The 1934–35 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1934, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1935. This is the 17th season of the NCAA's men's basketball.
Rules changes
The regulation basketball was reduced in circumference, from to between .Schleyer, Claudia, "The Rules of Basketball: Boy How They've Changed!", Youth Hoops 101 Accessed 15 May 2021
Season headlines
Ned Irish began to promote college basketball doubleheaders between New York City-area teams at Madison Square Garden and intersectional games there between New York City-area teams and teams from other regions. The first intersectional game — an NYU 25–18 victory over Notre Dame on December 29, 1934 — drew 16,138 fans, a world record for attendance at a college basketball game. In the next game on January 5, 1935, NYU defeated Kentucky 23–22 before another new world record crowd of 16,539.Kentucky vs. New York University (January 5, 1935) bigbluehistory.net Accessed May 6, 2021 After the NYU–Kentucky game, Kentucky head coach Adolph Rupp called for the creation of a round-robin national championship college basketball tournament. The American Legion sponsored an intersectional "Rose Bowl", promoted as a basketball game "for the national collegiate championship," on April 13 at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. LSU defeated Pittsburgh 41–37 and claimed the mythical national collegiate basketball championship for the 1934–35 season based on this victory.
Conference membership changes SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference Metropolitan New York Conference Non-major basketball program Eastern Intercollegiate Conference Independent Missouri Valley Conference Independent Metropolitan New York Conference Independent Metropolitan New York Conference Independent Metropolitan New York Conference Independent Metropolitan New York Conference Independent Metropolitan New York Conference Independent Metropolitan New York Conference Non-major basketball program Metropolitan New York Conference Independent Metropolitan New York Conference Independent Independent Missouri Valley Conference Independent Missouri Valley Conference
Regular season Conferences Conference winners and tournaments
ConferenceRegular season winnerConference player of the yearConference tournamentTournament venue (City)Tournament winnerBig Six Conference Iowa State None selected No TournamentBig Ten Conference Illinois, Purdue, & Wisconsin None selected No TournamentBorder Conference Texas Tech None selected No TournamentEastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Penn None selected No TournamentEastern Intercollegiate Conference Pittsburgh & None selected No Tournament; Pittsburgh defeated in a single-game conference playoffMetropolitan New York Conference Did not play as a conferenceMissouri Valley Conference Creighton & Drake None selected No TournamentPacific Coast Conference ; No Tournament;USC defeated in best-of-three conference championship playoff seriesRocky Mountain Athletic Conference No TournamentSoutheastern Conference Kentucky & LSU None selected No TournamentSouthern Conference North Carolina None selected 1935 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament Thompson Gym(Raleigh, North Carolina2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section , Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09Southwest Conference Arkansas, Rice, & SMU None selected No Tournament
Conference standings
Major independents A total of 69 college teams played as major independents. (20–0) was undefeated. (24–2) and (24–3) finished with the most wins.
Postseason
The American Legion sponsored a postseason game on April 13 at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey as a feature of the city's Palm Sunday festivities. The intersectional contest was modeled after college football's famous east vs. west Rose Bowl. Eastern Intercollegiate Conference champion Pittsburgh was invited as the eastern representative, while SEC co-champion LSU represented the south.
The game was billed as "for the national collegiate championship" and was expected to attract up to 20,000 fans. LSU came from behind to beat Pittsburgh 41–37 in front of a disappointing 5,000 attendees. The Tigers claim a national championship based on the victory.
Awards
Consensus All-American team
+ Consensus Team Player Class Team Omar Browning Senior Oklahoma Claire Cribbs Senior Pittsburgh Leroy Edwards Sophomore Kentucky Jack Gray Senior Texas Lee Guttero Senior USC
Major player of the year awards
Helms Player of the Year: Leroy Edwards, Kentucky (retroactive selection in 1944)
Coaching changes A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended. TeamFormercoachInterimcoachNewcoachReason Arizona State–Tempe Rudy Lavik Earl Pomeroy Lavik with the school to continue coaching the football program and his athletic director duties. Boston University John Harmon Mel Collard Harmon stepped down to take over as the athletic director of Boston University. BYU G. Ott Romney Eddie Kimball The Citadel Charlie Willard Rock Norman Colgate Robert C. Hubbard John Galloway Colorado Dutch Clark Frosty Cox Colorado Agricultural Saaly Salwachter Sam Campbell Creighton Arthur Schabinger Eddie Hickey Dayton Louis Tschudi Joe Holsinger Furman Flucie Stewart Bob Smith Stewart left to coach at Appalachian State. George Washington Jim Pixlee & Logan Wilson William Reinhart Kent State Gus Peterka Donald Starn Lafayette Herbert A. Lorenz P. M. Shellenberger Marshall Tom Dandelet Cam Henderson Mississippi State Edwin Hale Frank Carideo Montana State Schubert R. Dyche Brick Breeden North Carolina Bo Shepard Walter Skidmore Ole Miss Ed Walker George Bohler Oregon Bill Reinhart Howard Hobson Princeton John Jefferies Kenneth Fairman Santa Clara Harlan Dykes George Barsi South Carolina Rock Norman Ted Petoskey Norman left to coach at The Citadel Tennessee W. H. Britton Blair Gullion Texas A&M John B. Reid Herb McQuillan Texas Tech Virgil Ballard Berl Huffman Wichita Municipal Lindsay Austin Bill Hennigh Yale Elmer Ripley Ken Loeffler
References