1950–51 NCAA men's basketball season

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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
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 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[]

Coaching changes[]

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

Team Former
Coach
Interim
Coach
New
Coach
Reason
Iowa Rollie Williams Bucky O'Connor
John Carroll Elmer Ripley [7]
Notre Dame Moose Krause John Jordan
Stanford Everett Dean

References[]

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