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2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

The 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 7, 2011, with the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and ended with the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament's championship game on April 2, 2012, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The tournament began with four first-round games on March 13–14, 2012 in Dayton, Ohio, followed by second and third rounds from Thursday through Sunday, March 15–18, 2012. Regional games were played from Thursday through Sunday, March 22–25, 2012, with the Final Four played on Saturday March 31, 2012, and the national championship game on Monday, April 2, 2012.

Kentucky claimed its eighth NCAA title, defeating Kansas 67–59 in the final. Consensus national player of the year Anthony Davis of Kentucky was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

Season headlines

  • September 13 – NCAA recruiting frenzy resumed when high school junior Jabari Parker held an open practice attended by representatives of 42 NCAA Division I schools, including Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, Bruce Weber, Billy Kennedy, Thad Matta, Bill Self, Oliver Purnell and Larry Krystkowiak.
  • November 1 – The AP preseason All-American team was named. Ohio State's Jared Sullinger was the only unanimous pick. Joining Sullinger were North Carolina forward Harrison Barnes (63 of 65 possible votes), Wisconsin guard Jordan Taylor (51), Kentucky forward Terrence Jones (33) and Connecticut guard Jeremy Lamb (25).
  • After Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl was fired following the 2010–11 season for major recruiting violations, he took a job as vice president of marketing with a Knoxville-based wholesale grocery company, H.T. Hackney. He had been offered an opportunity to coach the NBA Development League's Texas Legends but declined because he wanted to stay in the Knoxville area with his family.
  • November 11 – the game between Michigan State and #1 North Carolina, known as the inaugural Carrier Classic, was played on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson off the coast of Coronado, California on Veterans Day. It was the first ever college basketball game played on a Navy aircraft carrier. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama attended the game as North Carolina won 67–55.
  • November 17 – Syracuse associate head coach Bernie Fine was placed on paid administrative leave after accusations by multiple former ball boys claimed that he sexually molested them a number of times spanning more than 10 years. The story about Fine broke less than two weeks after the Penn State sex abuse scandal came to light. Fine was subsequently fired on November 27, ending his streak as Division I's longest-tenured assistant coach at one school.
  • December 5 – Harvard became ranked in the AP Poll for the first time in school history, coming in at No. 25 after an 8–0 start. It leaves Brown as the only remaining Ivy League school to have never been ranked in the poll and leaves only seven schools that have played Division I basketball since the AP Poll began that have never been ranked in it.
  • December 5 – Mike Krzyzewski and Tennessee Lady Volunteers coach Pat Summitt were named the co-recipients of the annual Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award, making them the third and fourth college basketball coaches selected in its 57-year history.
  • December 28 – After beating (15 AP/14 Coaches) Mississippi State, the Baylor Bears had their program's first ever 13–0 start and a school-record tying 13-game winning streak. The Bears' record reached 17–0 before finally losing to No. 7 Kansas, 92–74, on January 16. At the time of their first loss they were ranked No. 3 in the nation, another all-time program high.
  • December 31 – No. 13 Indiana defeats No. 2 Ohio State, becoming the first Hoosiers men's basketball team to defeat both the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the same season (they had also previously upset then-#1 Kentucky, 73–72).
  • January 5 – A Sun Belt Conference game between Louisiana–Lafayette and Western Kentucky ends in controversy, as officials failed to notice that the Ragin' Cajuns had six men on the court when Elfrid Payton drove for the layup that gave them a 72–70 win on WKU's home court. The conference's coordinator of officials stated that the error was not correctable post-game, but indicated that suspensions of the three officials involved were possible.
  • February 9 – Murray State, the last unbeaten team in Division I men's basketball and ranked No. 9 in the country, loses at home to Tennessee State 72–68.
  • February 21 – Binghamton becomes the last team in Division I to win a game. They started 0–26 until a 57–53 upset win over Vermont.
  • February 24 – Radford receives two years of probation, but no postseason ban, for providing impermissible benefits to recruits. Former head coach Brad Greenberg, who left after the 2010–11 season, is hit with a five-year show-cause penalty for leading an effort to mislead NCAA investigators.
  • March 8 – Yahoo! Sports reports that the FBI is investigating suspended Auburn point guard Varez Ward for possible involvement in a point shaving scheme. A second Auburn player had been investigated but was cleared.

Milestones and records

Conference membership changes

The 2011–12 season saw the first wave of membership changes resulting from a major realignment of NCAA Division I conferences. The cycle began in 2010 with the Big Ten Conference and the then-Pacific-10 Conference announcing their intentions to expand. The fallout from these conferences' moves later affected a majority of Division I conferences.

New arenas

Major rule changes

Beginning in 2011–12, the following rules change was implemented:

  • The charge circle was instituted – a semi-circle in front of the basket. Secondary defenders must be outside of this circle to effectively draw a charge. Otherwise they will be assessed an automatic blocking foul.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The top 25 from the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls.

Regular season

A number of early-season tournaments marked the beginning of the college basketball season.

Early-season tournaments

*Although these tournaments include more teams, only the number listed play for the championship.

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Thirty-one conference seasons concluded with a single-elimination tournament. The teams in each conference that won their regular-season titles were given the number one seed in their respective conference tournaments. Conference tournament winners received an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament except for the winner of the Great West Conference tournament, although its champion received an automatic bid to the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Ivy League was the only NCAA Division I conference that did not hold a conference tournament, instead sending its regular-season champion to the NCAA tournament.

Conference standings

Division I independents

Four schools played as Division I independents, although Nebraska–Omaha was in transition from NCAA Division II and not yet considered a full Division I school. Antwan Carter of Longwood was named Independent Player of the Year.

Informal championships

St. Joseph's and Temple finished with 3–1 records in head-to-head competition among the Philadelphia Big 5.

Statistical leaders

Source for additional stats categories

Postseason tournaments

NCAA tournament

Final Four – Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Tournament upsets

For this list, a "major upset" is defined as a win by a team seeded 7 or more spots below its defeated opponent.

National Invitation tournament

After the NCAA Tournament field was announced, the NCAA invited 32 teams to participate in the National Invitation Tournament. The tournament began on March 13, with all games prior to the semifinals played on campus sites. The semifinals and final were respectively held on March 27 and 29 at the traditional site of Madison Square Garden.

NIT Semifinals and Final

Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City

College Basketball Invitational

The fifth College Basketball Invitational (CBI) Tournament was held beginning March 13 and ended with a best-of-three final, which went to the maximum number of games and ended on March 30.

CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournament

The fourth CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament was held beginning March 15 and ended with a championship game on March 28. This tournament places an emphasis on selecting successful teams from "mid-major" conferences who were left out of the NCAA Tournament and NIT.

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

The following players are recognized as the 2012 Consensus All-Americans:

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Major player of the year awards

Major freshman of the year awards

Major coach of the year awards

Other major awards

Coaching changes

A number of teams changed coaches during and after the season.

References