1951–52 NCAA men's basketball season
The 1951–52 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1951, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1952 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 26, 1952, at Hec Edmundson Pavilion in Seattle, Washington. The Kansas Jayhawks won their first NCAA national championship with a 80–63 victory over the St. John's Redmen.
| 1951–52 NCAA Division I men's basketball season | |
|---|---|
| Preseason AP No. 1 | None Kentucky (UP) |
| NCAA Tournament | 1952 |
| Tournament dates | March 21, 1952 – March 26, 1952 |
| National Championship | Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, Washington |
| NCAA Champions | Kansas Jayhawks |
| Helms National Champions | Kansas Jayhawks |
| Other champions | La Salle Explorers (NIT) |
| Player of the Year (Helms) | Clyde Lovellette, Kansas |
Season headlines
- The 1951–52 season was the last one in which colleges and universities could include non-collegiate opponents in their schedules with the games recognized as part of their official record for the season, a common practice for many years. After the season, the NCAA ruled that colleges and universities could no longer count games played against non-collegiate opponents in their annual won-loss records.[1]
- Long Island University began the first season of its six-year ban from playing NCAA basketball as a result of the CCNY point-shaving scandal that had been revealed in 1951.[2][3]
- The NCAA tournament had a true "Final Four" for the first time, with the winners at four regional sites advancing to play at the finals site.
- The NCAA tournament received regional television coverage for the first time.
Harlem Globetrotters vs. Seattle University
On January 21, 1952, the Harlem Globetrotters played Seattle in a game designed to raise funds for the United States Olympic efforts. Five days before the game was held, Royal Brougham received a call from Howard Hobson, who was the Yale basketball coach and a United States Olympic Committee member. It was reported that money was needed to support the country's Olympic effort for the games held in Helsinki, Finland. The Globetrotters had agreed to a three-game fund-raiser against college teams in the West, Midwest and East.[4]
Tickets cost $1.50 and they were sold out in 48 hours.[4] Jazz great Louis Armstrong played at halftime and actress Joan Caulfield performed a ceremonial opening tip off. The game was played at the University of Washington's Hec Edmondson Pavilion and was filled to its 12,500 capacity.
The Globetrotters were considered the best basketball team in the world and the club paid their two star players "Goose" Tatum and Marques Hayes twenty five thousand dollars each.[5] Entering the game with Seattle, the Globetrotters had played 3571 games winning 93 percent of their contests.[5]
Seattle player Johnny O'Brien was the nation's leading scorer at that time. O'Brien would become the first player in the history of college basketball to score 1000 points in a single season.[6] He would finish the season with 1,051 points. Against the Globetrotters, O'Brien poured in 43 points. Johnny's brother Eddie played point guard for Chieftains and his half court shot lifted the club to a 10-point lead.
After halftime, the Globetrotters got back in the game as Johnny O'Brien sat out most of the third quarter. With seconds left in the game, the Globetrotters called a time out they did not have. A free throw was made by Johnny O'Brien and there was a possession change. The Chieftains were ahead 84–81.
Globetrotter owner Abe Saperstein was so upset that he canceled the rest of the Trotters benefit schedule that year.[5]
Major rule changes
Beginning in 1951–52, the following rules change was implemented:
- Games were divided into four 10-minute quarters. Previously, they had been divided into two 20-minute halves.[7]
Conference membership changes
| School | Former conference | New conference |
|---|---|---|
| Bradley Braves | Missouri Valley Conference | Independent |
| Drake Bulldogs | Missouri Valley Conference | Independent |
| Kent State Golden Flashes | Non-major basketball program | Mid-American Conference |
| Montana Grizzlies | Non-major independent | Skyline Conference |
| New Mexico Lobos | Border Conference | Skyline Conference |
| Toledo Rockets | Independent | Mid-American Conference |
Regular season
Conference winners and tournaments
Informal championships
| Conference | Regular season winner[12] |
Conference player of the year |
Conference tournament |
Tournament venue (City) |
Tournament winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middle Three Conference | Lafayatte | None selected | No Tournament | ||
Statistical leaders
| "Points per game | Rebounds per game | Assists per game | Field goal percentage | |||||||||||
| Player | School | PPG | Player | School | RPG | Player | School | APG | Player | School | FG% | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clyde Lovellette | Kansas | 28.4 | Bill Hannon | Army | 20.9 | Tom O'Toole | Boston College | 7.9 | Art Spoelstra | Western Kentucky State | 51.6 | |||
| Dick Groat | Duke | 26.0 | Walter Dukes | Seton Hall | 19.7 | Dick Groat | Duke | 7.6 | Gerald Rogers | Texas Western | 50.4 | |||
| Bob Pettit | LSU | 25.5 | Ernie Beck | Penn | 19.0 | Malcolm McLean | Davidson | 7.5 | Norm Swanson | Detroit | 50.3 | |||
| Chuck Darling | Iowa | 25.5 | Elston Tuttle | Creighton | 18.9 | Larry Friedman | Muhlenberg | 7.3 | Karl Klinar | VMI | 49.2 | |||
| Frank Selvy | Furman | 24.6 | Bill Chambers | William & Mary | 18.2 | Roger Chadwick | Cornell | 6.9 | Tom Marshall | Western Kentucky State | 49.1 | |||
| Free throw percentage | ||
| Name | School | FT% |
|---|---|---|
| Sy Chadroff | Miami (FL) | 80.5 |
| Bob Kenney | Kansas | 80.3 |
| Drew Turner | St. Mary's (CA) | 80.2 |
| Tommy Bartlett | Tennessee | 80.2 |
| Russell Rerucha | Colorado A&M | 80.0 |
Year-end polls
The final regular-season top 20 from the AP and Coaches Polls.[13]
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Postseason tournaments
NCAA tournament
Phog Allen led the Kansas Jayhawks to their first NCAA tournament title, defeating St. John's 80–63. Jayhawk All-American Clyde Lovellette broke the NCAA record by scoring 141 points in the tournament and was named tournament Most Outstanding Player.[13]
Final Four
| National semifinals | National championship game | ||||||||
| St. John's | 61 | ||||||||
| Illinois | 59 | ||||||||
| St. John's | 63 | ||||||||
| Kansas | 80 | ||||||||
| Kansas | 74 | ||||||||
| Santa Clara | 55 | ||||||||
- Third Place – Illinois 67, Santa Clara 64
National Invitation tournament
La Salle won the National Invitation Tournament by beating Dayton, 75–64. Tom Gola and Norm Grekin were named co-MVPs.[14]
NIT semifinals and final
Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City
| Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
| St. Bonaventure | 62 | ||||||||
| Dayton | 69 | ||||||||
| Dayton | 64 | ||||||||
| La Salle | 75 | ||||||||
| Duquesne | 46 | ||||||||
| La Salle | 59 | ||||||||
- Third Place – St. Bonaventure 48, Duquesne 34
Award winners
Consensus All-American team
| Player | Position | Class | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chuck Darling | C | Senior | Iowa |
| Rod Fletcher | G | Senior | Illinois |
| Dick Groat | G | Senior | Duke |
| Cliff Hagan | F | Junior | Kentucky |
| Clyde Lovellette | C | Senior | Kansas |
| Player | Position | Class | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Houbregs | F | Junior | Washington |
| Don Meineke | F | Senior | Dayton |
| Johnny O'Brien | G | Junior | Seattle |
| Mark Workman | C | Senior | West Virginia |
| Bob Zawoluk | F | Senior | St. John's |
Major player of the year awards
Other major awards
- NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in NYC): Ron MacGilvray, St. John's
Coaching changes
A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.
| Team | Former Coach |
Interim Coach |
New Coach |
Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgetown | Buddy O'Grady | Buddy Jeannette | After three seasons, O'Grady resigned.[15] | |
| North Carolina | Tom Scott | Frank McGuire | ||
| St. John's | Frank McGuire | Al DeStefano | ||
| Temple | Josh Cody | Harry Litwack | ||
| Washington & Lee | Scotty Hamilton | Billy McCann | ||
References
- "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Non-Collegiate Opponents". Archived from the original on February 12, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
- Anderson, Dave (March 22, 1998). "When Sherman White Threw It All Away". The New York Times. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- "2009–10 LIU Blackbirds Men's Basketball Media Guide" (Flash). issuu.com. Long Island University. 2009. p. 69. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- Raley, Dan (January 20, 2002). "Fifty years ago tonight, Seattle U. upset the mighty Globetrotters". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- "My Losing Season: Division I Basketball back at Seattle U". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
- "Reference at www.goseattleu.com". Archived from the original on July 11, 2011.
- "orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes".
- "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Records Book – Playing-Rules History section" (PDF)., NCAA, retrieved 2009-05-09. "Archived" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2007. 2009-05-13.
- "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
- "2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section" (PDF)., Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
- "2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section" (PDF)., Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
- "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
- "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
- "NIT OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE - History". Archived from the original on March 26, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
- "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches". Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
- Statistical Leaders from 1953 Official Collegiate Basketball Record Book, (Copyright 1952, National Collegiate Athletic Bureau)