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 The 1952 NCAA basketball tournament involved 16 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 14th annual edition of the tournament began on March 21, 1952, and en ...

championship game on March 26, 1952, at

Hec Edmundson Pavilion Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion (formerly and still commonly referred to as Hec Edmundson Pavilion or simply Hec Ed) is an indoor arena in the northwest United States, on the campus of the University of Washington in ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. The

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a mem ...

won their first NCAA national championship with a 80–63 victory over the St. John's Redmen.

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. *

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

began the first season of its six-year ban from playing NCAA basketball as a result of the

CCNY point-shaving scandal The CCNY point-shaving scandal of 1950–51 was a college basketball point-shaving gambling scandal that involved seven American schools in all, with four in the New York metropolitan area, two in the Midwest, and one in the South. However, most ...

that had been revealed in 1951. * 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 Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

coverage for the first time.

Harlem Globetrotters vs. Seattle University

On January 21, 1952, the Harlem Globetrotters played

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 The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

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. Tickets cost $1.50 and they were sold out in 48 hours. 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. Entering the game with Seattle, the Globetrotters had played 3571 games winning 93 percent of their contests. 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. He would finish the season with 1,051 points. Against the Globetrotters, O'Brien poured in 43 points. Johnny's brother

Eddie Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...

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.

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.

Conference membership changes

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Informal championships

Statistical leaders

Year-end polls

The final regular-season top 20 from the AP and Coaches Polls.

Postseason tournaments

NCAA tournament

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a mem ...

to their first NCAA tournament title, defeating St. John's 80–63. Jayhawk All-American

Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...

broke the NCAA record by scoring 141 points in the tournament and was named tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Final Four

*Third Place – Illinois 67, Santa Clara 64

National Invitation tournament

La Salle won the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

by beating Dayton, 75–64.

Tom Gola Thomas Joseph Gola (January 13, 1933 – January 26, 2014) was an American basketball player and politician. He is widely considered one of the greatest NCAA basketball players of all-time. Gola was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball ...

and Norm Grekin were named co-MVPs.

NIT semifinals and final

Played at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in New York City * Third Place – St. Bonaventure 48, Duquesne 34

Award winners

Consensus All-American team

Major player of the year awards

Helms Foundation Player of the Year The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual men's college basketball award given to the most outstanding men′s player in the United States. It was awarded by the Helms Athletic Foundation, an organization founded in ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...