1941–42 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1941–42 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1941, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1942 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 28, 1942, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The Stanford Indians won their first NCAA national championship with a 53–38 victory over the Dartmouth Big Green.

Season headlines

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Conference membership changes

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School Former conference New conference
George Washington Colonials Independent Southern Conference
Sewanee Tigers Independent Non-major basketball program
Washburn Ichabods Missouri Valley Conference Non-major basketball program

Regular season

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Conferences

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Conference winners and tournaments

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Conference Regular
season winner[3]
Conference
player of the year
Conference
tournament
Tournament
venue (City)
Tournament
winner
Big Six Conference Kansas & Oklahoma None selected No Tournament
Big Ten Conference Illinois None selected No Tournament
Border Conference West Texas State None selected No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Dartmouth None selected No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference Did not play as conference
Missouri Valley Conference Creighton & Oklahoma A&M None selected No Tournament
Mountain States (Skyline) Conference Colorado No Tournament
New England Conference Rhode Island State No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference Oregon State (North); Stanford (South) No Tournament;
Stanford defeated Oregon State in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Southeastern Conference Kentucky None selected 1942 SEC men's basketball tournament Jefferson County Armory,
(Louisville, Kentucky)
Kentucky
Southern Conference Duke None selected 1942 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament Thompson Gym
(Raleigh, North Carolina)
Duke[4]
Southwest Conference Arkansas & Rice None selected No Tournament

Conference standings

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1941–42 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Kansas 8 2   .800 17 5   .773
Oklahoma 8 2   .800 11 7   .611
Iowa State 5 5   .500 11 6   .647
Nebraska 4 6   .400 6 13   .316
Kansas State 3 7   .300 8 10   .444
Missouri 2 8   .200 6 12   .333
1941–42 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Illinois 13 2   .867 18 5   .783
Indiana 10 5   .667 15 6   .714
Wisconsin 10 5   .667 14 7   .667
Iowa 10 5   .667 12 8   .600
Minnesota 9 6   .600 15 6   .714
Purdue 9 6   .600 14 7   .667
Northwestern 5 10   .333 8 13   .381
Michigan 5 10   .333 6 14   .300
Ohio State 4 11   .267 6 14   .300
Chicago 0 15   .000 1 20   .048
1941–42 Border Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
West Texas State 16 0   1.000 28 3   .903
Texas Tech 12 4   .750 16 11   .593
Arizona State–Tempe 10 6   .625 10 10   .500
Arizona State–Flagstaff 8 8   .500 11 10   .524
Texas State M&M 7 9   .438 11 11   .500
Arizona 6 10   .375 9 13   .409
Hardin–Simmons 6 10   .375 6 10   .375
New Mexico 5 11   .313 9 13   .409
New Mexico A&M 2 14   .125 8 18   .308
1941–42 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Dartmouth 10 2   .833 22 4   .846
Princeton 10 2   .833 16 5   .762
Cornell 7 5   .583 9 12   .429
Pennsylvania 5 7   .417 9 9   .500
Harvard 5 7   .417 8 16   .333
Yale 3 9   .250 7 12   .368
Columbia 2 10   .167 2 13   .133
1941–42 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Creighton 9 1   .900 19 5   .792
Oklahoma A&M 9 1   .900 20 6   .769
Washington University 4 6   .400 10 13   .435
Saint Louis 4 6   .400 8 12   .400
Tulsa 3 7   .300 3 13   .188
Drake 1 9   .100 2 13   .133
1941–42 Mountain States Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Colorado 11 1   .917 16 2   .889
BYU 9 3   .750 17 3   .850
Wyoming 9 3   .750 15 5   .750
Utah 7 5   .583 13 7   .650
Utah State 3 9   .250 6 10   .375
Denver 2 10   .167 4 16   .200
Colorado State 1 11   .083 3 16   .158
1941–42 New England Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Rhode Island State 8 0   1.000 18 4   .818
Connecticut 6 2   .750 12 5   .706
Northeastern 4 4   .500 6 9   .400
Maine 2 6   .250 7 7   .500
New Hampshire 0 8   .000 4 15   .211
1941–42 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
North
Oregon State 11 5   .688 18 9   .667
Washington 10 6   .625 18 7   .720
Washington State 9 7   .563 21 8   .724
Oregon 7 9   .438 12 15   .444
Idaho 3 13   .188 12 16   .429
South
Stanford 11 1   .917 28 4   .875
USC 7 5   .583 12 8   .600
California 4 8   .333 11 19   .367
UCLA 2 10   .167 5 18   .217
† Conference playoff series winner
1941–42 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Tennessee 7 1   .875 19 3   .864
Alabama 13 4   .765 18 6   .750
Kentucky 6 2   .750 19 6   .760
LSU 8 3   .727 8 7   .533
Auburn 9 5   .643 11 6   .647
Mississippi State 9 6   .600 13 7   .650
Georgia 5 8   .385 7 10   .412
Georgia Tech 4 7   .364 8 8   .500
Florida 3 8   .273 8 9   .471
Vanderbilt 3 8   .273 7 9   .438
Tulane 3 9   .250 4 12   .250
Ole Miss 3 12   .200 4 15   .211
† Regular-season championship and SEC Tournament winner
1941–42 Southern Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Duke 15 1   .938 22 2   .917
George Washington 8 3   .727 11 9   .550
Wake Forest 13 5   .722 16 8   .667
North Carolina State 9 4   .692 15 7   .682
William & Mary 8 4   .667 15 9   .625
South Carolina 8 4   .667 12 9   .571
North Carolina 9 5   .643 14 9   .609
Washington and Lee 7 7   .500 10 15   .400
Furman 7 8   .467 10 9   .526
Richmond 4 8   .333 9 9   .500
Virginia Tech 4 8   .333 10 10   .500
VMI 5 10   .333 7 11   .389
Maryland 3 8   .273 7 15   .318
Davidson 3 9   .250 12 13   .480
Clemson 2 10   .167 3 14   .176
The Citadel 1 12   .077 2 14   .125
Southern Conference Tournament winner
1941–42 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Arkansas 10 2   .833 19 4   .826
Rice 10 2   .833 22 5   .815
TCU 6 6   .500 13 10   .565
Baylor 6 6   .500 11 9   .550
Texas 5 7   .417 14 9   .609
Texas A&M 4 8   .333 8 16   .333
SMU 1 11   .083 3 16   .158

Major independents

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A total of 65 college teams played as major independents. LIU (25–3) had the best winning percentage (.893) and Western Kentucky State (29–5) finished with the most wins.[6]

1941–42 NCAA men's basketball independents standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
LIU   25 3   .893
St. Francis (NY)   16 2   .889
Penn State   18 3   .857
Western Kentucky State   29 5   .853
CCNY   16 3   .842
Seton Hall   16 3   .842
West Virginia   19 4   .826
Toledo   23 5   .821
Loyola (Md.)   18 4   .818
Indiana State   17 4   .810
Saint Mary's   20 5   .800
St. John's   16 5   .762
Bradley   15 5   .750
Loyola (Ill.)   17 6   .739
Niagara   16 6   .727
Notre Dame   16 6   .727
Duquesne   15 6   .714
Michigan State Normal   15 6   .714
Syracuse   15 6   .714
Muhlenberg   17 7   .708
Canisius   12 6   .667
Dayton   12 6   .667
St. Joseph's   12 6   .667
Boston University   9 5   .643
Montana State   14 8   .636
Fordham   12 7   .632
NYU   12 7   .632
Army   10 6   .625
Marshall   15 9   .625
Detroit   13 8   .619
Brown   11 7   .611
St. Bonaventure   12 8   .600
Western Michigan   12 8   .600
Butler   13 9   .591
Villanova   13 9   .591
Montana   14 10   .583
San Francisco   14 10   .583
Navy   8 6   .571
Ohio   12 9   .571
Siena   9 7   .563
Kent State   14 11   .560
Brooklyn   10 8   .556
Holy Cross   5 4   .556
Temple   10 8   .556
Xavier   10 8   .556
Washington & Jefferson   9 8   .529
Santa Clara   10 9   .526
La Salle   12 11   .522
Bucknell   9 9   .500
Cincinnati   10 10   .500
Manhattan   10 10   .500
Lehigh   7 8   .467
DePaul   10 12   .455
Georgetown   9 11   .450
Rutgers   8 10   .444
Louisville   7 10   .412
Virginia   7 10   .412
Bowling Green State   8 12   .400
Miami (Ohio)   6 9   .400
Colgate   5 9   .357
Marquette   6 11   .353
Pittsburgh   5 10   .333
Lafayette   4 12   .250
Valparaiso   4 13   .235
Wichita Municipal   4 16   .200

Statistical leaders

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Post-season tournaments

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NCAA tournament

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Semifinals & final

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National Semifinals National Final
      
Dartmouth 47
Kentucky 28
Dartmouth 38
Stanford 53
Stanford 46
Colorado 35

National Invitation tournament

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Semifinals & finals

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Semifinals Finals
    
West Virginia 51
Toledo 39
West Virginia 47
Western Kentucky State 45
Creighton 36
Western Kentucky State 49 Third place
Toledo 46
Creighton 48

Awards

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Consensus All-American teams

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Consensus First Team
Player Class Team
Price Brookfield Senior West Texas State
Bob Davies Senior Seton Hall
Bob Kinney Senior Rice
John Kotz Junior Wisconsin
Andy Phillip Sophomore Illinois


Consensus Second Team
Player Class Team
Don Burness Senior Stanford
Gus Doerner Senior Evansville
Bob Doll Senior Colorado
John Mandic Senior Oregon State
Stan Modzelewski Senior Rhode Island State
George Munroe Junior Dartmouth

Major player of the year awards

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Other major awards

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Coaching changes

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

Team Former
Coach
Interim
Coach
New
Coach
Reason
Bowling Green Paul Landis Harold Anderson
DePaul Bill Wendt Ray Meyer
Kansas State Jack Gardner Chili Cochrane
Toledo Harold Anderson Burl Friddle
Yale Ken Loeffler Red Rolfe

References

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  1. ^ Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  2. ^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. pp. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
  3. ^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
  4. ^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
  5. ^ "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  6. ^ "1941-42 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved August 2, 2024.