1943–44 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1943–44 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1943, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1944 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 28, 1944, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The Utah Redskins won their first NCAA national championship with a 42–40 victory over the Dartmouth Indians.

1943–44 NCAA men's basketball season
NCAA Tournament	1944
Tournament dates	March 24 – 28, 1944
National Championship	Madison Square Garden New York City, New York
NCAA Champions	Utah Redskins
Helms National Champions	Army Cadets
Other champions	St. John's Redmen (NIT)
Player of the Year (Helms)	George Mikan, DePaul Blue Demons
← 1942–43 1944–45 →

Season headlines

• The Metropolitan New York Conference and the Mountain States (or Skyline) Conference did not compete during the season. Their members played as independents.
• Two teams from the same conference took part in the NCAA tournament for the first time, when Iowa State and Missouri, both of the Big Six Conference, participated in the Western regionals of the 1944 NCAA tournament.^[1]
• Arkansas was selected for the 1944 NCAA tournament but was forced to withdraw after a March 1944 automobile accident injured two Razorbacks starters and killed a physical education teacher who traveled with the team as a coaching assistant.^[2][3]
• Utah replaced Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament and became the first team to play in both the National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA tournament in the same season.
• Arnie Ferrin of Utah became the first freshman named NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player.^[1]
• Army went undefeated (15–0), and the Helms Athletic Foundation selected Army rather than 1944 NCAA Tournament winner Utah as its national champion. It was the third time in history that the Helms champion differed from the NCAA champion.
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Army as its national champion for the 1943–44 season.^[4]

Conference membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference
Brooklyn Bulldogs	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
CCNY Beavers	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Fordham Rams	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Georgetown Hoyas	Independent	No athletic programs
Harvard Crimson	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Independent
Manhattan Jaspers	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
NYU Violets	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Northeastern Huskies	New England Conference	Independent
St. Francis (NY) Terriers	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
St. John's Redmen	Metropolitan New York Conference	Independent
Yale Bulldogs	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Independent

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner[5]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Six Conference	Iowa State & Oklahoma	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Ohio State	None selected	No Tournament
Border Conference	New Mexico & Arizona State–Flagstaff	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	Oklahoma A&M	None selected	No Tournament
New England Conference	Connecticut		No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Washington (North); California (South)		No Tournament
Mountain States (Skyline) Conference	Did not play as conference
Southeastern Conference	Kentucky	None selected	1944 SEC men's basketball tournament	Jefferson County Armory, (Louisville, Kentucky)	Kentucky
Southern Conference	North Carolina	None selected	1944 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Thompson Gym (Raleigh, North Carolina)	Duke[6]
Southwest Conference	Arkansas & Rice	None selected	No Tournament

Conference standings

1943–44 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Iowa State 9 – 1   .900 14 – 4   .778 Oklahoma 9 – 1   .900 15 – 8   .652 Kansas 5 – 5   .500 17 – 9   .654 Missouri 5 – 5   .500 10 – 9   .526 Kansas State 1 – 9   .100 7 – 15   .318 Nebraska 1 – 9   .100 2 – 13   .133	1943–44 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Ohio State 10 – 2   .833 14 – 7   .667 Iowa 9 – 3   .750 14 – 4   .778 Wisconsin 9 – 3   .750 12 – 9   .571 Northwestern 8 – 4   .667 12 – 7   .632 Purdue 8 – 4   .667 11 – 10   .524 Illinois 5 – 7   .417 11 – 9   .550 Michigan 5 – 7   .417 8 – 10   .444 Minnesota 2 – 10   .167 7 – 14   .333 Indiana 2 – 10   .167 7 – 15   .318 Chicago 0 – 8   .000 1 – 19   .050	1943–44 Border Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT New Mexico 3 – 0   1.000 11 – 2   .846 Texas Tech 0 – 3   .000 5 – 18   .217 Arizona State–Flagstaff –   – 2 – 0   1.000 Arizona –   – 12 – 2   .857 Arizona State–Tempe –   – 12 – 2   .857
1943–44 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Dartmouth 8 – 0   1.000 19 – 2   .905 Pennsylvania 6 – 2   .750 10 – 4   .714 Cornell 2 – 6   .250 9 – 11   .450 Columbia 2 – 6   .250 7 – 9   .438 Princeton 2 – 6   .250 6 – 12   .333	1943–44 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Oklahoma A&M† –   – 27 – 6   .818 Washington University –   – 12 – 5   .706 Tulsa –   – 5 – 3   .625 Drake –   – 7 – 13   .350 † Regular-season championship winner	1943–44 New England Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Connecticut 6 – 0   1.000 10 – 9   .526 Rhode Island State 4 – 2   .667 14 – 6   .700 Northeastern 1 – 5   .167 8 – 8   .500 Maine 1 – 5   .167 4 – 6   .400
1943–44 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT North Washington 15 – 1   .938 26 – 6   .813 Oregon 11 – 5   .688 16 – 10   .615 Idaho 5 – 11   .313 7 – 16   .304 Oregon State 5 – 11   .313 8 – 16   .333 Washington State 4 – 12   .250 8 – 19   .296 South California 4 – 0   1.000 7 – 3   .700 UCLA 3 – 3   .500 10 – 10   .500 USC 1 – 5   .167 8 – 12   .400	1943–44 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Tulane 4 – 0   1.000 16 – 6   .727 Georgia Tech 2 – 0   1.000 14 – 4   .778 Georgia 0 – 2   .000 7 – 10   .412 LSU 0 – 4   .000 10 – 15   .400 Kentucky † –   – 19 – 2   .905 Vanderbilt –   – 12 – 3   .800 † Regular-season championship and SEC Tournament winner
1943–44 Southern Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT North Carolina 9 – 1   .900 17 – 10   .630 Virginia Tech 4 – 1   .800 11 – 4   .733 Duke † 4 – 2   .667 13 – 13   .500 Maryland 2 – 1   .667 4 – 14   .222 Richmond 2 – 2   .500 7 – 6   .538 Davidson 3 – 4   .429 16 – 7   .696 South Carolina 1 – 2   .333 13 – 2   .867 Clemson 1 – 2   .333 1 – 10   .091 North Carolina State 2 – 5   .286 5 – 13   .278 William & Mary 1 – 3   .250 10 – 11   .476 The Citadel 0 – 1   .000 2 – 3   .400 VMI 0 – 5   .000 0 – 14   .000 † Southern Conference Tournament winner	1943–44 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Rice 11 – 1   .917 15 – 5   .750 Arkansas 11 – 1   .917 16 – 8   .667 Texas 6 – 6   .500 14 – 11   .560 SMU 6 – 6   .500 8 – 9   .471 TCU 6 – 6   .500 9 – 12   .429 Baylor 2 – 10   .167 6 – 12   .333 Texas A&M 0 – 12   .000 2 – 15   .118

Major independents

A total of 61 college teams played as major independents. Army (15–0) was undefeated. Bowling Green State (22–4), DePaul (22–4), Gonzaga (22–4), and Utah (22–4) finished with the most wins.^[7]

1943–44 NCAA men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Army –   – 15 – 0   1.000 Denison –   – 18 – 2   .900 Bowling Green State –   – 22 – 4   .846 DePaul –   – 22 – 4   .846 Gonzaga –   – 22 – 4   .846 Utah –   – 22 – 4   .846 Miami (Ohio) –   – 10 – 2   .833 Indiana State –   – 17 – 4   .810 LIU –   – 12 – 3   .800 Loyola (Calif.) –   – 4 – 1   .800 Muhlenberg –   – 20 – 5   .800 Western Michigan –   – 15 – 4   .789 St. John's –   – 18 – 5   .783 Bucknell –   – 9 – 3   .750 Rochester (N.Y.) –   – 11 – 4   .733 St. Joseph's –   – 18 – 7   .720 Canisius –   – 15 – 6   .714 Navy –   – 10 – 4   .714 Catholic –   – 17 – 7   .708 Lafayette –   – 7 – 3   .700 Yale –   – 14 – 6   .700 Colgate –   – 11 – 5   .688 Pacific –   – 13 – 6   .684 Marshall –   – 15 – 7   .682 Valparaiso –   – 17 – 8   .680 Akron –   – 10 – 5   .667 Detroit –   – 13 – 7   .650 Washington & Jefferson –   – 11 – 6   .647 St. Francis (NY) –   – 10 – 6   .625 Temple –   – 14 – 9   .609 BYU –   – 3 – 2   .600 Western Kentucky State –   – 13 – 9   .591 Pepperdine –   – 20 – 14   .588 Virginia –   – 11 – 8   .579 Marquette –   – 8 – 6   .571 Ohio –   – 9 – 7   .563 Loyola (Md.) –   – 15 – 12   .556 Cincinnati –   – 6 – 5   .545 Penn State –   – 8 – 7   .533 Notre Dame –   – 10 – 9   .526 La Salle –   – 8 – 8   .500 Louisville –   – 10 – 10   .500 NYU –   – 7 – 7   .500 Pittsburgh –   – 7 – 7   .500 Saint Mary's –   – 5 – 5   .500 Villanova –   – 9 – 11   .450 Delaware –   – 7 – 9   .438 Holy Cross –   – 6 – 8   .429 San Francisco –   – 8 – 11   .421 West Virginia –   – 8 – 11   .421 Brown –   – 10 – 14   .417 CCNY –   – 6 – 11   .353 Brooklyn –   – 6 – 14   .300 Toledo –   – 5 – 13   .278 Denver –   – 6 – 18   .250 Lehigh –   – 4 – 12   .250 Rider –   – 3 – 12   .200 Tennessee Tech –   – 3 – 13   .188 Montana –   – 2 – 10   .167 Harvard –   – 2 – 12   .143 Northern Colorado –   – 1 – 13   .071

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Main articles: 1944 NCAA basketball tournament and 1944 NCAA Basketball Championship Game

Semifinals & final

	National semifinals					National Final
	Dartmouth		60
	Ohio State		53
						Dartmouth		40
						Utah		42
	Iowa State		31
	Utah		40

National Invitation tournament

Main article: 1944 National Invitation Tournament

Semifinals & finals

	Semifinals				Finals
	Oklahoma A&M	38
	DePaul	41
					DePaul	39
					St. John's	47
	Kentucky	45
	St. John's	48			Third place
					Oklahoma A&M 29	29
					Kentucky	45

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

Main article: 1944 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

Consensus First Team

Player	Position	Class	Team
Bob Brannum	C	Sophomore	Kentucky
Audley Brindley	F	Sophomore	Dartmouth
Otto Graham	F	Senior	Northwestern
Leo Klier	F	Junior	Notre Dame
Bob Kurland	C	Sophomore	Oklahoma A&M
George Mikan	C	Sophomore	DePaul
Allie Paine	G	Junior	Oklahoma

Consensus Second Team

Player	Position	Class	Team
Bob Dille	F	Sophomore	Valparaiso
Arnie Ferrin	F	Freshman	Utah
Don Grate	G	Junior	Ohio State
Dale Hall	F	Junior	Army
Bill Henry	C	Junior	Rice
Dick Triptow	G	Senior	DePaul

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Player of the Year: George Mikan, DePaul
• Sporting News Player of the Year: Dale Hall, Army

Other major awards

• NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Dick McGuire, 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
North Carolina	Bill Lange		Ben Carnevale