The 1973–74 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1973, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1974 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship Game on March 25, 1974, at the

Greensboro Coliseum The Greensboro Coliseum Complex, commonly referred to as Greensboro Coliseum (the first and biggest building on the site), is an entertainment and sports complex located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Opened in 1959, the complex holds eight venu ...

Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. The North Carolina State Wolfpack won its first NCAA national championship with a 76–64 victory over the Marquette Warriors.

Rule changes

Holding or grabbing an opposing player away from the ball became

fouls Foul may refer to: __NOTOC__ In sports * Foul (sports), an unfair or illegal act during a sports competition, including: ** Foul (association football), in football (soccer) ** Professional foul, in football (soccer) or rugby ** Foul (basketbal ...

, as did illegal screens.

Season headlines

* Prior to the beginning of the season,

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

replaced the

NCAA University Division The NCAA University Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at the highest level of college sports. The University Division was first established as a basis fo ...

as the subdivision of the NCAA made up of colleges and universities competing at the highest level of college sports. In addition,

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

and

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

replaced the

NCAA College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

for colleges and universities competing at a lower level, with Division II consisting of schools awarding limited

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

s and Division III consisting of schools offering no athletic scholarships. * In the Pacific 8 Conference,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

won its eighth of what would ultimately be 13 consecutive conference titles.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The top 20 from the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

and

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

Coaches Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially ...

during the pre-season.

Conference membership changes

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Informal championships

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Final Four

* Third Place – UCLA 78, Kansas 61

National Invitation tournament

Semifinals & finals

* Third Place – Boston College 87, Jacksonville 77

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

Naismith Award Naismith Award is a basketball award named after James Naismith, and awarded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. Naismith Awards include: * Naismith College Player of the Year (men's and women's; NCAA Division I basketball) * Naismith College Coach of the ...

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is an American television sportscaster and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for coach John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive national ...

* Helms Player of the Year: David Thompson,

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

* Associated Press Player of the Year: David Thompson, NC State * UPI Player of the Year: Bill Walton, UCLA *

Oscar Robertson Trophy The Oscar Robertson Trophy is given out annually to the outstanding men's college basketball player by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). The trophy is considered to be the oldest of its kind and has been given out since 195 ...

(

USBWA The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 by National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The USBWA annually awar ...

): Bill Walton, UCLA *

Adolph Rupp Trophy The Adolph F. Rupp Trophy was an award given annually to the top player in men's Division I NCAA basketball until 2015. The recipient of the award was selected by an independent panel consisting of national sportswriters, coaches, and sports admi ...

: Bill Walton, UCLA * ''Sporting News'' Player of the Year: Bill Walton, UCLA

Major coach of the year awards

* Associated Press Coach of the Year:

Norm Sloan Norman Leslie Sloan Jr. (June 25, 1926 – December 9, 2003) was an American college basketball player and coach. Sloan was a native of Indiana and played college basketball and football at North Carolina State University. He began a long career a ...

Henry Iba Award The Henry Iba Award was established in 1959 to recognize the best college basketball coach of the year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Five nominees are presented and the individual with the most votes receives the aw ...

(

): Norm Sloan, NC State *

NABC Coach of the Year The NABC Coach of the Year Award has been presented by the National Association of Basketball Coaches since . A longtime sponsor of the award was Kodak; it is currently sponsored by the UPS Store The UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.) is a s ...

Al McGuire Alfred James McGuire (September 7, 1928 – January 26, 2001) was an American college basketball coach and broadcaster, the head coach at Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball, Marquette University from 1964–65 Marquette Warriors men's bask ...

, Marquette * UPI Coach of the Year:

Digger Phelps Richard Frederick "Digger" Phelps (born July 4, 1941) is an American former college basketball coach, most notably of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1971 to 1991. For 20 years, from 1993 to 2014, he served as an analyst on ESPN. He got the n ...

, Notre Dame * ''Sporting News'' Coach of the Year: Digger Phelps, Notre Dame

Other major awards

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award was an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor shorter-than-average players who excelled on the court despite their size. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter-in-la ...

(Best player under 6'0):

Mike Robinson Michael or Mike Robinson may refer to: Arts and humanities * Michael Robinson (Canadian artist) (1948–2010), poet and printmaker * Michael F. Robinson (born 1933), English composer and musicologist * Michael Massey Robinson (1744–1826), poet ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

* Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in

Philadelphia Big 5 The Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship. The Big 5 c ...

Ron Haigler Ronald Haigler (born 1953) is an American former basketball player and current high school basketball coach. He is best known for his collegiate career at the University of Pennsylvania between 1972–73 and 1974–75. A 6'8" power forward (baske ...

, Penn * NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

metro area):

Bill Campion William Campion (born 1952) is a retired American basketball player. He stands and played the center (basketball), center position in college and professionally. Campion is best known for his career at Manhattan College. Before graduating in 1975 ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Coaching changes

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

References

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