The 1939 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the Division I level ...

. It was the first NCAA basketball national championship tournament, although it was operated by the

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(NABC) at the time. The tournament began on March 17 and ended with the championship game on March 27 on

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

's campus in

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. A total of eight games were played, including a single third-place game in the West region. The East region did not hold a third-place game until

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

, and there was no national third-place game until

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, coached by Howard Hobson, won the national title with a 46–33 victory in the final game over Ohio State, coached by

Harold Olsen Harold G. Olsen (May 12, 1895 – October 29, 1953) was a college men's basketball coach. The Rice Lake, Wisconsin native was the head coach of the Ohio State University from 1922 to 1946. That year, he became the first head coach of the BAA ...

Jimmy Hull James Robbins Hull Jr. (February 15, 1917 – November 2, 1991) was an American basketball forward who led the Ohio State Buckeyes to the championship game in the first-ever NCAA basketball tournament. The Buckeyes finished the season with a 16 ...

of Ohio State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Despite its success in this first tournament, Oregon would not make another Final Four until

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Tournament procedure

One team would represent each of the NCAA's eight geographic districts for a total of eight teams. Each district had a selection committee which determined their representative; one district elected to hold a playoff to determine the bid. In the bracket, the four eastern districts met for the East Regional, and the four western districts met for the West Regional; the champions of each region met in

for the championship game.

1939 NCAA tournament schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1939 tournament:

Regionals

;March 17 and 18 :East Regional, The Palestra,

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;March 20 and 21 :West Regional, California Coliseum,

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Championship Game

;March 30 :

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Selection of teams

District decisions

District selection committees decided upon their representative, with most analyzing the top teams and selecting one. Districts 2, 6, and 8 invited Villanova,

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, and

, respectively, who accepted their invitations. Other districts had their first choice decline the invitation. District 1 initially selected , the

Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League was an athletic conference for men's college basketball, beginning with the 1901–02 season and ending with the 1954–55 season. Its membership ranged from four to eight members; all of these te ...

champion, but they declined the invitation and the committee subsequently invited independent . District 3 selected

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champion over Southern Conference tournament champion Clemson and Southeastern Conference tournament champion . District 4 selected independent , but they elected to participate in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

instead; the committee then invited their second-best team, Ohio State, the

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champion. District 7 selected , the champion of the Mountain States Conference but they declined the invitation due to not wanting to travel again after a mid-season trip to New York City. Utah State was instead invited to represent District 7.

District 5 playoff

One district, District 5, decided to host a four-team playoff in

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to determine which team would represent them in the tournament. The committee invited and

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from the Big 6 Conference and and from the

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. However, Missouri declined the invitation to the playoff. Oklahoma A&M defeated Drake in the first round of the playoffs, and Oklahoma won the second game against A&M to advance to the tournament.

Tournament teams

Bracket

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1939 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

NCAA basketball tournament NCAA basketball tournament NCAA basketball tournament March 1939 sports events in the United States Sports in Evanston, Illinois