1939 NCAA Basketball tournament - wikipedia 1939 NCAA Basketball tournament 1939 NCAA Basketball Tournament Teams 8 Finals site Patten Gymnasium Evanston, Illinois Champions Oregon Ducks ( 1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four ) Runner - up Ohio State Buckeyes ( 1st title game, 1st Final Four ) Semifinalists Oklahoma Sooners ( 1st Final Four ) Villanova Wildcats ( 1st Final Four ) Winning coach Howard Hobson ( 1st title ) MOP Jimmy Hull, ( Ohio State ) Attendance 15,025 Top scorer Jimmy Hull, Ohio State ( 58 points ) NCAA Division I Men 's Tournaments 1940 '' The 1939 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 8 schools playing in single - elimination play to determine the NCAA Men 's Division I Basketball Championship. It was the first NCAA basketball national championship tournament, although it was operated by the NABC at the time. The tournament began on March 17 and ended with the championship game on March 27 on Northwestern University 's campus in Evanston, Illinois. A total of 8 games were played, including a single third place game in the West region. The East region did not hold a third place game until 1941, and there was no national third place game until 1947. Oregon, coached by Howard Hobson, won the national title with a 46 -- 33 victory in the final game over Ohio State, coached by Harold Olsen. Jimmy Hull of Ohio State was named the tournament 's Most Outstanding Player. Despite their success in this first tournament, Oregon would not make another Final Four until 2017. Contents 1 Locations 1.1 Regionals 1.2 Championship Game 2 Teams 3 Bracket 3.1 Regional Third Place 4 See also 5 References Locations The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1939 tournament : Regionals March 17 and 18 East Regional, The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania March 20 and 21 West Regional, California Coliseum, San Francisco, California Championship game March 27 Patten Gymnasium, Evanston, Illinois The 1939 Championship Game was held on the campus of Northwestern University in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. ( Ironically, it took until 2017 for the host team to make the tournament. ) It would be the first of two times the university would host the Final Four on its campus ; the Final Four would return in 1956 to McGaw Memorial Hall, which replaced the second Patten Gymnasium, which in turn replaced this one in 1940. The regionals were held on the east and west coasts. The East was hosted by the University of Pennsylvania at the Palestra, which would go on to host 19 times. The West was hosted at the California Coliseum on the grounds of the Golden Gate International Exposition, then going on on Treasure Island in San Francisco. Within two years, both Patten Gym and the California Coliseum would be demolished, the former for academic expansion, the latter for the creation of the Naval Station Treasure Island on the island. Only the Palestra remains, still the home of the Penn Quakers. The tournament would not return to any of the host cities for several years - Chicago in 1952, Philadelphia in 1953 and the San Francisco suburb of Daly City in 1955 ; to date the tournament has not held games within the city limits of San Francisco again, a streak which will finally end in 2022 when the Chase Center is used for the first time. Teams East Regional - Philadelphia School Coach Conference Record Brown Eck Allen Independent 16 -- 3 Ohio State Harold Olsen Big Ten 14 -- 6 Villanova Alex Severance Independent 19 -- 4 Wake Forest Murray Greason Southern 18 -- 5 West Regional - San Francisco School Coach Conference Record Oklahoma Bruce Drake Big Six 11 -- 8 Oregon Howard Hobson Pacific Coast 26 -- 5 Texas Jack Gray Southwest 19 -- 4 Utah State Dick Romney Mountain States 16 -- 6 Bracket Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals Villanova 42 Brown 30 Villanova 36 Ohio State 53 Ohio State 64 Wake Forest 52 Ohio State 33 Oregon 46 Oregon 56 Texas 41 Oregon 55 Oklahoma 37 Utah State 39 Oklahoma 50 Regional Third Place West Regional Third Place Texas 49 Utah State 51 See also 1939 National Invitation Tournament 1939 NAIA Division I Men 's Basketball Tournament References Jump up ^ `` Giant Oregon five defeats Ohio for U.S. title, 46 -- 33 ''. Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. March 28, 1939. p. 12. Jump up ^ Kuechle, Oliver ( March 28, 1939 ). `` Oregon beats Ohio State easily for national title ''. Milwaukee Journal. p. 12, part 2. Jump up ^ `` Oregon tops Bucks, 46 -- 33 ''. Toledo Blade. Ohio. United Press. March 28, 1939. p. 11. Jump up ^ Strite, Dick ( March 28, 1939 ). `` Mighty Oregons scramble Ohio State to take hoop title of all America ''. Eugene Register - Guard. Oregon. p. 1. Jump up ^ `` 1939 NCAA Basketball Tournament ''. College Basketball Reference. Retrieved 3 April 2018. NCAA Division I Men 's Basketball Tournament Tournaments 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1984 1985 1986 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Structure Selection process Venues # 1 seeds Opening Round Elite Eight Final Four National Championship Game Champions & awards Champions Most Outstanding Player Media & culture Bracketology Broadcasting Tournament Final Four March Madness pools `` One Shining Moment '' Records & statistics All - time team records Bids by school Bids by school and conference Consecutive appearances Final Four appearances by school Final Four participants Final Four appearances by coach Upsets 1938 -- 39 NCAA championships Basketball ( debut ) Cross country ( debut ) Football Golf ( debut ) Gymnastics Swimming and diving Track and field Wrestling Oregon Webfoots men 's basketball 1938 -- 39 NCAA champions 13 Ford Mullen 18 John H. Dick 20 Bobby Anet 22 Slim Wintermute 28 Laddie Gale 32 Wally Johansen Head coach Howard Hobson Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1939_NCAA_Basketball_Tournament&oldid=839272134 '' Categories : NCAA Division I Men 's Basketball Tournament 1938 -- 39 NCAA men 's basketball season First events Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Italiano Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 2 May 2018, at 11 : 07. About Wikipedia

Question: what was the inaugural year of the ncaa tournament
Answer: 1939