5] "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.

[6] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

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v t NCAA Division I men's basketball seasons
Pre-regulation	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