1978-79 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Season
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1978%E2%80%9379 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Season
Season outlook
Pre-season polls
The top 20 from the AP Poll during the pre-season.[2]
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 .
Regular season
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.[3]
Conference
Regular Season Winner[4]
Conference Player of the Year
Conference Tournament
Tournament Venue (City)
Tournament Winner
Atlantic Coast Conference
Duke & North Carolina
Mike Gminski , Duke [5]
1979 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
Greensboro Coliseum (Greensboro, North Carolina )
North Carolina
Big Eight Conference
Oklahoma
John McCullough , Oklahoma [6]
1979 Big Eight Men's Basketball Tournament
Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri ) (Semifinals and Finals)
Oklahoma
Big Sky Conference
Weber State
Lawrence Butler , Idaho State [7]
1979 Big Sky Men's Basketball Tournament
Dee Events Center (Ogden, Utah )
Weber State
Big Ten Conference
Michigan State , Purdue & Iowa
None Selected
No Tournament
East Coast Conference
Temple (East)Bucknell (West)
Michael Brooks , La Salle
1979 East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The Palestra (Philadelphia )
Temple
Eastern Athletic Association (Eastern 8)
Villanova
James Bailey , Rutgers [8]
1979 Eastern 8 Men's Basketball Tournament
Civic Arena (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania )
Rutgers
Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC)
Division I ECAC members played as independents during the regular season
Corny Thompson Connecticut [9]
1979 ECAC Metro Region Tournament
Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, New York )
Iona
1979 ECAC New England Region Tournament
Providence Civic Center (Providence, Rhode Island )
Connecticut
1979 ECAC South-Upstate Region Tournament
Cole Field House (College Park, Maryland )
Georgetown
Ivy League
Penn
Tony Price , Penn [10]
No Tournament
Metro Conference
Louisville
Pat Cummings , Cincinnati
1979 Metro Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Mid-South Coliseum (Memphis, Tennessee )
Virginia Tech
Mid-American Conference
Toledo
Paul Dawkins , Northern Illinois [11]
No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference
Indiana State
Larry Bird , Indiana State [12]
1979 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Hulman Center (Terre Haute, Indiana )
Indiana State [13] Ohio Valley Conference
Eastern Kentucky
James Tillman , Eastern Kentucky [14]
1979 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
McBrayer Arena (Richmond, Kentucky ) (Semifinals and Finals)
Eastern Kentucky [15] Pacific-10 Conference
UCLA
David Greenwood , UCLA [16]
No Tournament
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference
Pacific
Ron Cornelius , Pacific [17]
1979 PCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
Anaheim Convention Center (Anaheim, California )
Pacific
Southeastern Conference
LSU
Reggie King , Alabama [18]
1979 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (Birmingham, Alabama )
Tennessee
Southern Conference
Appalachian State
Jonathan Moore , Furman [19]
1979 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Roanoke Civic Center (Roanoke, Virginia ) (Semifinals and Finals)
Appalachian State [20] Southland Conference
Lamar
David Lawrence , McNeese State [21]
No Tournament
Southwest Conference
Texas & Arkansas
Sidney Moncrief , Arkansas (Consensus)
1979 SWC Men's Basketball Tournament
The Summit (Houston, Texas )
Arkansas
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Alcorn State
Larry Smith , Alcorn State [22]
No Tournament
Sun Belt Conference
South Alabama
Rory White , South Alabama [23]
1979 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Charlotte Coliseum (Charlotte, North Carolina ) (Semifinals and Finals)
Jacksonville [24] Trans America Athletic Conference
Northeast Louisiana
Calvin Natt , Northeast Louisiana [25]
1979 TAAC Men's Basketball Tournament
Ewing Coliseum (Monroe, Louisiana )
Northeast Louisiana
West Coast Athletic Conference
San Francisco
Bill Cartwright , San Francisco [26]
No Tournament
Western Athletic Conference
BYU
None Selected
No Tournament
Statistical leaders
Post-Season Tournaments
NCAA Tournament
Final Four
National Invitation Tournament
Semifinals & Finals
Third Place - Alabama 96, Ohio State 86 Awards
Consensus All-American teams
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.[27]
References
^ "1979 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll" . AP Poll Archive. Retrieved .
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game . Random House . 2009. ISBN 0-345-51392-4 .
^ Varsity Pride: ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments
^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book - Conferences Section" (PDF) . NCAA. 2009. Retrieved .
^ 2008-09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide - Year by Year section , retrieved 2009-02-14
^ 2008-09 Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Guide - Awards section , Big 12 Conference , retrieved 2009-02-04
^ Men's Basketball Award Winners , Big Sky Conference , retrieved 2009-02-14
^ 2008-09 A-10 men's basketball media guide - Awards section , Atlantic 10 Conference , retrieved 2009-02-01
^ "UConn Men's Huskies: Men's Basketball Huskies of Honor Announced, December 26, 2006" . Archived from the original on February 3, 2010. Retrieved 2014 .
^ Men's Ivy League Outstanding performers Archived 2008-04-29 at the Wayback Machine , Ivy League , retrieved 2009-02-01
^ 2008-09 MAC Men's BAsketball Media Guide - Records Section , Mid-American Conference , retrieved 2009-02-14
^ 2008-09 MVC Men's Basketball Media Guide - Honors Section [permanent dead link ] , Missouri Valley Conference , retrieved 2009-02-06
^ 2008-09 MVC men's basketball media guide - Tournament section , Missouri Valley Conference , retrieved 2009-02-14
^ 2008-09 OVC men's basketball media guide , Ohio Valley Conference , retrieved 2009-02-06
^ 2008-09 OVC men's basketball media guide , Ohio Valley Conference , retrieved 2009-01-24
^ 2008-09 Pacific-10 Men's Basketball Media Guide- Honors Section , Pacific-10 Conference , retrieved 2009-02-06
^ 2008-09 Big West Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine , Big West Conference , retrieved 2009-02-14
^ 2008-09 SEC Men's Basketball Record Book , Southeastern Conference , retrieved 2009-02-06
^ 2008-09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide - Honors Section , Southern Conference , retrieved 2009-02-09
^ 2008-09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide - Postseason Section , Southern Conference , retrieved 2009-02-09
^ 2008-09 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide , Southland Conference , retrieved 2009-02-07
^ 2006-07 SWAC Men's Basketball Media Guide
^ 2007-08 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Media Guide , Sun Belt Conference , retrieved 2009-02-07
^ "Sun Belt Men's Basketball Previous Champions" . Sun Belt Conference. May 31, 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-03-07. Retrieved .
^ Atlantic Sun men's basketball record book , Atlantic Sun Conference , retrieved 2009-02-07
^ 2008-09 WCC Men's Basketball Media Guide , West Coast Conference , retrieved 2009-02-07
^ "NCAA Division I Men's College Basketball 2000 Coaching Changes" . CNN/SI. 2000-09-13. Retrieved .
Statistical Leaders and Coaching Changes from 1980 NCAA Basketball 84th Annual Guide , (Copyright 1979, NCAA)