🏀 The 1951-52 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 · 17 conferences · 16-team tournament

← 1951 1953 →All seasons

Jump to any season1896–2027

2020s

2027livein progress 2026Michigan 2025Florida 2024Connecticut 2023Connecticut 2022Kansas 2021Baylor 2020cancelled

2010s

2019Virginia 2018Villanova 2017North Carolina 2016Villanova 2015Duke 2014Connecticut 2013Louisville 2012Kentucky 2011Connecticut 2010Duke

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

1952season

← 1951 1953 →

1951-52 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

Kansas

28-3Final AP #8

Title gameKansas 80, St. John's 63 (Mar 26)

Final FourKansasSt. John'sIllinoisSanta Clara

The 1952 NCAA tournament

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

16-team field · 2 regions

First Round

Dayton61

North Carolina State49

Regional Finals

East region

First Round

Dayton61

North Carolina State49

Regional Finals

West region

First Round

Kansas68

TCU64

UCLA59

Wyoming54

Regional Finals

Kansas74

Saint Louis55

Santa Clara56

Wyoming53

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

Illinois59

St. John's61

East · Mar 25

Kansas74

Santa Clara55

West · Mar 25

Championship game: Kansas

Kansas80

St. John's63

West vs East · Mar 26

Third-place games

North Carolina State69

Penn State60

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 22

Oklahoma City55

UCLA53

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 22

New Mexico State44

TCU61

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 22

Dayton77

Princeton61

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 22

Illinois67

Santa Clara64

Third Place Game · East vs West · Mar 26

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 3 conference tournaments held in 1951-52.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Final
Ohio Valley	Western Kentucky State	Murray State
Southeastern	Kentucky 44-43, Mar 3	LSU	44-43, Mar 3
Southern	North Carolina State 77-68, Mar 8	Duke	77-68, Mar 8

The 1951-52 AP poll, week by week

Each team's rank in every poll. Tap a rank to read it.

Team	Dec11	18	26	Jan2	8	15	22	29	Feb5	12	19	26	Mar4
Kentucky	1	2	1	4	3	3	3	1	1	1	1	1	1
Illinois	3	3	2	2	2	2	1	3	3	6	5	2	2
Kansas State	5	5	8	9	7	9	7	2	2	2	2	3	3
Duquesne					16	7	10	7	5	3	3	4	4
Saint Louis	4	4	12	7	5	5	8	6	7	7	9	5	5
Washington	6	8	3	3	6	8	6	9	8	8	6	6	6
Iowa				12	10	4	4	8	9	5	4	7	7
Kansas	8	7	4	1	1	1	2	4	6	9	7	8	8
West Virginia					11	10	9	10	12	14	12	10	9
St. John's	2	1	7	8	12		15	15	10	10	8	9	10
Dayton					20	19	16	14	11	11	11	11	11
Duke	12	19										15	12
Holy Cross		17				20	11	17		19	17	17	13
Seton Hall	7	10	10	11	9	12	13	11	17	12	14	14	14
St. Bonaventure				10	8	6	5	5	4	4	10	12	15
Wyoming		14									19	16	16
Louisville	17				15	13	14	12	13	15	15	13	17
Seattle											16		18
UCLA			16										19
Texas State													20
Western Kentucky State		16	11						20			18
Villanova	15	18	14									19
Siena					17	11	19	18		16	18	20
Penn State									14	17	13
La Salle	9	12	17	13		15	18		19		20
Oklahoma City				15	18	18		16	15	13
DePaul								19		18
Indiana	11	6	5	5	4	14	20	13	18	20
Oklahoma A&M	13	13							16
Fordham								20
TCU						15	12
Utah			15	18			17
North Carolina State	10	9	19	17		17
NYU	20	11	6	6	13
Syracuse			20	19	14
Michigan State				20	19
Notre Dame	14	20	9	14
Murray State			18	16
Stanford	16		13
Minnesota		15
Vanderbilt	18
Eastern Kentucky	19

Tap a rank to read it.

1952 final AP Top 19

The last Associated Press ranking of the season, with each team's record.

1952 final AP Top 19AP

1Kentucky29-3
2Illinois22-4
3Kansas State19-5
4Duquesne23-4
5Saint Louis23-8
6Washington25-6
7Iowa19-3
8Kansas28-3
9West Virginia23-4
10St. John's25-6

11Dayton28-5
12Duke24-6
13Holy Cross24-4
14Seton Hall25-3
15St. Bonaventure21-6
16Wyoming28-7
17Louisville20-6
18Seattle29-8
19UCLA19-12

1952 standings by conference

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

1952 standings by conference17 conferences

Big Seven7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kansas	28-3	11-1	★ NCAA AP 8
Kansas State	19-5	10-2	AP 3
Missouri	14-10	6-6
Iowa State	10-11	4-8
Colorado	8-16	4-8
Oklahoma	7-17	4-8
Nebraska	7-17	3-9

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Illinois	22-4	12-2	★ NCAA AP 2
Iowa	19-3	11-3	AP 7
Minnesota	15-7	10-4
Indiana	16-6	9-5
Michigan State	13-9	6-8
Ohio State	8-14	6-8
Wisconsin	10-12	5-9
Michigan	7-15	4-10
Northwestern	7-15	4-10
Purdue	8-14	3-11

Border8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
West Texas State	19-9	12-2	★
New Mexico A&M	22-11	14-4	★ NCAA
Texas Tech	14-10	9-5
Arizona	11-16	6-8
Arizona State	8-16	6-8
Hardin-Simmons	17-15	5-9
Texas Western	8-17	5-9
Northern Arizona	4-23	1-13

Eastern Intercollegiate7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Princeton	16-11	10-2	★ NCAA
Pennsylvania	21-8	9-3
Cornell	16-9	8-4
Columbia	12-10	7-5
Yale	14-14	4-8
Dartmouth	11-19	4-8
Harvard	5-17	0-12

Metropolitan New York6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
St. John's	25-6	6-0	NCAA AP 10
St. Francis (NY)	20-8	4-2
Manhattan	12-9	4-2
Fordham	20-8	3-3
NYU	17-8	2-3
CCNY	8-11	1-5

Mid-American7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Miami (OH)	19-6	9-3	★
Western Michigan	16-8	9-3	★
Toledo	20-11	8-4
Ohio	12-12	6-6
Cincinnati	11-16	5-5
Kent State	14-10	3-7
Western Reserve	1-23	0-12

Missouri Valley6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Saint Louis	23-8	9-1	★ NCAA AP 5
Oklahoma A&M	19-8	7-3
Tulsa	14-10	5-5
Detroit	14-12	4-6
Houston	7-14	3-7
Wichita	11-19	2-8

Mountain States8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Wyoming	28-7	13-1	★ NCAA AP 16
BYU	14-10	9-5
Utah State	17-14	9-5
Utah	19-9	8-6
Montana	12-14	7-7
Denver	11-15	6-8
Colorado A&M	13-15	3-11
New Mexico	6-19	1-13

Ohio Valley7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Western Kentucky State	26-5	11-1	🏆
Eastern Kentucky	13-11	10-2
Murray State	24-10	9-3
Marshall	15-11	5-7
Morehead State	11-14	3-9	★
Evansville	12-10	2-10
Tennessee Tech	9-13	2-10

Pacific Coast9 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Washington	25-6	14-2	AP 6
UCLA	19-12	8-4	★ NCAA AP 19
Idaho	19-13	9-7
Stanford	19-9	6-6
California	17-13	6-6
Oregon	14-16	8-8
Washington State	19-16	6-10
USC	16-14	4-8
Oregon State	9-19	3-13

Rocky Mountain5 teams

School	W-L	Note
Montana State	22-14	★
Idaho State	16-11
Colorado State College	10-12	★
Colorado Mines	9-12
Colorado College	2-14

Southeastern12 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kentucky	29-3	14-0	★ 🏆 NCAA AP 1
LSU	17-7	9-5
Vanderbilt	18-9	9-5
Alabama	13-9	9-5
Mississippi	15-11	8-6
Florida	15-9	7-7
Tennessee	13-9	7-7
Tulane	12-12	7-7
Auburn	14-12	6-8
Mississippi State	12-11	4-10
Georgia Tech	7-15	2-12
Georgia	3-22	2-12

Southern17 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
West Virginia	23-4	15-1	★ AP 9
North Carolina State	24-10	12-2	🏆 NCAA
Duke	24-6	13-3	AP 12
Clemson	17-7	11-4
George Washington	15-9	12-6
Furman	18-6	9-5
Maryland	13-9	9-5
William & Mary	15-13	10-6
South Carolina	14-10	8-7
Wake Forest	10-19	7-9
North Carolina	12-15	8-11
Virginia Tech	4-16	3-10
Richmond	7-15	3-11
Washington & Lee	6-21	3-11
Davidson	7-18	4-15
VMI	3-21	2-13
Citadel	8-20	1-11

Southwest7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
TCU	24-4	11-1	★ NCAA
Texas	16-8	8-4
SMU	11-13	5-7
Texas A&M	9-15	5-7
Baylor	6-18	5-7
Arkansas	10-14	4-8
Rice	9-15	4-8

Western N.Y. Little 33 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
St. Bonaventure	21-6	3-1	AP 15
Canisius	15-9	3-1
Niagara	8-21	0-4

Yankee6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Connecticut	20-7	6-1	★
Rhode Island	10-13	6-2
Vermont	14-6
New Hampshire	11-9
Maine	7-12
Massachusetts	4-17

Independent46 teams

School	W-L	Note
Seton Hall	25-3	AP 14
Holy Cross	24-4	AP 13
Duquesne	23-4	NCAA AP 4
Dayton	28-5	NCAA AP 11
La Salle	24-5
Boston College	22-5
Siena	24-6
Seattle	29-8	AP 18
Louisville	20-6	AP 17
Penn State	20-6	NCAA
St. Joseph's	20-7
DePaul	19-8
Oklahoma City	19-8	NCAA
Villanova	19-8
Syracuse	14-6
Navy	16-7
Loyola-Chicago	17-8
Miami (FL)	14-8
Bowling Green	17-10
Lafayette	15-9
Notre Dame	16-10
St. Mary's	16-10
Georgetown	15-10
Bradley	17-12
Santa Clara	17-12	NCAA
Loyola (LA)	16-13
Drake	13-12
Butler	12-12
Valparaiso	12-12
Army	8-9
Loyola Marymount	12-14
Marquette	12-14
San Francisco	11-13
Virginia	11-13
Colgate	10-12
Pittsburgh	10-12
John Carroll	11-14
Muhlenberg	10-13
Baldwin-Wallace	9-12
Xavier	10-14
Temple	9-15
Lehigh	7-12
Bucknell	8-16
Rutgers	6-13
Creighton	6-15
Brown	5-15

Elo ratings and upsets use the games in our record for this season, which is incomplete before 1995-96; team records come from the season standings.

1952 Elo and upsets

The ten highest-rated teams when the season ended, and the results the ratings gave the winner the least chance of.

1952 Elo and upsetsElo

Elo, top 10

1Kentucky1913
2Kansas1900
3La Salle1855
4Illinois1847
5St. John's1829
6Indiana1795
7Duke1791
8Washington1786
9Iowa1785
10Kansas State1781

Biggest upsets

Wisconsin 78, Iowa 75
Mar 3 · regular season · 6.6% win chance
Marquette 57, Notre Dame 50
Feb 7 · regular season · 7.4% win chance
Dartmouth 72, Cornell 65
Mar 15 · regular season · 8.4% win chance
Texas Tech 63, North Carolina State 62
Dec 13 · regular season · 8.8% win chance
Connecticut 56, Yale 47
Dec 18 · regular season · 9.4% win chance
Idaho 56, Washington 51
Jan 4 · regular season · 10.1% win chance
Siena 55, Manhattan 45
Dec 1 · regular season · 10.9% win chance
Canisius 88, Holy Cross 69
Jan 21 · regular season · 11.3% win chance
Texas 48, Oklahoma 44
Dec 3 · regular season · 11.7% win chance
Pittsburgh 62, Notre Dame 60
Feb 18 · regular season · 11.7% win chance

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.