The 1948–49 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1948, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the

1949 NCAA basketball tournament The 1949 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 18, 1949, and ended with the championship game on ...

championship game on March 26, 1949, 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 on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It serves ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. The

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

won their second NCAA national championship with a 46–36 victory over the Oklahoma A&M Aggies.

Rule changes

Coaches were permitted to speak to players during time-outs. Previously, under a rule in place since the 1910–11 season, no coaching of players had been permitted during the progress of a game.

Season headlines

* The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

(AP)

Poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Forms of voting and counting * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling pla ...

debuted. The first national poll for ranking

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

teams, it was modeled after the AP

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

poll, which had begun in the mid-1930s. It ranked the Top 20 teams, and continued to do so until the 1961–62 season, when it became a Top 10 poll. * The

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

began play, with six original members. * The

Border Conference The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 school year. Centered in the southwestern Unite ...

began a hiatus from major college basketball competition, playing at the non-major level for two seasons. It would return to major competition in the 1950–51 season. * The Middle Atlantic States Conference North disbanded at the end of the season. * 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 ...

expanded from eight to 12 teams. *

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

became the first team to finish the season ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll and go on to win the NCAA tournament. * Jim Lacy of Loyola (Maryland) completed his collegiate career with 2,154 points, the first player to score 2,000 or more points in his career.

Conference membership changes

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference standings

Major independents

A total of 43 college teams played as major independents. (23–4) had the best

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

(.852). (25–5) and (25–6) finished with the most wins. Although not considered a major independent during the season, (28–3) played as an independent and was ranked No. 19 in the season's final AP Poll.

Informal championships

NOTE: Despite its name, the Middle Three Conference was an informal scheduling alliance rather than a true conference, and its members played as independents. In play among the three member schools in 1948–49, Rutgers finished with a 3–1 record in games played between the three members.1948–49 Men's Middle Three Conference Season Summary
@ sports-reference.com

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Semifinals & finals

National Invitation tournament

Semifinals & finals

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

* Helms Player of the Year: Tony Lavelli,

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

Other major awards

* NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

metro area):

Dick McGuire Richard Joseph McGuire (January 26, 1926 – February 3, 2010) was an American professional basketball player and coach. McGuire was one of the premier guards of the 1950s, playing 11 seasons in the NBA (1949–60), eight with the New York Knicks ...

, St. John's

Coaching changes

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1948-49 Ncaa Men's Basketball Season