1939 NCAA basketball tournament

The 1939 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. It was the first NCAA basketball national championship tournament, although it was operated by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) at the time.

1939 NCAA basketball tournament

Teams	8
Finals site	Patten Gymnasium Evanston, Illinois
Champions	Oregon Webfoots (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Runner-up	Ohio State Buckeyes (1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Semifinalists	Oklahoma Sooners (1st Final Four) Villanova Wildcats (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Howard Hobson (1st title)
MOP	Jimmy Hull, (Ohio State)
Attendance	15,025
Top scorer	Jimmy Hull, (Ohio State) (58 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments   1940»

The tournament began on March 17 and ended with the championship game on March 27 on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois.^[1][2][3][4] A total of eight games were played, including a single third-place game in the West region. The East region did not hold a third-place game until 1941, and there was no national third-place game until 1946.

Oregon, coached by Howard Hobson, won the national title with a 46–33 victory in the final game over Ohio State, coached by Harold Olsen. Jimmy Hull of Ohio State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Despite its success in this first tournament, Oregon would not make another Final Four until 2017.

Teams

East Regional - Philadelphia
School	Coach	Conference	Record
Brown	Eck Allen	Independent	16–3
Ohio State	Harold Olsen	Big Ten	14–6
Villanova	Alex Severance	Independent	19–4
Wake Forest	Murray Greason	Southern	18–5

West Regional - San Francisco
School	Coach	Conference	Record
Oklahoma	Bruce Drake	Big Six	11–8
Oregon	Howard Hobson	Pacific Coast	26–5
Texas	Jack Gray	Southwest	19–4
Utah State	Dick Romney	Mountain States	16–6

Bracket

Regional Semifinals

Regional Finals

National Championship

March 17

Villanova

42

March 18

Brown

30

Villanova

36

East – Philadelphia

Ohio State

53

Ohio State

64

Evanston, Illinois – March 27

Wake Forest

52

Ohio State

33

March 20

Oregon

46

Oregon

56

March 21

Texas

41

Oregon

55

West – San Francisco

Oklahoma

37

Utah State

39

Oklahoma

50

West Third Place Game

March 21

Texas

49

Utah State

51

^[5]

See also

• 1939 National Invitation Tournament
• 1939 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament

References

1. "Giant Oregon five defeats Ohio for U.S. title, 46–33". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. March 28, 1939. p. 12.
2. Kuechle, Oliver (March 28, 1939). "Oregon beats Ohio State easily for national title". Milwaukee Journal. p. 12, part 2.
3. "Oregon tops Bucks, 46–33". Toledo Blade. Ohio. United Press. March 28, 1939. p. 11.
4. Strite, Dick (March 28, 1939). "Mighty Oregons scramble Ohio State to take hoop title of all America". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. p. 1.
5. "1939 NCAA basketball tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 3, 2018.