Trisha Shetty (Editor)

1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

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Preseason AP #1
  
Duke Blue Devils

Other champions
  
Indiana Hoosiers (NIT)

NCAA Tournament
  
1979

National championship
  
Jon M. Huntsman Center

Tournament dates
  
March 9, 1979 – March 26, 1979

NCAA Champions
  
Michigan State Spartans

Helms National Champions
  
Michigan State Spartans

Ncaa champion
  
1978–79 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

Similar
  
2004–05 NCAA Division I, 1999–2000 NCAA Division I, 1979 NCAA Men's Div, 2005–06 NCAA Division I, 2007–08 NCAA Division I

Pre-season polls

The top 20 from the AP Poll during the pre-season.

Contents

Conference membership changes

The 1978–79 season was most notable for the expansion of the Pacific-8 Conference to 10 members with the addition of the men's athletic programs of Arizona and Arizona State (the conference did not sponsor women's sports until the 1986–87 school year). The conference duly renamed itself the Pacific-10 Conference.

Conference winners and tournaments

Of 22 Division I basketball conferences, 13 determined their league champion with a single-elimination tournament, while seven leagues sent their regular-season champion to the NCAA Tournament. The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) did not receive an automatic tournament bid until the 1979–80 season, while the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) received their automatic bid in 1980–81.

From 1975 to 1982, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), a loosely organized sports federation of Northeastern colleges and universities, organized Division I ECAC regional tournaments for those of its members that were independents in basketball. Each 1979 tournament winner received an automatic bid to the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in the same way that the tournament champions of conventional athletic conferences did.

Semifinals & Finals

  • Third Place – Alabama 96, Ohio State 86

    • Major player of the year awards

  • Wooden Award: Larry Bird, Indiana State
  • Naismith Award: Larry Bird, Indiana State
  • Associated Press Player of the Year: Larry Bird, Indiana State
  • UPI Player of the Year: Larry Bird, Indiana State
  • NABC Player of the Year: Larry Bird, Indiana State
  • Oscar Robertson Trophy (USBWA): Larry Bird, Indiana State
  • Adolph Rupp Trophy: Larry Bird, Indiana State
  • Sporting News Player of the Year: Larry Bird, Indiana State

    • Major coach of the year awards

  • Associated Press Coach of the Year: Bill Hodges, Indiana State
  • Henry Iba Award (USBWA): Dean Smith, North Carolina
  • NABC Coach of the Year: Ray Meyer, DePaul
  • UPI Coach of the Year: Bill Hodges, Indiana State
  • Sporting News Coach of the Year: Bill Hodges, Indiana State

    • Other major awards

  • Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (Best player under 6'0): Alton Byrd, Columbia
  • Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): Tony Price, Penn & Rick Reed, Temple
  • NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in NYC): Nick Galis, Seton Hall

    • Coaching changes

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

    References

    1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA