1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season

1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season
1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Temple (retroactive selection in 1943)
Other champions	Temple (NIT)
Player of the Year; (Helms)	Hank Luisetti, Stanford (retroactive selection in 1944)
NCAA Division I basketball seasons
«1936–37	1938–39»

The 1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1937, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1938.

Rule changes[]

After a field goal, the opposing team receives possession of the ball. Previously, a jump ball at center court had taken place after every field goal.^[1]

Season headlines[]

The New England Conference played its first season at the major-program level.
The began play.
The founded the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), which was played for the first time in 1938. A field of six teams participated, with the Temple Owls winning the first NIT championship. Although the NCAA Tournament began play the following season, the NIT, playing its games at Madison Square Garden and easily accessible to the New York City media, was considered the more glamorous and prestigious of the two tournaments until at least the mid-1950s ^[2]
In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Temple as its national champion for the 1937–38 season.^[3]
In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Temple as its national champion for the 1937–38 season.^[4]

Conference membership changes[]

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Colorado College Tigers	Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Non-major basketball program
Northeastern Huskies	Non-major basketball program	New England Conference
Pacific Tigers	Non-major basketball program
Saint Louis Billikens	Independent	Missouri Valley Conference
Saint Mary's (Calif.) Gaels	Independent
San Francisco Dons	Independent
San Jose State Spartans	Non-major basketball program
Santa Clara Broncos	Independent
Virginia Cavaliers	Southern Conference	Independent

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	Kansas	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
Eastern Intercollegiate Conference	Temple	None selected	No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference	NYU	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Oklahoma A&M	None selected	No Tournament
New England Conference	Rhode Island State		No Tournament
	San Jose State & Santa Clara		No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Oregon (North); Stanford (South)		No Tournament; Stanford defeated Oregon in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado & Utah		No Tournament
Southeastern Conference	Georgia Tech	None selected		Huey Long Field House (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)	Georgia Tech
Southern Conference	North Carolina	None selected	1938 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Thompson Gym (Raleigh, North Carolina)	Duke^[6]
Southwest Conference	Arkansas	None selected	No Tournament

Statistical leaders[]

Post-Season Tournaments[]

National Invitation Tournament[]

Semifinals & Finals[]

Semifinals			Finals

	Oklahoma A&M	55

	Temple	56
				Temple	60

				Colorado	36
	Colorado	48

	NYU	47

Third Place – Oklahoma A&M 37, NYU 24

Awards[]

Consensus All-American team[]

**Consensus Team**
Player	Class	Team
Meyer Bloom	Senior	Temple
Hank Luisetti	Senior	Stanford
John Moir	Senior	Notre Dame
Paul Nowak	Senior	Notre Dame
Fred Pralle	Senior	Kansas
Jewell Young	Senior	Purdue

Major player of the year awards[]

Helms Player of the Year: Hank Luisetti, Stanford (retroactive selection in 1944)

Other major awards[]

NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Bernie Fliegel, CCNY

Coaching changes[]

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

Team	Former Coach	New Coach	Reason
Georgetown		Elmer Ripley	Mesmer stepped aside after seven seasons to allow Ripley to return for a second stint as head coach.
Indiana	Everett Dean	Branch McCracken
Oklahoma	Hugh McDermott	Bruce Drake
Stanford	John Bunn	Everett Dean

References[]

^ orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
^ Anonymous, "How the NCAA Overtook Its Rival, the NIT," Sport History Weekly, March 24, 2019 Accessed May 4, 2021
^ Scott, Jon (Nov 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved 2015-12-14.
^ 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] rangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes

[2] Anonymous, "How the NCAA Overtook Its Rival, the NIT," Sport History Weekly, March 24, 2019 Accessed May 4, 2021

[3] Scott, Jon (Nov 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved 2015-12-14.

[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