1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Season outlook
Pre-season polls
The top 20 from the AP Poll during the pre-season.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 duly renamed itself the Pacific-10 Conference.| School | Former Conference | New Conference |
| WAC | Pac-10 | |
| WAC | Pac-10 | |
| Southern | Independent |
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 did not receive an automatic tournament bid until the 1979–80 season, while the Trans America Athletic Conference received their automatic bid in 1980–81.From 1975 to 1982, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, 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.
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
- Wooden Award: Larry Bird, Indiana State
- Naismith Award: Larry Bird, Indiana State
- Associated Press Player of the Year: Larry Bird, Indiana State
- UPI Player of the Year: Larry Bird, Indiana State
- NABC Player of the Year: Larry Bird, Indiana State
- Oscar Robertson Trophy : Larry Bird, Indiana State
- Adolph Rupp Trophy: Larry Bird, Indiana State
- Sporting News Player of the Year: Larry Bird, Indiana State
Major coach of the year awards
- Associated Press Coach of the Year: Bill Hodges, Indiana State
- Henry Iba Award : Dean Smith, North Carolina
- NABC Coach of the Year: Ray Meyer, DePaul
- UPI Coach of the Year: Bill Hodges, Indiana State
- Sporting News Coach of the Year: Bill Hodges, Indiana State
Other major awards
- Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award : Alton Byrd, Columbia
- Robert V. Geasey Trophy : Tony Price, Penn & Rick Reed, Temple
- NIT/Haggerty Award : Nick Galis, Seton Hall
Coaching changes
| Team | Former Coach | Interim Coach | New Coach | Reason |
| Arkansas-Little Rock | Happy Mahfouz | Ron Krestenbaum | ||
| Austin Peay | Ed Thompson | Ron Bargatze | ||
| Dartmouth | Gary Walters | Tim Cohane | Walters left for Providence. | |
| Detroit | David Gaines | Willie McCarter | ||
| East Carolina | Larry Gillman | Dave Odom | ||
| Eastern Michigan | Ray Scott | Jim Boyce | ||
| Florida A&M | Ajac Triplett | Josh Giles | ||
| Hofstra | Roger Gaeckler | Joe Harrington | ||
| La Salle | Paul Westhead | Dave Ervin | Westhead left to become an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. | |
| Louisiana Tech | J. D. Barnett | Andy Russo | ||
| Loyola Marymount | Dave Benaderet | Ron Jacobs | ||
| Marshall | Stu Aberdeen | Bob Zuffelato | Aberdeen died of a heart attack during the offseason, replaced by associate head coach Zuffelato. | |
| Massachusetts | Jack Leaman | Ray Wilson | ||
| Memphis State | Wayne Yates | Dana Kirk | ||
| Middle Tennessee State | Jimmy Earle | Stan Simpson | ||
| New Mexico | Norm Ellenberger | Charlie Harrison | Gary Colson | Ellenberger was fired following a recruiting scandal. Charlie Harrison served as interim coach for the 1979–80 season and Colson was hired as permanent coach in the 1980 offseason. |
| New Mexico State | Ken Hayes | Weldon Drew | ||
| New Orleans | Butch van Breda Kolff | Don Smith | ||
| North Carolina A&T | Gene Littles | Don Corbett | ||
| Northeast Louisiana | Lenny Fant | Benny Hollis | Fant retired, turning the program to top assistant Hollis. | |
| Oklahoma City | Paul Hansen | Ken Trickey | ||
| Oklahoma State | Jim Killingsworth | Paul Hansen | ||
| Oral Roberts | Lake Kelly | Ken Hayes | ||
| Pacific | Stan Morrison | Dick Fichtner | Morrison left for USC | |
| Pepperdine | Gary Colson | Jim Harrick | Colson resigned. | |
| Providence | Dave Gavitt | Gary Walters | Gavitt left to concentrate on launching the new Big East Conference. | |
| Robert Morris | Tom Weirich | Matt Furjanic | ||
| St. Francis | Lucio Rossini | Gene Roberti | ||
| Saint Mary's | Frank LaPorte | Bill Oates | ||
| Saint Peter's | Bob Kelly | Bob Dukiet | ||
| Samford | Fred Crowell | Cliff Wettig | ||
| San Diego State | Tim Vezie | David Gaines | ||
| San Jose State | Ivan Guevara | Bill Berry | San Jose State tapped Michigan State assistant Berry fresh off the Spartan's national championship. | |
| Southern California | Bob Boyd | Stan Morrison | ||
| Tennessee–Chattanooga | Ron Shumate | Murray Arnold | ||
| Tennessee Tech | Cliff Malpass | Tom Deaton | ||
| TCU | Tim Somerville | Jim Killingsworth | ||
| UCLA | Gary Cunningham | Larry Brown | ||
| Utah State | Dutch Belnap | Rod Tueller | ||
| Vanderbilt | Wayne Dobbs | Richard Schmidt | ||
| Virginia Commonwealth | Dana Kirk | J. D. Barnett | ||
| Western Michigan | Dick Schiltz | Les Wothke | ||
| Xavier | Tay Baker | Bob Staak | Xavier brought in Penn assistant Staak. |