The 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 9, 2009, and ended with the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament's championship game on April 5, 2010, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The opening round occurred on Tuesday, March 16, 2010, followed by first and second rounds on Thursday through Sunday, March 18–21, 2010. Regional games were played on Thursday through Sunday, March 25–28, 2010, with the Final Four played on Saturday and Monday, April 3 and 5, 2010.
Season headlines The Duke Blue Devils and head coach Mike Krzyzewski won their fourth national championship, defeating upstart Butler 61–59 behind their "big three" of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith. The game was played in Butler's home town of Indianapolis. Krzyzewski became the third coach in NCAA history to win four championships, joining John Wooden (10) and Adolph Rupp (4).Duke, Coach K capture fourth NCAA basketball championship Kentucky became the first college team to reach the 2000 win mark by defeating Drexel 88–44 on December 21.Kentucky beats Drexel to become first college team to reach 2,000 wins, ESPN, retrieved 2009-12-22 North Carolina became the second with a win over Miami on March 2. Kansas became the third with a win over Texas Tech on March 11. Arkansas sophomore guard Rotnei Clarke set an SEC record by hitting 13 three-pointers in a game in the Razorbacks' November 13 season opener against Alcorn State. Clarke connected on 13 of 17 three-pointers and finished the game with 51 points., ESPN, retrieved 2009-11-22 Clarke's 51 points was an Arkansas school record, while his 13 threes was good for fifth in NCAA history. Prior to the season the NCAA announced that Memphis would serve three years' probation and would vacate their record-setting 38-win 2007–08 season due to a fraudulent SAT score by star Derrick Rose and extra benefits given to Rose's brother under then-coach John Calipari.Memphis also gets 3 years' probation, ESPN, retrieved 2009-08-22 Memphis appealed the decision. The NCAA rejected the appeal during the NCAA tournament.NCAA rejects Memphis' Final Appeal of Vacated Wins, ESPN, retrieved 2010-4-27 Binghamton University dismissed six players on September 25, following the arraignment of Emanuel "Tiki" Mayben on charges of cocaine distribution.Binghamton releases five players, ESPN, retrieved 2009-09-27 The move left Binghamton with only seven scholarship players for the 2009–10 season and included the dismissal of star guard D.J. Rivera. Coach Kevin Broadus was placed on administrative leave and assistant Mark Macon served as interim coach. The preseason AP All-American team was named on November 2. Luke Harangody of Notre Dame (57 votes), Cole Aldrich (49) and Sherron Collins (39) of Kansas, Patrick Patterson of Kentucky (35) and Kyle Singler of Duke (30) were tabbed.Harangody leads AP preseason All-America team, Yahoo, retrieved 2009-11-08 Utah Valley gained full Division I status after a seven-year provisional period where they played a D1 schedule. This move was the first time that a school had moved to D1 directly from the NJCAA.UTAH VALLEY GAINS FULL DIVISION I STATUS , Great West Conference, retrieved 2009-10-11 Other schools to officially gain Division I status include Kennesaw State, NJIT and North Florida. The Great West Conference began league play in 2009–10 as the 32nd Division I conference.Wandering schools find a home in the Great West, ESPN, retrieved 2009-05-08 Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody surpassed both the 2000-point and 1000-rebound marks during the season, becoming the first Fighting Irish player to do so. Mercer guard James Florence, South Carolina guard Devan Downey, Maryland guard Greivis Vásquez, San Francisco forward Dior Lowhorn, Morgan State guard Reggie Holmes, Western Michigan guard David Kool, West Virginia forward Da'Sean Butler, Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds, Cornell forward Ryan Wittman and Duke guard Jon Scheyer surpassed the 2,000 point mark during the season. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim became the eighth Division I coach to win 800 games when the Orange defeated Albany 75–43 on November 9.Boeheim becomes 8th Div. I coach with 800 wins as Syracuse rolls, ESPN, retrieved 2009-11-10 Tom Penders became the eighth head coach in NCAA history to lead four different schools to the NCAA Tournament when he coached the Houston Cougars to the Conference USA tournament title. Penders had previously led Rhode Island, Texas and George Washington to NCAA tournament berths. In November, Evan Turner became the 34th player to record multiple triple doubles in a season. Over the course of the 2009–10 Big Ten season, he became the first player to finish in the top two in average points (1st, 20.4), rebounds (2nd, 9.2) and assists (2nd, 6.0) in Big Ten Conference history. Along the way, he broke and rebroke Big Ten records for single-season (7) and career (10) Player of the week awards. On February 22, Cole Aldrich was named the men's college basketball Academic All-American of the year. On February 24, Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado became the NCAA's all-time leading shot-blocker.Mississippi St. 74, Alabama 66, ESPN, retrieved 2010-2-27 On February 27, a contest between then-no. 4 Syracuse and then-no. 8 Villanova set the NCAA on-campus basketball attendance record, with 34,616 spectators packing the Carrier Dome."Jackson, Onuaku help Orange drop Wildcats in front of record crowd". ESPN.com. Published 02-27-2010. Retrieved 02-27-2010. The Wildcats fell to the Orange, 95–77. The rise and fall of Texas. Ranked in the top three from the beginning of the season until mid-January, including two weeks at #1, they were considered national title contenders."Virginia, Texas' James take home honors". ESPN.com. Published 01-18-2010. Retrieved 04-07-2010. But they fell out of the top 25 less than two months later, lost two starters (Doğuş Balbay and Varez Ward) to season-ending injuries, and lost in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. On April 1, Deon Thompson of North Carolina appeared in the NIT Championship game, giving him 152 career game appearances. This set the NCAA all-time career games played mark, formerly held by Wayne Turner of Kentucky and Walter Hodge of Florida. Third-year coach Tommy Amaker leads Harvard to its most wins in school history (21) behind the play of rare Harvard NBA player Jeremy Lin.
Major rule changes Beginning in 2009–10, the following rules changes were implemented: The NCAA reduced the amount of time that college underclassmen can test the waters for the NBA draft and still retain their college eligibility. As of this season, players have until early May (rather than mid-June) to decide to return.NCAA narrows window for NBA draft prospects, CBS Sports, retrieved 2009-05-08 Secondary defenders must now establish their position outside of the zone between the backboard and the front of the rim to draw a charge.Committee approves changes for fall If a player is injured and unable to shoot his own foul shots, the replacement shooter must be chosen from the players currently on the court. Instant replay may now be used to determine flagrant fouls.
Season outlook
Pre-season polls
The top 25 from the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls, October 29, 2009. Collegeinsider.com released the preseason Mid-Major Top 25 poll on November 3. This poll was meant to recognize the top teams outside of major conferences. 'Associated Press'RankingTeam1 Kansas (55)2 Michigan State (5)3 Texas (1)4 Kentucky (3)5 Villanova6 North Carolina (1)7 Purdue 8 West Virginia9 Duke10 Tennessee11 Butler 12 Connecticut13 California14 Washington15 Michigan16 Ohio State17 Oklahoma18 Mississippi State 19 Louisville20 Georgetown21 Dayton22 Georgia Tech23 Illinois24 Clemson25 Minnesota ESPN/USA Today CoachesRankingTeam1 Kansas (27)2 Michigan State (3)3 Texas 4 North Carolina (1)5 Kentucky6 Villanova7 Purdue 8 Duke9 West Virginia10 Butler 11 Tennessee12 California13 Washington14 Connecticut15 Michigan16 Oklahoma17 Ohio State18 Minnesota 19 Mississippi State20 Georgia Tech21 Georgetown22 Dayton23 Louisville24 Clemson25 Syracuse Collegeinsider.comMid-Major Top 25RankingTeam1 Butler (28)2 Gonzaga (2)3 Siena (1)4 Northern Iowa5 Western Kentucky6 Old Dominion 7 Creighton 8 Akron9 Wright State10 Niagara11 VCU 12 George Mason13 Northeastern14 Oakland15 Portland16 Illinois State17 College Of Charleston18 Cornell19 Rider20 Long Beach State21 South Alabama22 Boston University23 St. Mary's24 Davidson25 Radford
Conference membership changes
These schools joined new conferences for the 2009–10 season.
SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference NCAA Division I Independent Northeast Conference NCAA Division I Independent Great West Conference NCAA Division I Independent Great West Conference NCAA Division I Independent Great West Conference NCAA Division I Independent Great West Conference NCAA Division I Independent Great West Conference NCAA Division I Independent Great West Conference NCAA Division I Independent Great West Conference Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference NCAA Division I Independent
Regular season
Early-season tournaments Name Dates Num. teams Champions NIT Season Tip-Off Nov. 16–27 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Nov. 19–20 Charleston Classic Nov. 19–22 Puerto Rico Tip-Off Nov. 19–22 Glenn Wilkes Classic Nov. 20–22 Paradise Jam tournament Nov. 20–23 CBE Classic Nov. 23–24 Maui Invitational Tournament Nov. 23–25 Cancún Challenge Nov. 24–25 Great Alaska Shootout Nov. 25–28 76 Classic Nov. 26–29 Old Spice Classic Nov. 26–29 Las Vegas Invitational Nov. 27–28 Legends Classic Nov. 27–28 South Padre Island Invitational Nov. 27–28 Diamond Head Classic Dec. 22–25 UCF Holiday Classic Dec. 29–30 *Although these tournaments included more teams, only four played for the championship.
Conferences Conference winners and tournaments
Thirty-one conference seasons concluded with a single-elimination tournament. Conference tournament winners received an automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament except for the winner of the Great West Conference tournament, although Great West Tournament champion South Dakota received an automatic bid to the 2010 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.