1939–40 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

1939–40 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions
National Championship Game, W 60-42 vs. Kansas
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	20–3 (9–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Branch McCracken (2nd season)
Assistant coach	Ralph Graham
Captain	Marv Huffman
Home arena	The Fieldhouse

1939–40 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Purdue	10	–	2		.833			16	–	4		.800
Indiana	9	–	3		.750			20	–	3		.870
Ohio State	8	–	4		.667			13	–	7		.650
Illinois	7	–	5		.583			14	–	6		.700
Northwestern	7	–	5		.583			13	–	7		.650
Michigan	6	–	6		.500			13	–	7		.650
Minnesota	5	–	7		.417			12	–	8		.600
Iowa	4	–	8		.333			9	–	12		.429
Wisconsin	3	–	9		.250			5	–	15		.250
Chicago	1	–	11		.083			5	–	15		.250

The 1939–40 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University. Their head coach was Branch McCracken, who was in his 2nd year. The team played its home games in The Fieldhouse in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.^[1]

The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 17–3 and a conference record of 9–3, finishing 2nd in the Big Ten Conference to the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue was invited to participate in the 8-team NCAA tournament, but declined their bid recommending IU play in the tournament in their place. In only the second national tournament, IU won their first NCAA Tournament Championship by defeating Kansas, 60–42, in the final. Indiana was also retroactively recognized as the national champion by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[2]

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
7	Andy Zimmer	C	6–4	So.	Goodland, Indiana
9	Chet Francis	G	6–1	Jr.	Avon, Indiana
10	Harold Zimmer	F	5–8	Jr.	Springfield, Ohio
11	Everett Hoffman	C	6–3	So.	Evansville, Indiana
12	Jim Gridley	G	6–1	Jr.	Vevay, Indiana
13	Jim Ooley	G	6–2	Sr.	Spencer, Indiana
16	James Clifton	C	6–3	Jr.	Bentonville, Indiana
18	Cliff Wiethoff	F	6–1	So.	Seymour, Indiana
19	Ed Newby	G	5–11	So.	Indianapolis, Indiana
20	Jack Stevenson	F	6–1	Sr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
21	Max Hasler	G	5–10	So.	Elnora, Indiana
22	Jay McCreary	G	5–10	Jr.	Frankfort, Indiana
23	Don Huckleberry	G	5–9	So.	Salem, Indiana
24	John Torphy	F	5–11	So.	Bedford, Indiana
25	Bill Frey	F	6–1	So.	Kokomo, Indiana
26	Tom Motter	F	6–1	Jr.	Fort Wayne, Indiana
28	William Torphy	G	6–1	So.	Bedford, Indiana
29	Robert Menke	F	6–3	Jr.	Huntingburg, Indiana
30	Ralph Dorsey	F	5–10	Sr.	Horse Cave, Kentucky
32	Herm Schaefer	F	6–1	Jr.	Fort Wayne, Indiana
33	Curly Armstrong	F	5–11	Jr.	Fort Wayne, Indiana
34	Marv Huffman	G	6–2	Sr.	New Castle, Indiana
35	William Menke	C	6–3	Jr.	Huntingburg, Indiana
38	Bob Dro	G	5–11	Sr.	Berne, Indiana

Schedule/Results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
12/9/1939*		Wabash	W 37–24	1–0	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
12/11/1939*		Xavier	W 58–24	2–0	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
12/15/1939*		at Nebraska	W 49–39	3–0	Nebraska Coliseum  Lincoln, Nebraska
12/18/1939*		Pittsburgh	W 51–35	4–0	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
12/23/1939*		at Butler	W 40–33	5–0	Butler Fieldhouse  Indianapolis
12/27/1939*		at Duquesne	W 51–49	6–0	Duquesne Gardens  Pittsburgh
12/28/1939*		at Villanova	W 45–33	7–0	Villanova Field House  Villanova, Pennsylvania
1/6/1940		Illinois Rivalry	W 38–36	8–0 (1–0)	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
1/8/1940		Iowa	W 45–30	9–0 (2–0)	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
1/13/1940		at Minnesota	L 44–46	9–1 (2–1)	Minnesota Field House  Minneapolis
1/15/1940		at Wisconsin	W 40–34	10–1 (3–1)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, Wisconsin
2/3/1940*		at DePaul	W 51–30	11–1 (3–1)	University Auditorium  Chicago
2/10/1940		Purdue Rivalry	W 46–39	12–1 (4–1)	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
2/12/1940		Michigan	W 57–30	13–1 (5–1)	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
2/17/1940		at Northwestern	L 36–40	13–2 (5–2)	Old Patten Gymnasium  Evanston, Illinois
2/19/1940		at Iowa	W 46–42	14–2 (6–2)	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
2/24/1940		Chicago	W 38–34	15–2 (7–2)	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
2/26/1940		at Ohio State	L 26–44	15–3 (7–3)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum  Columbus, Ohio
3/2/1940		at Purdue Rivalry	W 51–45	16–3 (8–3)	Lambert Fieldhouse  West Lafayette, Indiana
3/4/1940		Ohio State	W 52–31	17–3 (9–3)	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
NCAA tournament
3/22/1940*		vs. Springfield Quarterfinals	W 48–24	18–3 (9–3)	Butler Fieldhouse  Indianapolis,IN
3/23/1940*		vs. Duquesne Final Four	W 39–30	19–3 (9–3)	Butler Fieldhouse  Indianapolis
3/30/1940*		vs. Kansas Championship	W 60–42	20–3 (9–3)	Municipal Auditorium  Kansas City, Missouri
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

• Marv Huffman, Consensus second team All-American
• Marv Huffman, NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player
• Bill Menke, Third team All-American (Converse)

References

1. "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
2. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York: ESPN Books. p. 553. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.