🏀 The 1937-38 men’s college basketball season

What the record holds for this season: the champion, the tournament bracket, the AP poll week by week, the conference tables, and the Elo ratings with the biggest upsets.

Source: Citizen of Nowhere college basketball database · 16 conferences

← 1937 1939 →All seasons

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2010s

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2000s

2009North Carolina 2008Kansas 2007Florida 2006Florida 2005North Carolina 2004Connecticut 2003Syracuse 2002Maryland 2001Duke 2000Michigan State

1990s

1999Connecticut 1998Kentucky 1997Arizona 1996Kentucky 1995UCLA 1994Arkansas 1993North Carolina 1992Duke 1991Duke 1990UNLV

1980s

1989Michigan 1988Kansas 1987Indiana 1986Louisville 1985Villanova 1984Georgetown 1983North Carolina State 1982North Carolina 1981Indiana 1980Louisville

1970s

1979Michigan State 1978Kentucky 1977Marquette 1976Indiana 1975UCLA 1974North Carolina State 1973UCLA 1972UCLA 1971UCLA 1970UCLA

1960s

1969UCLA 1968UCLA 1967UCLA 1966Texas Western 1965UCLA 1964UCLA 1963Loyola-Chicago 1962Cincinnati 1961Cincinnati 1960Ohio State

1950s

1959California 1958Kentucky 1957North Carolina 1956San Francisco 1955San Francisco 1954La Salle 1953Indiana 1952Kansas 1951Kentucky 1950CCNY

1940s

1949Kentucky 1948Kentucky 1947Holy Cross 1946Oklahoma A&M 1945Oklahoma A&M 1944Utah 1943Wyoming 1942Stanford 1941Wisconsin 1940Indiana

1930s

1939Oregon 1938Temple 1937Stanford 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932Purdue 1931Northwestern 1930

1920s

1929Montana State 1928Pittsburgh 1927 1926Syracuse 1925Princeton 1924North Carolina 1923 1922 1921 1920Pennsylvania

1910s

1919 1918Syracuse 1917Washington State 1916Wisconsin 1915Illinois 1914Wisconsin 1913Navy 1912Wisconsin 1911St. John's 1910

1900s

1909Chicago 1908 1907 1906 1905Columbia 1904Columbia 1903 1902Minnesota 1901 1900

1890s

1899 1898 1897 1896

1938season

← 1937 1939 →

1937-38 national champion

Named after the fact; there was no NCAA tournament yet.

Retroactive champion

Temple

23-2

There was no NCAA tournament before 1939. This champion is a retroactive selection, as named by the Helms Athletic Foundation or Premo-Porretta, not a tournament result.

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 2 conference tournaments held in 1937-38.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up
Southeastern	Georgia Tech	Mississippi
Southern	Duke	Clemson

1938 standings by conference

Overall and conference record. A star marks the regular-season champion, a trophy the conference-tournament champion.

1938 standings by conference16 conferences

Big Six6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kansas	18-2	9-1	★
Oklahoma	14-4	8-2
Missouri	9-9	4-6
Nebraska	9-11	4-6
Kansas State	7-11	3-7
Iowa State	6-9	2-8

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Purdue	18-2	10-2	★
Minnesota	16-4	9-3
Ohio State	12-8	7-5
Northwestern	10-10	7-5
Michigan	12-8	6-6
Iowa	11-9	6-6
Wisconsin	10-10	5-7
Illinois	9-9	4-8
Indiana	10-10	4-8
Chicago	6-12	2-10

Border7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
New Mexico A&M	22-3	18-0	★
Arizona	13-8	9-7
Arizona State	11-12	9-9
Texas Tech	9-13	7-7
New Mexico	9-16	6-10
Northern Arizona	6-15	4-12
Texas Western	4-17	3-11

Eastern Intercollegiate7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Dartmouth	20-5	8-4	★
Harvard	13-5	7-5
Pennsylvania	8-10	7-5
Cornell	11-7	6-6
Columbia	10-8	6-6
Princeton	10-10	5-7
Yale	7-12	3-9

EIC6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Temple	23-2	9-1	★
Penn State	13-5	6-4
Pittsburgh	9-12	5-5
Georgetown	7-11	5-5
Carnegie Tech	3-7	3-7
West Virginia	6-13	2-8

Metropolitan New York8 teams

School	W-L	Conf
Long Island	23-5	3-0
NYU	16-8	6-0
CCNY	13-3	4-2
St. John's	15-4	4-2
Manhattan	12-6	2-4
Brooklyn	7-8	2-4
St. Francis (NY)	14-8	1-5
Fordham	10-10	0-6

Missouri Valley8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Oklahoma A&M	25-3	13-1	★
Drake	14-6	10-4
Tulsa	12-10	8-6
Grinnell	10-9	7-7
Creighton	11-14	7-7
Washington University	4-17	6-8
Saint Louis	8-21	3-11
Washburn	9-13	2-12

Mountain States7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Utah	20-4	10-2	★
Colorado	15-6	10-2	★
Wyoming	12-5	8-4
Utah State	11-9	6-6
BYU	8-13	4-8
Colorado A&M	7-9	3-9
Denver	2-16	1-11

Northern California5 teams

School	W-L	Conf
San Jose State	19-4	6-2
Santa Clara	12-6	6-2
St. Mary's	10-9	5-3
San Francisco	10-12	3-5
Pacific	6-13	0-8

Pacific Coast10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Stanford	21-3	10-2	★
Oregon	25-8	14-6
California	18-11	8-4
Washington	29-7	13-7
Washington State	19-11	12-8
Idaho	11-9	12-8
USC	17-9	6-6
Oregon State	17-16	6-14
Montana	10-19	3-17
UCLA	4-20	0-12

Rocky Mountain4 teams

School	W-L	Note
Montana State	22-5	★
Colorado State College	11-8
Colorado College	10-9
Colorado Mines	2-15

Southeastern13 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kentucky	13-5	6-0
Mississippi	22-12	11-2
Georgia Tech	18-2	9-2	★ 🏆
Auburn	14-5	6-3
Tennessee	15-8	7-4
LSU	10-10	7-6
Tulane	8-10	5-6
Mississippi State	9-12	7-9
Georgia	12-10	4-6
Vanderbilt	9-12	4-8
Florida	11-9	3-7
Alabama	4-13	4-12
Sewanee	4-13	2-10

Southern15 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
North Carolina	16-5	13-3	★
North Carolina State	13-6	10-3
Citadel	13-5	7-3
Clemson	16-7	9-4
Duke	15-9	9-5	🏆
Richmond	15-5	7-4
Maryland	15-9	6-4
Washington & Lee	12-9	6-5
Wake Forest	7-12	7-8
Virginia Tech	6-8	4-5
Davidson	10-12	4-11
Furman	6-13	2-6
VMI	4-11	2-7
South Carolina	3-21	2-12
William & Mary	2-10	0-8

Southwest7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Arkansas	19-3	11-1	★
Baylor	10-6	9-3
SMU	9-6	8-4
Texas A&M	10-8	6-6
Texas	11-11	5-7
Rice	6-17	2-10
TCU	8-15	1-11

Yankee5 teams

School	W-L	Conf
Rhode Island	19-2	8-0
Connecticut	13-5	4-4
New Hampshire	11-6	4-4
Northeastern	7-11	3-5
Maine	4-9	1-7

Independent45 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
St. Bonaventure	9-0
Western Kentucky State	30-3
Bradley	18-2
Marshall	28-4
Notre Dame	20-3
Army	12-2
Villanova	25-5
Bowling Green	16-4
Detroit	16-4
Navy	11-3
George Washington	13-4
Marquette	14-5
Syracuse	14-5
Rutgers	11-4
St. Joseph's	13-5
Toledo	14-6
Miami (OH)	11-5
Valparaiso	13-6
Loyola-Chicago	12-8
Ohio	11-8
Loyola (MD)	9-7
Seton Hall	10-8
DePaul	12-10
Bucknell	7-6
La Salle	9-8
Lafayette	9-8
Michigan State	9-8
Colgate	10-9
Xavier	10-9
Boston University	9-9
Butler	11-12
Canisius	8-9
Lehigh	7-8
Muhlenberg	9-11
Kent State	10-13
Wichita State	10-13
Brown	7-11
Niagara	8-13
Virginia	6-10
Cincinnati	6-11
Dayton	6-11
Duquesne	6-11
Western Michigan	6-12
Louisville	4-11
Indiana State	1-17

Where these numbers come from

Enough to disbelieve this page on purpose rather than by accident.

Champions, brackets, polls and standings are read from the Citizen of Nowhere college basketball database, one season at a time. A section appears only where the database holds its data: the NCAA tournament began in 1939 (earlier champions are retroactive selections), the AP poll in 1949, and game-by-game results, and so the Elo ratings and upsets, in 1950.

Elo ratings and upsets come from the site’s own men’s college basketball Elo, built from every game since 1950. An upset’s win chance is the winner’s pre-game probability from those ratings.