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
- Pre season polls
- Conference membership changes
- Conference winners and tournaments
- Semifinals Finals
- Major player of the year awards
- Major coach of the year awards
- Other major awards
- Coaching changes
- References
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
Major player of the year awards
Major coach of the year awards
Other major awards
Coaching changes
A number of teams changed coaches throughout the season and after the season ended.