2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season


The 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November with the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Atlanta, April 6–8.

Season headlines

The 2012–13 season saw the second 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 D-I conferences.
In addition, two schools moved from Division II starting this season. These schools are ineligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play until completing their D-I transitions in 2016. Finally, one school that had announced a transition to Division II, New Orleans, announced that it would halt its transition and remain in Division I.
SchoolFormer ConferenceNew Conference
Belmont BruinsA-SunOVC
Butler BulldogsHorizon LeagueAtlantic 10
Denver PioneersSun BeltWAC
Fresno State BulldogsWACMountain West
Hawaii Rainbow WarriorsWACBig West
Longwood LancersIndependentBig South
Missouri TigersBig 12SEC
Omaha MavericksMIAA Summit League
Nevada Wolf PackWACMountain West
New Orleans PrivateersDivision II independentDivision I independent
North Dakota Great WestBig Sky
Northern Kentucky NorseGLVC A-Sun
Oral Roberts Golden EaglesSummit LeagueSouthland
Seattle RedhawksIndependentWAC
Southern Utah ThunderbirdsSummit LeagueBig Sky
TCU Horned FrogsMountain WestBig 12
Texas A&M AggiesBig 12SEC
Texas State BobcatsSouthlandWAC
UT Arlington MavericksSouthlandWAC
UTSA RoadrunnersSouthlandWAC
VCU RamsCAAAtlantic 10
West Virginia MountaineersBig EastBig 12

New arenas

Beginning in 2012–13, the following rules changes were implemented:

Pre-season polls

The top 25 from the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls.

Regular season

A number of early-season tournaments will mark the beginning of the college basketball season.

Early-season tournaments

*Although these tournaments include more teams, only the number listed play for the championship.

Conference winners and tournaments

Thirty athletic conferences each end their regular seasons with a single-elimination tournament. The teams in each conference that win their regular season title are given the number one seed in each tournament. The winners of these tournaments receive automatic invitations to the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The Ivy League does not have a conference tournament, instead giving their automatic invitation to their regular season champion. As of 2013, the Great West Conference does not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Men or Women's College Tournament but the men's tourney champion does receive an automatic bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

Statistical leaders

Postseason tournaments

NCAA Tournament

Final Four – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

Tournament upsets

For this list, a "major upset" is defined as a win by a team seeded 7 or more spots below its defeated opponent.
DateWinnerScoreLoser
March 21Oregon 68–55Oklahoma State
March 21California 64–61UNLV
March 21Harvard 68–62New Mexico
March 22Ole Miss 57–46Wisconsin
March 22La Salle 63–61Kansas State
March 22Florida Gulf Coast 78–68Georgetown
March 23Oregon 74–57Saint Louis
March 23Wichita State 76–70Gonzaga
March 24Florida Gulf Coast 81–71San Diego State
March 30Wichita State 70–66Ohio State

National Invitation Tournament

After the NCAA Tournament field is announced, the NCAA invited 32 teams to participate in the National Invitation Tournament. The tournament will begin on March 19, 2013, with all games prior to the semifinals played on campus sites. The semifinals and final will be respectively held on April 2 and April 4, 2013 at the traditional site of Madison Square Garden.

NIT Semifinals and Final

Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City

College Basketball Invitational

The fifth College Basketball Invitational Tournament began on March 19, 2013 and ended with a best-of-three final scheduled for April 1, 3, and 5; the final went the full three games. This tournament featured 16 teams who were left out of the NCAA Tournament and NIT.

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

The fourth CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament was held beginning March 2013 and ending with a championship game in April 2013. This tournament places an emphasis on selecting successful teams from "mid-major" conferences who were left out of the NCAA Tournament and NIT. 32 teams participated in this tournament, which granted an automatic bid to the Great West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament champion.

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

The following players are recognized as the 2013 Consensus All-Americans:

Major player of the year awards

A number of teams changed coaches during and after the season.
TeamFormer
coach		Interim
coach		New
coach		Reason
Ball StateBilly TaylorJames WhitfordTaylor was fired following 15–15 records in each of his last two seasons.
BuffaloReggie WitherspoonBobby HurleyWitherspoon was fired after 14 seasons.
ButlerBrad StevensBrandon MillerStevens left to become the newest head coach of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics.
Cal State NorthridgeBobby BraswellReggie TheusBraswell was fired after 17 seasons, ending with a 14–17 season. Although he led the Matadors to two NCAA tournaments and three 20-win seasons, his tenure was also marked by numerous off-court problems. Ironically, incoming Northridge athletic director Brandon Martin, who announced Braswell's firing, played under him in high school. Northridge went to the D-League to hire Theus, who is also a former coach of New Mexico State and the Sacramento Kings, and played 13 seasons in the NBA.
CampbellRobbie LaingKevin McGeehanCampbell went 13-20 and finished tied for third in the league's North Division with a 7-9 conference record.
ConnecticutJim CalhounKevin OllieCalhoun retired on September 13. He won 873 games in 40 years as a head coach, first at Northeastern and the last 26 years at UConn, where he put four teams in the Final Four, winning national titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011.
FIURichard PitinoAnthony EvansPitino, son of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, took the Minnesota job.
Florida Gulf CoastAndy EnfieldJoe DooleyEnfield guided the Eagles to the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in only its second year of Division I eligibility, then advanced to the Sweet 16 as a #15-seed – the first time in tournament history that a 15-seed had gotten so far. The University of Southern California lured Enfield away on April 1.
LongwoodMike GillianJayson GeeGillian guided the Lancers through their transition from Division II to Division I play, and into their first season as a member of the Big South Conference. He resigned on March 14, 2013, after the Lancers' first season with less than ten wins since 2008. On April 3, Cleveland State associate head coach Jayson Gee was hired.
Loyola Jimmy PatsosG. G. Smith
MinnesotaTubby SmithRichard PitinoSmith was fired after six seasons at Minnesota and having compiled a 124–81 record. The Golden Gophers never finished higher than sixth in the Big Ten Conference, however.
New MexicoSteve AlfordCraig NealAlford left to take the UCLA job.
Norfolk StateAnthony EvansRobert JonesEvans took the FIU job; he had been a finalist for that job the previous offseason, but had lost out to the now-departed Richard Pitino.
NorthwesternBill CarmodyChris CollinsCarmody was fired after failing to lead Northwestern to its first ever NCAA tournament bid in thirteen seasons. He was replaced by Duke assistant Collins, the son of former NBA player and coach Doug Collins. Collins took over after the Blue Devils exited the NCAA tournament.
Old DominionBlaine TaylorJim CorriganJeff JonesOld Dominion fired Taylor, their all-time winningest coach, on February 5 after a 2–20 start.
RutgersMike RiceEddie JordanRice was fired on April 3 after ESPN's Outside the Lines aired a video taken at a Rutgers practice that showed Rice shoving and throwing balls at players and using gay slurs. Jordan, a player on the school's 1976 Final Four team and most recently an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers, was hired as Rice's replacement.
Saint LouisRick MajerusJim CrewsMajerus stepped down prior to the season due to health reasons and later died. Interim coach Crews led Saint Louis to an Atlantic 10 regular season title and was named conference coach of the year. Saint Louis removed the interim tag from Crews on April 12.
San Jose StateGeorge NessmanDave WojcikSan Jose State was looking to upgrade the program before its move to the more strenuous Mountain West Conference next season. Boise State associate head coach Dave Wojcik was hired as Nessman's successor on March 30.
SienaMitch BuonaguroJimmy PatsosAccording to ESPN.com, "Buonaguro went 35-59 in three seasons with the Saints, never finishing a season with a winning record or in the top half of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The three-year slide immediately followed the most successful three-year run in school history. Siena won MAAC titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010 -- all under coach Fran McCaffery, with Buonaguro his top assistant."
South AlabamaRonnie ArrowJeff PriceMatthew GravesArrow retired December 19, 2012. Jeff Price was named interim head coach. Butler associate head coach Matt Graves was named the new head coach of South Alabama on March 25, 2013.
South Carolina StateTim CarterMurray GarvinCarter resigned in season on February 6, 2013 after starting 4–17.
South DakotaDave BootsJoey JamesBoots resigned in August, 2013.
Texas TechBilly GillispieChris WalkerTubby SmithThe Red Raiders were 8–23 overall, 1–17 in the Big 12, in Gillispie's lone season as successor to Pat Knight. Gillispie's tenure in Lubbock began to unravel in September 2012 when CBSSports.com and ESPN.com, citing several former players, reported the coach regularly violated NCAA practice-time rules and mistreated players to the point of causing injury
UCLABen HowlandSteve AlfordAccording to the Orange County Register, "...the perfect storm of attendance, reputation, and very little NCAA Tournament success was enough to doom Howland after 10 seasons."
UMBCRandy MonroeAki ThomasMonroe resigned as head men's basketball coach on October 10. He led UMBC to its lone America East Conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2007–08 season. Monroe directed the third-most games of any head coach in UMBC men's basketball history and finished with a career mark of 85–160. On March 4, Aki Thomas' interim tag was removed and he was promoted to permanent head coach.
UMKCMatt BrownKareem RichardsonBrown was fired on March 12, 2013. He went 64–122 with UMKC, including an 8–24 record in 2012–13. He was replaced by Louisville assistant Richardson, who took over after the Cardinals won the NCAA title.
USCKevin O'NeillBob CantuAndy EnfieldO'Neill was fired on January 14, 2013. USC athletic director Pat Haden cited "new energy" was needed for their program. On April 1, USC announced that they had hired Andy Enfield, the head coach who just taken Florida Gulf Coast University to the Sweet 16 as a #15-seed, the first time in NCAA Tournament history that has occurred.