The 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 2014 and ended in Indianapolis, Indiana, with the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Final Four on April 4, 2015, and the national championship game on April 6. Practices officially began on October 3, 2014.
Season headlines May 14 – The NCAA announced its Academic Progress Rate (APR) sanctions for the 2014–15 school year. A total of 36 programs in 11 sports were declared ineligible for postseason play due to failure to meet the required APR benchmark, including the following eight Division I men's basketball teams: Alabama State Appalachian State Central Arkansas Florida A&M Houston Baptist Lamar Milwaukee San Jose State In addition to the above teams, the entire athletic program at Southern University, including the men's basketball team, was ineligible for postseason play due to failure to supply usable academic data to the NCAA. May 16 – The ACC and the SEC would use a 30-second shot clock during exhibition games on an experimental basis for the upcoming season. June 10 – Georgetown and Syracuse announced that their men's basketball rivalry, on hold since 2013 due to the Big East realignment, would resume in 2015–16. The initial contract was to run for four seasons. November 3 – The AP preseason All-American team was named. North Carolina junior guard Marcus Paige was the leading vote-getter with 57 of 65 possible votes. Joining him on the team were Louisville junior forward Montrezl Harrell (56 votes), Wisconsin senior center Frank Kaminsky, Wichita State junior guard Fred VanVleet and Duke freshman center Jahlil Okafor. Okafor was also the preseason Player of the Year. November 13 – The NCAA announced five future Final Four sites: Glendale, Arizona (2017), San Antonio (2018), Minneapolis (2019), Atlanta (2020), and Indianapolis (2021). December 6 – NJIT, the lone Independent in Division 1 basketball, upset 17th-ranked Michigan. January 2 – Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin was placed in an advisory role to the team for the remainder of the season while dealing with arterial dissection, a non-life-threatening vascular condition. February 3 – Turner Sports and CBS Sports announced that Bill Raftery and Grant Hill would replace Greg Anthony to call the 2015 NCAA tournament with the team of Jim Nantz and reporter Tracy Wolfson. February 4 – Syracuse announced that it had self-imposed a postseason ban in response to an ongoing NCAA investigation into infractions that occurred over much of the early 21st century. February 7 – Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith died at his home in Chapel Hill at the age of 83. February 11 – Former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian died at the age of 84. March 6 – The NCAA announced the results of its investigation of the Syracuse men's basketball and football programs, levying the following penalties on the basketball program: A total of 108 wins in the 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2010–11, and 2011–12 seasons were ordered vacated. This was the most wins ever taken away from a Division I men's program, and dropped Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim from second on the all-time Division I wins list to sixth. Boeheim was initially suspended for the first nine games of the 2015–16 ACC season, which was later modified to the first 9 games immediately following the ruling of the NCAA Board of Appeals, beginning with the renewed rivalry game against The Georgetown University Hoyas The program initially lost three scholarships for each of the following four seasons (through 2018–19), later reduced to two per season following an appeal by the university to the NCAA. Recruiting was restricted for two seasons, and the program was placed on probation for five years. March 18 – In the wake of the Syracuse sanctions, Boeheim announced that he would retire at the end of the 2017–18 season, with top assistant Mike Hopkins his planned successor. Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross announced his resignation, effective immediately.
Milestones and records January 25 – Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski became the first Division I men's coach with 1,000 career wins, following the Blue Devils' 77–68 win over St. John's at Madison Square Garden. February 7 – Kyle Collinsworth of BYU set a new single-season Division I record for triple-doubles. His 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Cougars' 87–68 win at Loyola Marymount gave him five triple-doubles for the season, breaking a tie with four other players. February 25 – William & Mary guard Marcus Thornton surpassed Chet Giermak's school scoring record of 2,052. The mark had stood since 1950; the 65-year-old record had been the longest-standing school career scoring record in all of NCAA Division I basketball at the time it was broken. March 2 – Virginia became the first team not from Tobacco Road to win back-to-back outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championships. March 5 – Delaware State center Kendall Gray recorded 33 points and 30 rebounds against Coppin State, becoming the first NCAA Division I player to grab 30 rebounds in a game since December 14, 2005, and only the seventh overall in the past 40 seasons. March 9 – Collinsworth's 13 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists in BYU's 84–70 win over Portland in the West Coast Conference tournament semifinals gave him six triple-doubles for both this season and his career, tying him with Michael Anderson of Drexel and Shaquille O'Neal of LSU for the Division I career record. The following players surpassed 2,000 points in their career: BYU guard Tyler Haws, Auburn guard Antoine Mason, Stanford guard Chasson Randle, St. John's guard D'Angelo Harrison, Oregon guard Joe Young, San Diego guard Johnny Dee, William & Mary guard Marcus Thornton, Marist forward Chauvaughn Lewis, Green Bay guard Keifer Sykes, Penn State guard D. J. Newbill and Providence forward LaDontae Henton.
Conference membership changes
The 2014–15 season saw the final wave of membership changes resulting from a major realignment of NCAA Division I conferences. The cycle began in 2010 with the Big Ten and the then-Pac-10 publicly announcing their intentions to expand. The fallout from these conferences' moves later affected a majority of NCAA Division I conferences.
SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference Appalachian State Mountaineers Southern Conference Sun Belt Conference Davidson Wildcats Southern Conference Atlantic 10 Conference East Carolina Pirates Conference USA American Athletic Conference ("The American") East Tennessee State Buccaneers Atlantic Sun Conference Southern Conference Elon Phoenix Southern Conference Colonial Athletic Association Georgia Southern Eagles Southern Conference Sun Belt Conference Idaho Vandals Western Athletic Conference Big Sky Conference Louisville Cardinals American Athletic Conference ("The American") Atlantic Coast Conference Maryland Terrapins Atlantic Coast Conference Big Ten Conference Mercer Bears Atlantic Sun Conference Southern Conference Oral Roberts Golden Eagles Southland Conference Summit League Rutgers Scarlet Knights American Athletic Conference ("The American") Big Ten Conference Tulane Green Wave Conference USA American Athletic Conference ("The American") Tulsa Golden Hurricane Conference USA American Athletic Conference ("The American") VMI Keydets Big South Conference Southern Conference Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Sun Belt Conference Conference USA
This was also the final season for Texas–Pan American (UTPA) under that name. At the start of the 2015–16 school year, UTPA merged with the University of Texas at Brownsville to form the new University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). UTPA's athletic program and WAC membership were inherited by UTRGV.
It was also the final season for Northern Kentucky in the Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun) and the final season for NJIT as an independent. On May 11, 2015, it was announced that Northern Kentucky would join the Horizon League effective July 1. The A-Sun soon filled the place left by Northern Kentucky, announcing on June 12 that NJIT would become a member effective July 1.
Season outlook
Pre-season polls
The top 25 from the AP Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll. 'Associated Press'RankingTeam1Kentucky (52)2Arizona (5)3Wisconsin (8)4Duke5Kansas6North Carolina7Florida8Louisville9Virginia10Texas11Wichita State12Villanova13Gonzaga14Iowa State15VCU16San Diego State17UConn18Michigan State19Oklahoma20Ohio State21Nebraska22SMU23Syracuse24Michigan25UtahтHarvardт USA Today CoachesRankingTeam1Kentucky (24)2Arizona (3)3Duke (2)4Wisconsin (3)5Kansas6North Carolina7Florida8Virginia9Louisville10Texas11Wichita State12Villanova13Gonzaga14Iowa State15UConn16VCU17San Diego State18Michigan State19Oklahoma20Ohio State21Nebraska22SMU23Michigan24Syracuse25Iowa
Regular season
Early-season tournaments Name Dates Location No. teams Champion 2K Sports Classic November 20–21 Madison Square Garden (New York City)4* Texas Puerto Rico Tip-Off November 20–21, 23 Roberto Clemente Coliseum (San Juan, Puerto Rico)8 West Virginia Charleston Classic November 20–21, 23 TD Arena (Charleston, South Carolina)8 Miami (FL) Coaches vs. Cancer Classic November 21–22 Barclays Center (Brooklyn, New York)4* Duke Paradise Jam tournament November 21–24 Sports and Fitness Center (Saint Thomas, VI)8 Seton Hall Hall of Fame Tip Off November 22–23 Mohegan Sun (Uncasville, Connecticut)4 Providence (Naismith) Northeastern (Springfield) MGM Grand Main Event November 24, 26 MGM Grand Garden Arena (Las Vegas)4* Oklahoma State Corpus Christi Coastal Classic November 28–29 American Bank Center (Corpus Christi, Texas) 4* TCU CBE Hall of Fame Classic November 24–25 Sprint Center (Kansas City, Missouri)4* Maryland Legends Classic November 24–25 Barclays Center (Brooklyn, New York)4* Villanova Gulf Coast Showcase November 24–26 Germain Arena (Estero, Florida)8 Green Bay Maui Invitational tournament November 24–26 Lahaina Civic Center (Lahaina, HI)8* Arizona Cancún Challenge November 25–26 Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort (Cancún, MX)8 Northern Iowa (Riviera Division) North Florida (Mayan Division) NIT Season Tip-Off November 26–28 Madison Square Garden (New York City)4 Gonzaga Battle 4 Atlantis November 26–28 Imperial Arena (Nassau, BAH)8 Wisconsin Great Alaska Shootout November 26–29 Sullivan Arena (Anchorage, AK)8 Colorado State Old Spice Classic November 27–28, 30 HP Field House (Lake Buena Vista, Florida)8 Kansas Wooden Legacy November 27–28, 30 Anaheim Convention Center (Anaheim, California)8 Washington Las Vegas Invitational November 27–28 Orleans Arena (Las Vegas)4* Illinois Emerald Coast Classic November 28–29 Emerald Coast Classic Arena (Niceville, Florida)4* Ole Miss Barclays Center Classic November 28–29 Barclays Center (Brooklyn, New York)4* Virginia Las Vegas Classic December 22–23 Orleans Arena (Las Vegas)4* Loyola–Chicago Diamond Head Classic December 22–23, 25 Stan Sheriff Center (Honolulu, HI)8 George Washington
*Although these tournaments included more teams, only the number listed played for the championship.
Conferences Conference winners and tournaments
Thirty-one conference seasons concluded with a single-elimination tournament. The teams in each conference that won their regular-season titles were given the number one seed in their respective conference tournaments. Conference tournament winners received an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I men's basketball 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.