Golden Moments in Sports History

NCAA Basketball Tournament 1942: East Regional

From 1939-1950, the NCAA basketball tournament, a brainchild of Coach Phog Allen of Kansas, consisted of only eight teams. The teams played in two groups of four: the East Regional and the West Regional. The two regional winners then met in the finals. The 1942 tournament is interesting because of the location of the East Regional.

Location of the 1942 East Regional
Tulane Gymnasium, New Orleans LA. This facility was opened in 1933. Its $80,000 cost was funded in large measure by the money the Green Wave football team earned for its appearance in the 1932 Rose Bowl. In fact, the gym was called "Rose Bowl Gym" in its early days. (Since the late 1980s the facility has been known as Fogelman Arena.)
Teams in the Regional
Team Conference Coach
Dartmouth Ivy League Osborne Cowles
Illinois Big Ten Doug Mills
Kentucky Southeastern Adolph Rupp
Penn State
None
John Lawther

First Round Results
Dartmouth defeated Penn State 44-39.
Kentucky bested Illinois 46-44.

Attendance: 3,000

Second Round Results
Dartmouth routed Kentucky 47-28 to win the East Regional.
Penn State upended Illinois 41-34 in the consolation game.

On the same dates, the West Regional was played in Kansas City MO. Here were the results there.

First Round Results
Stanford defeated Rice 53-47.
Colorado downed Kansas 46-44. (Note: Colorado and Kansas were not in the same conference in 1942. More on conference histories in future Golden Moments.)

Second Round Results
Stanford outpointed Colorado 46-35 to win the West Regional.
Kansas edged Rice 55-53 in the consolation game.

Dartmouth traveled to Kansas City for the championship game, which they lost to Stanford 53-38.

Stanford was coached by Everett Dean. Howie Dallmar of Stanford was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

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