The 1957–58 NCAA University Division men's basketball season began in December 1957, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1958 NCAA University Division basketball tournament championship game on March 22, 1958, at Freedom Hall in

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

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 ...

. 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 fourth NCAA national championship with an 84–72 victory over the Seattle Chieftains.

Season headlines

* 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 ...

grew to 179 teams, an increase from 156 the previous season. *

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...

won his fourth championship as he led the

to an 84–72 win over the Seattle Chieftains and their star,

Elgin Baylor Elgin Gay Baylor ( ; September 16, 1934 – March 22, 2021) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive. He played 14 seasons as a forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lak ...

. The starting unit was nicknamed the "Fiddlin' Five," after a quip by Rupp that his team were fiddlers when he really needed violinists. The Wildcats fought back from two 11-point deficits to gain the victory. * Cincinnati's

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

became the first player to lead the nation is scoring in his first varsity season. The sophomore (freshmen were ineligible) averaged 35.1 points per game for the Bearcats. He also became the first player to score 50 or more points in an NCAA tournament game when he scored 56 against

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

in a regional third-place game on March 15, 1958. * Dom Flora, a senior point guard at

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

, finished his college career with 2,310 points and 696 free throws made, both of which were ranked fifth in their respective categories in college basketball history at the end of the 1957–58 season. * Future

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

coach Howard Cann of NYU retired at the conclusion of the season, after 35 years at the helm. * The NCAA championship game saw the first use of an orange basketball. Previously, the NCAA had used brown basketballs. * The Western New York Little Three Conference disbanded at the end of the season.

Major rule changes

Beginning in 1957–58, the following rules changes were implemented: * Offensive goaltending was banned so that no player from either team could touch the ball or basket when the ball was on the basket's rim or above the cylinder. The only exception was the shooter in the original act of shooting. * One

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

for each common foul was taken for the first six personal fouls by one team in each half, and the one-and-one was used thereafter. * On uniforms, the single-digit numbers "1" and "2" and any digit greater than "5" in player numbers were prohibited as a means of simplifying referees' hand signals to the scorer's table when calling a foul. A failure to comply resulted in the assessment of a

technical foul In basketball, a technical foul (colloquially known as a "T" or a "tech") is any infraction of the rules penalized as a foul which does not involve physical contact during the course of play between opposing players on the court, or is a foul by a ...

against the offending team. The single-digit numbers "1" and "2" were not permitted again until the 1999–2000 season and digits greater than 5 were not permitted again until the 2023–24 season. * A ball that passes over the backboard – either front-to-back or back-to-front — was considered

out of bounds In sports, out of bounds (or out-of-bounds) refers to being outside the playing boundaries of the field. The legality of going out of bounds (intentionally or not), and the ease of prevention, vary by sport. Sports that use this term include Am ...

Conference membership changes

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference standings

University Division independents

A total of 49 college teams played as University Division independents. Among them,

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

(27–3) finished with both 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 ...

(.900) and the most wins.

Informal championships

Temple finished with a 4–0 record in head-to-head competition among the Philadelphia Big 5.

Statistical leaders

Polls

The final top 20 from the AP and Coaches Polls.

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats won their fourth National championship by defeating the Seattle Chieftains 84–72 on March 22 at Freedom Hall in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. Seattle's

led all tournament scorers and was named the tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Final Four

National Invitation tournament

The Xavier Musketeers entered 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 ...

with a 15–11 record, but surprised the field, defeating fellow

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

school Dayton 78–74 to win the NIT. The Musketeers' Hank Stein was named tournament MVP.

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 Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

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 ...

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

* Helms Foundation Player of the Year:

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 ...

* UPI Player of the Year:

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

* ''Sporting News'' Player of the Year:

Major coach of the year awards

* UPI Coach of the Year: Tex Winter, Kansas State

Other major awards

* Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): Guy Rodgers,

* NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in NYC): Jim Cunningham, Fordham

Coaching changes

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1957-58 Ncaa University Division Men's Basketball Season