2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

• The North Carolina Tar Heels became the first team in history to be the unanimous #1 team in the AP preseason poll.[1] The ranking came based on UNC returning the majority of their Final Four squad from the year before, most notably Tyler Hansbrough, who became the first reigning National player of the year to return to school since Shaquille O'Neal in the 1991–92 season.
• Blake Griffin was named the Associated Press, the John Wooden Award, the Naismith Award and the Sporting News player of the year for the 2008–2009 college basketball season.[2][3] When combined with Sam Bradford's Heisman Trophy, Oklahoma became the first school to have a top winner in both basketball and football in the same year.
• Pittsburgh achieved the #1 ranking for the first time in school history on January 5, 2009.[4]
• On December 18, Tyler Hansbrough passed Phil Ford to become North Carolina's all-time leading scorer.[5] On February 28, Hansbrough also broke Dickie Hemric's NCAA record for most free throws made in a career.[6] And on March 19, Hansbrough passed JJ Redick as the leading scorer in Atlantic Coast Conference history.[7]
• Jodie Meeks of Kentucky scored 54 points against Tennessee on January 13, 2009. Meeks was 10–15 from 3-pt range.[8] The output broke Kentucky's single-game scoring record, set by Hall of Famer Dan Issel 39 years before.
• 2009 marked the first time in history that three #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament came from the same conference – as Louisville, Pittsburgh and Connecticut of the Big East achieved the feat.[9]
• Two retired Hall of Fame coaches died during the season – UTEP's Don Haskins on September 7, 2008,[10] and California's Pete Newell on November 17, 2008.[11] Newell's Bears won the NCAA championship in 1959, while Haskins' Miners won the title in 1966 in a historic win over Kentucky.
• The preseason AP All-American team was named on November 3. Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina was the unanimous leading vote-getter (72 of 72 votes). The rest of the team included Stephen Curry of Davidson (66 votes), Luke Harangody of Notre Dame (58), Darren Collison of UCLA (46) and Blake Griffin of Oklahoma (45).[12]
• Kenny George of UNC Asheville, the tallest player in Division I (7'7") and the nation's leader in FG% for 2007–08, had part of his right foot amputated before the start of the season, threatening to end his career.
• The New Jersey Institute of Technology broke a 51-game losing streak that stretched back to February 19, 2007, by defeating Bryant 61–51 on January 21.[13]
• Travis and Chavis Holmes of VMI became the highest-scoring twins in NCAA Division I history.[14]
• Ryan Toolson of Utah Valley had the highest single-game scoring mark of the season, netting 63 points in a 123–121 quadruple-overtime win over Chicago State on January 29, 2009.[15] Chicago State teammates David Holston and John Cantrell each scored over 40 points in the loss.
• On January 31, Texas's A. J. Abrams hit his 339th 3-point shot, breaking the previous Big 12 record of 338 held by Jeff Boschee of Kansas.[16] In the same game, Kansas State's Denis Clemente tied his former teammate Michael Beasley's Big 12 single-game scoring record, netting 44 points in an 85–81 overtime win for the Wildcats.
• North Dakota State became the first men's team in Division I or its predecessors to reach the NCAA Tournament in its first year of postseason eligibility since 1972, when Southwestern Louisiana, now Louisiana-Lafayette, accomplished this feat. The Bison reached the "Big Dance" by defeating Oakland in the final of the 2009 Summit League tournament on March 10.[17]
• Syracuse upset Connecticut, 127–117, in a six-overtime game in the Big East Conference tournament Quarterfinals that started on March 12 and ended after midnight on March 13. It was the longest game in Big East history, and second longest in NCAA Division I history, at 70 total playing minutes.[18]
• Davidson guard Stephen Curry, Boston College guard Tyrese Rice, Miami (FL) guard Jack McClinton, Florida State guard Toney Douglas, Temple guard Dionte Christmas, UAB guard Robert Vaden, Wyoming guard Brandon Ewing, Chicago State guard David Holston, UTEP guard Stefon Jackson, Central Florida guard Jermaine Taylor, North Dakota State guard Ben Woodside, VMI guard Chavis Holmes, East Tennessee State guard Courtney Pigram and Coppin State guard Tywain McKee each eclipsed the career 2000-point mark during the season.
• Arkansas State changed its nickname from the "Indians" to the "Red Wolves", effective this season.
• Bryant University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville competed at the Division I level for the first time, while Houston Baptist returned to Division I play after a 20-year absence and Seattle after 28 years.
• Conference realignments: Gardner-Webb moved from the Atlantic Sun Conference to the Big South Conference, while Presbyterian competes in the Big South as well after playing as an independent in 2007–08. Samford moved from the Ohio Valley Conference to the Southern Conference.
• Don Meyer passed Bob Knight as the winningest coach in NCAA history, breaking Knight's record of 902 victories.[19]
• Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim led the Orange to 20 wins for the 31st time in his career, a new record. Boeheim had previously been tied with Dean Smith at 30 20-win seasons.[20]
• Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun won his 800th career game, beating Marquette on February 25, 2009.[21]
• After the season, Northeastern's basketball program was placed on probation until 2011 due to recruiting and extra-benefits violations.[22]
• Centenary became the first men's basketball to receive a postseason ban due to their poor showing against Academic Progress Rate (APR) standards.[23] The Gentlemen will not be eligible for postseason play for the 2009–10 season.
• 27,767,111 fans attended Division I games during the season, the second-highest all-time for the division.
• Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Jud Heathcote, Wayman Tisdale, Gene Bartow, Travis Grant, Walter Byers and Bill Wall were inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.[24]
• During the 2008–09 Big Ten season, Evan Turner and Manny Harris became the 4th and 5th players to finish in the top ten in the Big Ten Conference in average points rebounds and assists in the same season since assists became a statistic in 1983–84. Harris is the first to finish in the top six in each one.[25] Turner would finish in the top two the following year.[26]
• Harvard beats Boston College for its first-ever win against a ranked opponent.[27] During the 2008–09 Ivy League season, Harvard's Jeremy Lin was the only NCAA Division I men's college basketball player who ranked in the top ten in his conference for scoring (17.8), rebounding (5.5), assists (4.3), steals (2.4), blocked shots (0.6), field goal percentage (0.502), free throw percentage (0.744), and 3-point shot percentage (0.400).[28]

Beginning in 2008–2009, the following rules changes were implemented:

• The three-point line moved from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20 feet, 9 inches.[29]
• If the entire ball is above the rim when it comes into contact with the backboard and is subsequently touched by a player, it is goaltending. Previously only a ball moving downward after hitting the backboard could be subject to goaltending.[30]

These schools joined new conferences for the 2008–09 season.