🏀 The 1940-41 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 · 12 conferences · 8-team tournament

← 1940 1942 →All seasons

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2000s

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1990s

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1980s

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1970s

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1960s

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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

1941season

← 1940 1942 →

1940-41 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

Wisconsin

20-3

Title gameWashington State 34, Wisconsin 39 (Mar 29)

Final FourWisconsinWashington StateArkansasPittsburgh

The 1941 NCAA tournament

8 teams. Winners in bold, seeds before each team.

8-team field · 2 regions

First Round

Arkansas52

Wyoming40

Creighton39

Washington State48

West region

First Round

Arkansas52

Wyoming40

Creighton39

Washington State48

East region

First Round

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

West · Mar 22

East · Mar 22

Championship game: Wisconsin

Washington State34

Wisconsin39

West vs East · Mar 29

Third-place games

Dartmouth60

North Carolina59

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 22

Creighton45

Wyoming44

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 22

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 2 conference tournaments held in 1940-41.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up
Southeastern	Tennessee	Kentucky
Southern	Duke	South Carolina

1941 standings by conference

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

1941 standings by conference12 conferences

Big Six6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Iowa State	15-4	7-3	★
Kansas	12-6	7-3	★
Nebraska	8-10	6-4
Oklahoma	6-12	5-5
Kansas State	6-12	3-7
Missouri	6-10	2-8

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Wisconsin	20-3	11-1	★ NCAA
Indiana	17-3	10-2
Illinois	13-7	7-5
Minnesota	11-9	7-5
Ohio State	10-10	7-5
Purdue	13-7	6-6
Michigan	9-10	5-7
Iowa	12-8	4-8
Northwestern	7-11	3-9
Chicago	4-16	0-12

Eastern Intercollegiate7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Dartmouth	19-5	10-2	★ NCAA
Cornell	17-6	9-3
Columbia	11-5	8-4
Harvard	10-9	4-8
Yale	10-12	4-8
Princeton	10-13	4-8
Pennsylvania	5-12	3-9

Missouri Valley7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Creighton	18-7	9-3	★ NCAA
Oklahoma A&M	18-7	8-4
Tulsa	12-9	7-5
Washington University	9-8	6-6
Drake	9-11	6-6
Washburn	7-12	4-8
Saint Louis	3-14	2-10

Mountain States7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Wyoming	14-6	10-2	★ NCAA
Utah	14-7	9-3
Colorado	10-6	7-5
BYU	14-9	6-6
Colorado A&M	10-9	4-8
Denver	8-9	4-8
Utah State	5-16	2-10

Pacific Coast9 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Stanford	21-5	10-2
Washington State	26-6	13-3	★ NCAA
Oregon State	19-9	9-7
USC	15-10	6-6
California	15-12	6-6
Oregon	18-18	7-9
Washington	12-13	7-9
Idaho	14-15	4-12
UCLA	6-20	2-10

Rocky Mountain4 teams

School	W-L	Note
Colorado State College	14-8	★
Montana State	13-12
Colorado Mines	6-6
Colorado College	9-11

Southeastern12 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kentucky	17-8	8-1
Florida	15-9	6-2
Tennessee	17-5	8-3	★ 🏆
Alabama	14-8	11-7
LSU	9-9	7-5
Auburn	13-6	6-5
Tulane	8-6	6-5
Mississippi State	12-10	6-6
Georgia	13-11	6-7
Georgia Tech	8-11	4-8
Vanderbilt	8-9	3-9
Mississippi	2-18	2-15

Southern15 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
North Carolina	19-9	14-1	★ NCAA
South Carolina	15-9	8-3
William & Mary	15-10	8-3
Washington & Lee	11-11	9-4
Duke	14-8	8-4	🏆
VMI	10-6	8-4
Richmond	11-10	7-5
Wake Forest	9-9	7-6
Clemson	8-14	7-8
Davidson	11-12	5-7
North Carolina State	6-9	6-9
Virginia Tech	8-13	4-8
Citadel	5-13	1-8
Furman	4-13	1-10
Maryland	1-21	0-13

Southwest7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Arkansas	20-3	12-0	★ NCAA
Rice	18-6	8-4
Texas	14-10	7-5
SMU	10-10	6-6
Baylor	10-12	6-6
Texas A&M	7-13	3-9
TCU	5-16	0-12

Yankee5 teams

School	W-L	Conf
Connecticut	14-2	7-1
Rhode Island	21-4	7-1
New Hampshire	9-8	3-5
Maine	4-8	2-6
Northeastern	3-13	1-7

Independent73 teams

School	W-L	Note
Long Island	25-2
Seton Hall	20-2
Westminster (PA)	20-2
Toledo	21-3
Duquesne	17-3
Western Kentucky State	22-4
George Washington	18-4
Loyola (MD)	18-4
Ohio	18-4
Boston University	13-3
Villanova	13-3
Bradley	16-4
Georgetown	16-4
CCNY	17-5
Notre Dame	17-5
Texas Tech	19-6
Penn State	15-5
Virginia	18-6
Syracuse	14-5
St. Bonaventure	12-5
NYU	13-6
Pittsburgh	13-6	NCAA
Santa Clara	15-7
St. Joseph's	12-6
Niagara	13-7
Brooklyn	11-6
Michigan State	11-6
St. John's	11-6
Navy	9-5
DePaul	13-8
Loyola-Chicago	13-8
Arizona	11-7
Manhattan	11-7
Marshall	14-9
Texas Western	14-9
Colgate	9-6
Butler	13-9
Xavier	13-9
Bucknell	10-7
Miami (OH)	10-7
Indiana State	11-8
La Salle	11-8
Fordham	12-9
Temple	12-9
Muhlenberg	13-10
West Virginia	13-10
Western Michigan	10-8
Kent State	12-10
New Mexico A&M	14-12
Canisius	10-9
Detroit	11-10
Brown	10-10
Montana	14-14
Northern Arizona	9-9
Siena	9-9
St. Francis (NY)	9-9
Bowling Green	10-11
Wichita State	9-11
Lafayette	8-10
Rutgers	8-10
Arizona State	8-11
Dayton	9-14
Holy Cross	4-7
Cincinnati	6-12
St. Mary's	6-13
Army	5-11
Lehigh	5-12
Valparaiso	4-12
New Mexico	5-18
Marquette	2-13
San Francisco	2-13
Louisville	2-14
Sewanee	1-14

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.