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.

1941–42 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
NCAA Tournament	1942
Tournament dates	March 20 – 28, 1942
National Championship	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
NCAA Champions	Stanford
Helms National Champions	Stanford (retroactive selection in 1944)
Other champions	West Virginia (NIT)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Stan Modzelewski, Rhode Island State (retroactive selection in 1944)
← 1940–41 1942–43 →

Season headlines

• The Metropolitan New York Conference did not compete during the season. Its members played as independents.
• Dartmouth and Kansas became the first teams to play in more than one NCAA tournament when they appeared in the 1942 tournament.
• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Stanford as its national champion for the 1941–42 season.^[1]
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Stanford as its national champion for the 1941–42 season.^[2]

Conference membership changes

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

Conference winners and tournaments

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
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
Skyline Conference	Colorado		No Tournament
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

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Main articles: 1942 NCAA basketball tournament and 1942 NCAA Basketball Championship Game

Semifinals & finals

	National semifinals					National Finals
	Dartmouth		47
	Kentucky		28
						Dartmouth		38
						Stanford		53
	Stanford		46
	Colorado		35

National Invitation tournament

Main article: 1942 National Invitation Tournament

Semifinals & finals

	Semifinals					Finals
		West Virginia	51
		Toledo	39
							West Virginia	47
							Western Kentucky State	45
		Creighton	36
		Western Kentucky State	49

• Third Place – Creighton 48, Toledo 46

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

Main article: 1942 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

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

• Helms Player of the Year: Stan Modzelewski, Rhode Island State

Other major awards

• NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Jim White, St. John's (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
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

1. Scott, Jon (Nov 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved 2015-12-14.
2. 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.
3. "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
4. 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09