1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season

1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season
1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Temple (retroactive selection in 1943)
Other champions	Temple (NIT)
Player of the Year; (Helms)	Hank Luisetti, Stanford (retroactive selection in 1944)

The 1937–38 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1937, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1938.

Rule changes

After a field goal, the opposing team receives possession of the ball. Previously, a jump ball at center court had taken place after every field goal.^[1]

Season headlines

The New England Conference played its first season at the major-program level.
The Northern California Conference began play.
Hank Luisetti of Stanford became the first player to score 50 or more points in one game when he scored 50 in a win over Duquesne on January 1, 1938.^[2]
The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association founded the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), which was played for the first time in 1938. A field of six teams participated, with the Temple Owls winning the first NIT championship. Although the NCAA tournament began play the following season, the NIT, playing its games at Madison Square Garden and easily accessible to the New York City media, was considered the more glamorous and prestigious of the two tournaments until at least the mid-1950s ^[3]
In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Temple as its national champion for the 1937–38 season.^[4]
In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Temple as its national champion for the 1937–38 season.^[5]

Conference membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference
Colorado College Tigers	Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Non-major basketball program
Northeastern Huskies	Non-major basketball program	New England Conference
Pacific Tigers	Non-major basketball program	Northern California Conference
Saint Louis Billikens	Independent	Missouri Valley Conference
Saint Mary's (Calif.) Gaels	Independent	Northern California Conference
San Francisco Dons	Independent	Northern California Conference
San Jose State Spartans	Non-major basketball program	Northern California Conference
Santa Clara Broncos	Independent	Northern California Conference
Virginia Cavaliers	Southern Conference	Independent

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner^[6]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Six Conference	Kansas	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Purdue	None selected	No Tournament
Border Conference	New Mexico State	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Dartmouth	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Conference	Temple	None selected	No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference	NYU	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Oklahoma A&M	None selected	No Tournament
New England Conference	Rhode Island State		No Tournament
Northern California Conference	San Jose State & Santa Clara		No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Oregon (North); Stanford (South)		No Tournament; Stanford defeated Oregon in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado & Utah		No Tournament
Southeastern Conference	Georgia Tech	None selected	1938 SEC men's basketball tournament	Huey Long Field House (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)	Georgia Tech
Southern Conference	North Carolina	None selected	1938 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Thompson Gym (Raleigh, North Carolina)	Duke^[7]
Southwest Conference	Arkansas	None selected	No Tournament

Conference standings

1937–38 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Kansas	9	–	1	.900	18	–	2	.900
Oklahoma	8	–	2	.800	14	–	4	.778
Missouri	4	–	6	.400	9	–	9	.500
Nebraska	4	–	6	.400	9	–	11	.450
Kansas State	3	–	7	.300	7	–	11	.389
Iowa State	2	–	8	.200	6	–	9	.400

1937–38 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Purdue	10	–	2	.833	18	–	2	.900
Minnesota	9	–	3	.750	16	–	4	.800
Ohio State	7	–	5	.583	12	–	8	.600
Northwestern	7	–	5	.583	10	–	10	.500
Michigan	6	–	6	.500	12	–	8	.600
Iowa	6	–	6	.500	11	–	9	.550
Wisconsin	5	–	7	.417	10	–	10	.500
Illinois	4	–	8	.333	9	–	9	.500
Indiana	4	–	8	.333	10	–	10	.500
Chicago	2	–	10	.167	6	–	12	.333

1937–38 Border Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
New Mexico A&M	18	–	0	1.000	22	–	3	.880
Arizona	9	–	7	.563	13	–	8	.619
Arizona State–Tempe	9	–	9	.500	11	–	12	.478
Texas Tech	7	–	7	.500	9	–	13	.409
New Mexico	6	–	10	.375	9	–	16	.360
Arizona State–Flagstaff	4	–	12	.250	6	–	15	.286
Texas State M&M	3	–	11	.214	4	–	17	.190

1937–38 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Dartmouth	8	–	4	.667	20	–	5	.800
Harvard	7	–	5	.583	13	–	5	.722
Penn	7	–	5	.583	8	–	10	.444
Cornell	6	–	6	.500	11	–	7	.611
Columbia	6	–	6	.500	10	–	8	.556
Princeton	5	–	7	.417	10	–	10	.500
Yale	3	–	9	.250	7	–	12	.368

1937–38 Eastern Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Temple	9	–	1	.900	23	–	2	.920
Penn State	6	–	4	.600	13	–	5	.722
Pittsburgh	5	–	5	.500	9	–	12	.429
Georgetown	5	–	5	.500	7	–	11	.389
Carnegie Tech	3	–	7	.300	3	–	7	.300
West Virginia	2	–	8	.200	6	–	13	.316

1937–38 Metropolitan New York Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
NYU	6	–	0	1.000	16	–	8	.667
LIU	3	–	0	1.000	23	–	5	.821
CCNY	4	–	2	.667	13	–	3	.813
St. John's	4	–	2	.667	15	–	4	.789
Manhattan	2	–	4	.333	12	–	6	.667
Brooklyn	2	–	4	.333	7	–	8	.467
St. Francis (NY)	1	–	5	.167	14	–	8	.636
Fordham	0	–	6	.000	10	–	10	.500

1937–38 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Oklahoma A&M	13	–	1	.929	25	–	3	.893
Drake	10	–	4	.714	14	–	6	.700
Tulsa	8	–	6	.571	12	–	10	.545
Grinnell	7	–	7	.500	10	–	9	.526
Creighton	7	–	7	.500	11	–	14	.440
Washington University	6	–	8	.429	4	–	17	.190
Saint Louis	3	–	11	.214	8	–	21	.276
Washburn	2	–	12	.143	9	–	13	.409

1937–38 New England Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Rhode Island State	8	–	0	1.000	19	–	2	.905
Connecticut	4	–	4	.500	13	–	5	.722
New Hampshire	4	–	4	.500	12	–	6	.667
Northeastern	4	–	4	.500	6	–	12	.333
Maine	1	–	7	.125	4	–	9	.308

1937–38 Northern California Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
San Jose State	6	–	2	.750	19	–	4	.826
Santa Clara	6	–	2	.750	12	–	6	.667
Saint Mary's	5	–	3	.625	10	–	9	.526
San Francisco	3	–	5	.375	10	–	12	.455
Pacific	0	–	8	.000	6	–	13	.316

1937–38 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
North
Oregon	14	–	6	.700	25	–	8	.758
Washington	13	–	7	.650	29	–	7	.806
Washington State	12	–	8	.600	19	–	11	.633
Idaho	12	–	8	.600	24	–	11	.686
Oregon State	6	–	14	.300	17	–	16	.515
Montana	3	–	17	.150	10	–	19	.345
South
Stanford †	10	–	2	.833	21	–	3	.875
California	8	–	4	.667	18	–	11	.621
USC	6	–	6	.500	17	–	9	.654
UCLA	0	–	12	.000	4	–	20	.167

† Conference playoff series winner

1937–38 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Utah	10	–	2	.833	20	–	4	.833
Colorado	10	–	2	.833	15	–	6	.714
Wyoming	8	–	4	.667	12	–	5	.706
Utah State	6	–	6	.500	11	–	9	.550
BYU	4	–	8	.333	8	–	13	.381
Colorado State	3	–	9	.250	7	–	9	.438
Denver	1	–	11	.083	2	–	16	.111

1937–38 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Kentucky	6	–	0	1.000	13	–	5	.722
Ole Miss	11	–	2	.846	22	–	12	.647
Georgia Tech †	9	–	2	.818	18	–	2	.900
Auburn	6	–	3	.667	14	–	5	.737
Tennessee	7	–	4	.636	15	–	8	.652
LSU	7	–	6	.538	10	–	10	.500
Tulane	5	–	6	.455	8	–	10	.444
Mississippi State	7	–	9	.438	9	–	12	.429
Georgia	4	–	6	.400	12	–	10	.545
Vanderbilt	4	–	8	.333	9	–	12	.429
Florida	3	–	7	.300	11	–	9	.550
Alabama	4	–	12	.250	4	–	13	.235
Sewanee	2	–	10	.167	4	–	13	.235

† Regular-season championship and SEC Tournament winner

1937–38 Southern Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
North Carolina	13	–	3	.813	16	–	5	.762
North Carolina State	10	–	3	.769	13	–	6	.684
The Citadel	7	–	3	.700	13	–	5	.722
Clemson	9	–	4	.692	16	–	7	.696
Duke †	9	–	5	.643	15	–	9	.625
Richmond	7	–	4	.636	15	–	5	.750
Maryland	6	–	4	.600	15	–	9	.625
Washington and Lee	6	–	5	.545	12	–	9	.571
Wake Forest	7	–	8	.467	7	–	12	.368
Virginia Tech	4	–	5	.444	6	–	8	.429
Davidson	4	–	11	.267	10	–	12	.455
Furman	2	–	6	.250	6	–	13	.316
VMI	2	–	7	.222	4	–	11	.267
South Carolina	2	–	12	.143	3	–	21	.125
William & Mary	0	–	9	.000	2	–	10	.167

† Southern Conference Tournament winner

1937–38 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Arkansas	11	–	1	.917	19	–	3	.864
Baylor	9	–	3	.750	10	–	6	.625
SMU	8	–	4	.667	9	–	6	.600
Texas A&M	6	–	6	.500	10	–	8	.556
Texas	5	–	7	.417	11	–	11	.500
Rice	2	–	10	.167	6	–	17	.261
TCU	1	–	11	.083	8	–	15	.348

Major independents

A total of 46 college teams played as major independents. St. Bonaventure (9–0) was undefeated, and Western Kentucky State (30–3) finished with the most wins.^[9]

1937–38 NCAA men's basketball independents standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
St. Bonaventure		–		–	9	–	0	1.000
Western Kentucky State		–		–	30	–	3	.909
Bradley		–		–	18	–	2	.900
Marshall		–		–	28	–	4	.875
Notre Dame		–		–	20	–	3	.870
Army		–		–	12	–	2	.857
Villanova		–		–	25	–	5	.833
Montana State		–		–	22	–	5	.815
Bowling Green State		–		–	16	–	4	.800
Detroit		–		–	16	–	4	.800
Navy		–		–	11	–	3	.786
George Washington		–		–	13	–	4	.765
Marquette		–		–	14	–	5	.737
Syracuse		–		–	14	–	5	.737
Rutgers		–		–	11	–	4	.733
St. Joseph's		–		–	13	–	5	.722
Toledo		–		–	14	–	6	.700
Miami (Ohio)		–		–	11	–	5	.688
Valparaiso		–		–	13	–	6	.684
Loyola (Ill.)		–		–	12	–	8	.600
Ohio		–		–	11	–	8	.579
Loyola (Md.)		–		–	9	–	7	.563
Seton Hall		–		–	10	–	8	.556
DePaul		–		–	12	–	10	.545
Bucknell		–		–	7	–	6	.538
La Salle		–		–	9	–	8	.529
Lafayette		–		–	9	–	8	.529
Michigan State Normal		–		–	9	–	8	.529
Colgate		–		–	10	–	9	.526
Xavier		–		–	10	–	9	.526
Boston University		–		–	9	–	9	.500
Butler		–		–	11	–	12	.478
Canisius		–		–	8	–	9	.471
Lehigh		–		–	7	–	8	.467
Muhlenberg		–		–	9	–	11	.450
Kent State		–		–	10	–	13	.435
Wichita Municipal		–		–	10	–	13	.435
Brown		–		–	7	–	11	.389
Niagara		–		–	8	–	13	.381
Virginia		–		–	6	–	10	.375
Cincinnati		–		–	6	–	11	.353
Dayton		–		–	6	–	11	.353
Duquesne		–		–	6	–	11	.353
Western State Teachers		–		–	6	–	12	.333
Louisville		–		–	4	–	11	.267
Indiana State		–		–	1	–	17	.056

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

National Invitation Tournament

Semifinals & finals

Semifinals		Finals

Oklahoma A&M	55

Temple	56
		Temple	60

		Colorado	36
Colorado	48

NYU	47	Third place


		Oklahoma A&M	37

		NYU	24

Awards

Consensus All-American team

**Consensus Team**
Player	Class	Team
Meyer Bloom	Senior	Temple
Hank Luisetti	Senior	Stanford
John Moir	Senior	Notre Dame
Paul Nowak	Senior	Notre Dame
Fred Pralle	Senior	Kansas
Jewell Young	Senior	Purdue

Major player of the year awards

Helms Player of the Year: Hank Luisetti, Stanford (retroactive selection in 1944)

Other major awards

NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Bernie Fliegel, CCNY

Coaching changes

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

Team	Former Coach	New Coach	Reason
Georgetown	Fred Mesmer	Elmer Ripley	Mesmer stepped aside after seven seasons to allow Ripley to return for a second stint as head coach.
Indiana	Everett Dean	Branch McCracken
Oklahoma	Hugh McDermott	Bruce Drake
Stanford	John Bunn	Everett Dean

References

^ orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
^ "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. p. 13. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
^ Anonymous, "How the NCAA Overtook Its Rival, the NIT," Sport History Weekly, March 24, 2019 Accessed May 4, 2021
^ Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved December 14, 2015.
^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. pp. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
^ "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
^ "1937-38 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved August 1, 2024.

[1] rangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes

[2] "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. p. 13. Retrieved June 25, 2024.

[3] Anonymous, "How the NCAA Overtook Its Rival, the NIT," Sport History Weekly, March 24, 2019 Accessed May 4, 2021

[4] Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved December 14, 2015.

[ESPN_526-5] ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. pp. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[6] "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.

[7] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

[8] "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.

[9] "1937-38 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved August 1, 2024.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[9]

NCAA Division I men's basketball seasons
Pre-regulation	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898-99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06
IAAUS / NCAA pre-Tournament era	1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37
NCAA Tournament era	1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26