1939-40
OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL Big 6 CONFERENCE PLACE CONF. TOURNEY POST-SEASON
 19-6 8-0 5-5 6-1 8-2 1st - Tie 1-0 2-1 NCAA - Nat'l Runnerup

ROSTER:

NO. POS. NAME CLASS HGT. WGT. Hometown (Previous School)
    RETURNEES:        
9 C Bob Allen * Jr. 6'0 165 Lawrence, KS
12 F Don Ebling ** Cpt. Sr. 5'11 163 Lindsborg, KS
99 F Jack Edward Engel %     Liberal, KS
5 F Howard Engleman * Jr. 6'0 170

Arkansas City, KS

20 G Dick Harp ** Cpt. Sr. 6'1 183 Kansas City, KS (Rosedale High School)
6 G William Hogben Sr. 6'1 164 Kansas City, MO (Southwest HS)
16 G John Kline * Sr. 6'3 190 Hutchison, KS (Transfer from Hutchison Juco)
7 F-G Bruce Reid * % Sr.    Arkansas City, KS
3 C Jack Sands * Sr.    

Lawrence, KS

13 G Bruce Voran * Sr. 6'0 180 Pretty Prairie, KS
    NEW FACES:        
10 G T. P. Hunter Jr. 6'2 165 Oklahoma City, OK  (Central HS)
8 F Bob Johnson So. 6'0 162 Kansas City, KS  (Shawnee-Mission HS)
4 F Ralph Miller So.6'1 175 Chanute, KS

          * Varsity letter     Cpt. = Captain    # = Walk-on     % = Nonletterman

HEAD COACH

Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, 23rd year

Gordon Gray, Assistant, 1st year
Ernst Uhrlaub, Assistant, 2nd year

LOSSES FROM LAST YEAR ('39 stats):

PLAYER LOSSES Class Hgt. POS. G/GS PTS PPG STATUS
Lyman Corliss Sr.   G/F 20/ 114 5.7 Graduated
Les Kappleman Sr.   G/F 12/ 12 1.0 Graduated
George Golay Sr. 6'5 F 14/ 67 4.8 Graduated
Paul Masoner Sr.   G 2/ 0 0.0 Graduated
Carl Johnson Sr.   1/ 0 0.0 Graduated
Loren Florell Jr.   F 15/ 23 1.5  
Gus Nees Jr.   G 0/ 0 0.0  
Max Replogle Jr.   G 0/ 0 0.0  
Fenlon Durand Jr.   G 5/ 2 0.4  
__  Hays   G 1/ 5 5.0  
'39 TOTALS   223 11.2  

 

PRESEASON OUTLOOK:
 

 

 

 

 

SEASON SUMMARY:
“The 1940 team ranks tops for their ability to overcome tremendous odds and advancing to the NCAA finals ... In achieving national fame, this team owned no '‘big men'’yet had the necessary team work and qualifications to rank as one of the greatest K.U. teams of all time.”

Source:  Allen in the University Daily Kansan, December, 1949

One era passed and another began during the 1939–40 season.

Dr. James Naismith died on Nov.28, 1939, nearly 50 years after inventing the game and three years after seeing it gain worldwide acceptance as an Olympic sport at the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin.

Exactly three months later, on Feb.28, 1940, college basketball appeared on television for the first time when experimental station W2XBS in New York televised a Pitt-Fordham and Georgetown-NYU doubleheader at Madison Square Garden.

Indiana finished second to Purdue in the Big Ten, but district officials sent the Hoosiers to the NCAA tournament because of their two regular season wins against the Boilermakers. Good choice. Indiana, led by All-America guard Marv Huffman, won the eight-team tournament, beating Big Six representative Kansas by 18 in the final. NCAA moved the Final Two to Kansas City in search of more exposure.

Colorado and Duquesne, both early round losers in the NCAAs, went to New York and ended up meeting in the NIT final. The Buffaloes won, 51–40.

The Jayhawks finished the 1939-40 Big Six season at 8-2, in a three-way tie for the league title with Missouri and Oklahoma.  A playoff series to determine who would represent the league in the fifth district title game was held in Wichita.  And KU prevailed, beating Oklahoma 45-39 after the Sooners had beaten Missouri.

In a contest billed as “The Game of the Year,” Kansas met Oklahoma A&M for the fifth District title.  The Jayhawks won 45-43 in overtime and headed for the Western Championships in Kansas City.

After defeating Rice 50-44, KU advanced to meet Southern Cal in the NCAA Western final.  The Jayhawks weren’t given much of a chance: “The midget University of Kansas basketball team was up against the sun-bronzed giants rated the best in the nation. The Jayhawks looked puny by comparison,” the Saturday Evening Post reported.  But KU hung close and rallied in the final 18 seconds for a victory as Howard Engleman swished a high, arching shot from far out on the right side as the timer’s gun went off.  The Jayhawks had won 43-42.  “It was another miracle in Kansas basketball.  Kansas fans should be getting used to them by this time,” the Post reported.

But the miracles were over, and KU fell to Indiana 60-42 in the NCAA final at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium.  Dick Harp and Don Ebling were captains of the 1939-40 team.  But other key players in Allen’s “seven-man starting lineup” were Ralph Miller and Allen’s son, Bob, who had fed Engleman the assist in the USC game.

Source:  The Crimson & Blue Handbook, pages 35-36.

1940 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY-zYDpUp3s&feature=related

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PRECEDE, Topeka Capitol-Journal

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME STORY, by Gene Kemper

1940 RECAP, Topeka Capitol-Journal

1940: Luck Runs Out, by Gene Kemper, Topeka Daily Capitol

Hoosiers Arrive in Top Shape, Topeka Daily Capitol

Phog Helped Lure NCAA Tournament To K.C., A Century of Kansas Basketball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY-zYDpUp3s

 

 

1940  FINAL TEAM STATISTICS (Team highs in bold):

CATEGORY

KU

OPP

DIFF

Miller, Ralph Allen,
Bob
Ebling, Don Engleman, Howard Harp, Dick Reid, Bruce

Games Played/Started

25 25   25/ 25/ 25/ 21/ 25/ 11/

Points

1,013     228 178 174 126 123 41

    Per Game

40.5     9.1 7.1 7.0 6.0 5.9 5.7

FG -Attempts

                 

       Made

388     85 66 63 53 48 17

       Percent

                 

FT-Attempts

                 

     Made

237     58 46 48 20 27 7

     Percent

                 

Statistics, Cont'd

CATEGORY Voran,
Bruce
Kline,
John
Johnson, Bob Hunter,
T.P.
Hogben,
Bill
Sands,
Jack
Games Played/ Started 24/ 24/ 17/ 14/ 12/ 10/
Points 75 27 18 11 8 4
   Per Game 3.1 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.4
FG - Attempts            
         Made 27 13 8 2 4 2
         Percent            
FT - Attempts            
        Made 21 1 2 7 0 0
        Percent            

Source:  

GAME-BY-GAME

Oklahoma A&M W 34-30
Dec. 5 at Lawrence
Warrensburg L 31-33 * Dec. 8 at Warrensburg, Mo.
SMU W 63-31
Dec. 18 at Lawrence
SMU W 37-26
Dec. 19 at Lawrence
Baker W 34-18
Dec. 28 at Topeka, Kan.
New Mexico Mines W 40-24
Dec. 29 at Topeka, Kan.
Washburn W 52-34
Dec. 30 at Topeka, Kan.
Oklahoma W 46-26
Jan. 5 at Lawrence
Loyola (Ill.) W 40-36
Jan. 8 at Chicago, Ill.
Kansas State W 34-33
Jan. 12 at Lawrence
Missouri L 31-42
Jan. 18 at Columbia, Mo.
Nebraska W 40-24
Jan. 23 at Lawrence
Iowa State W 36-34
Feb. 12 at Lawrence
Oklahoma A&M L 22-24
Feb. 15 at Stillwater, Okla.
Kansas State W 44-33
Feb. 10 at Manhattan, Kan.
Nebraska W 48-41
Feb. 24 at Lincoln, Neb.
Iowa State W 42-29
Feb. 26 at Ames, Iowa
Missouri W 42-40
Mar. 1 at Lawrence
Creighton L 33-35
Mar. 4 at Omaha, Neb.
Oklahoma L 36-47
Mar. 8 at Norman, Okla.
Oklahoma W 45-39
Mar. 12 at Wichita, Kan.
(Big Six Playoff)
NCAA Tournament
Oklahoma A&M W 45-43 * Mar. 16 at Oklahoma City, Okla.
(Fifth District Playoff)
Rice W 50-44
Mar. 22 at Kansas City, Mo.
(NCAA Western Playoff)
Southern California W 43-42
Mar. 23 at Kansas City, Mo.
(NCAA Western Finals)
Indiana L 42-60
Mar. 30 at Kansas City, Mo.

Link to National Statistics for

Link to Big  Conference for

 

 

 

 

BIG SIX CONFERENCE:

Kansas                 8-2

Missouri                8-2

Oklahoma            8-2

Iowa State            2-8

Kansas State        2-8

Nebraska            2-8