🏀 The 1952-53 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 · 18 conferences · 22-team tournament

← 1952 1954 →All seasons

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2000s

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1990s

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1980s

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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

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1910s

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1900s

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1890s

1899 1898 1897 1896

1953season

← 1952 1954 →

1952-53 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

Indiana

23-3Final AP #1

Title gameIndiana 69, Kansas 68 (Mar 18)

Final FourIndianaKansasLSUWashington

The 1953 NCAA tournament

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

22-team field · 2 regions

First Round

Holy Cross87

Navy74

Fordham67

DePaul74

Second Round

LSU89

DePaul80

Indiana82

Notre Dame69

Pennsylvania57

Regional Finals

Holy Cross73

LSU81

Indiana79

Notre Dame66

East region

First Round

Holy Cross87

Navy74

Fordham67

DePaul74

Second Round

LSU89

DePaul80

Indiana82

Notre Dame69

Pennsylvania57

Regional Finals

Holy Cross73

LSU81

Indiana79

Notre Dame66

West region

First Round

Hardin-Simmons56

Santa Clara81

Idaho State77

Seattle88

Second Round

Kansas73

Oklahoma City65

Oklahoma A&M71

TCU54

Santa Clara67

Wyoming52

Seattle70

Washington92

Regional Finals

Kansas61

Oklahoma A&M55

Santa Clara62

Washington74

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

Indiana80

LSU67

East · Mar 17

Kansas79

Washington53

West · Mar 17

Championship game: Indiana

Indiana69

Kansas68

East vs West · Mar 18

Third-place games

Oklahoma City56

TCU58

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 14

Seattle80

Wyoming64

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 14

Lebanon Valley71

Wake Forest91

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 14

DePaul70

Pennsylvania90

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 14

LSU69

Washington88

Third Place Game · East vs West · Mar 18

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 2 conference tournaments held in 1952-53.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Final
Ohio Valley	Western Kentucky State 70-60, Feb 28	Eastern Kentucky	70-60, Feb 28
Southern	Wake Forest 71-70, Mar 7	North Carolina State	71-70, Mar 7

The 1952-53 AP poll, week by week

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

Team	Dec16	23	30	Jan6	13	20	27	Feb3	10	17	24	Mar3	10	19
Indiana	19	15	12	7	6	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1
Seton Hall	4	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	4	2
Kansas	20				15	9	14	18	14	10	5	6	5	3
Washington	9	7	5	6	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	2	4
LSU	10	8	17	11	14	14	11	10	8	6	6	5	7	5
La Salle	1	1	3	3	3	5	4	4	4	4	4	2	3	6
St. John's													20	7
Oklahoma A&M	5	9	7	5	9	7	8	9	6	7	7	7	6	8
Duquesne											19	18	11	9
Notre Dame	7	11	19	13	11	16	17				17	13	17	10
Illinois	3	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	5	5	10	10	13	11
Kansas State	2	5	1	1	1	4	5	5	10	8	9	8	8	12
Holy Cross	8	4	6	14	17			17				20		13
Seattle		15	13	16	16	13	13	11	11	11	14	15	15	14
Wake Forest													12	15
Western Kentucky State	11	10	10	10	10	12	9	8	9	9	8	9	9	17
North Carolina State	6	6	11	9	8	8	12	15	12	15	13	12	18	18
DePaul			14				10	7	7	14	15			19
Oklahoma City	13	19	16		18	17		16	13	12	11	11	10
Louisville									17	16	18	14	14
Wyoming													16
Navy	20	13		15			16					18	19
Manhattan						20	19	19	15	13	16		20
Miami (OH)											12	16
Eastern Kentucky						18	15				20	17
Murray State										17
Duke										18
California	18			20		14		14	19	19
Villanova										19
Fordham				8	7	10	7	13	16
Niagara								20	17
Tulsa	15	14	8	17	13	11	20		19
North Carolina							18	12
Minnesota	16	17	9	19		19
USC				12	12
UCLA	12	20			19
Georgetown					20
Idaho		20		18
St. Bonaventure	14	12	15
Toledo			18
Wayne State			20
Colorado		18
Saint Louis	17

Tap a rank to read it.

1953 final AP Top 18

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

1953 final AP Top 18AP

1Indiana23-3
2Seton Hall31-2
3Kansas19-6
4Washington28-3
5LSU22-3
6La Salle25-3
7St. John's17-6
8Oklahoma A&M23-7
9Duquesne21-8

1953 standings by conference

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

1953 standings by conference18 conferences

Big Seven7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kansas	19-6	10-2	★ NCAA AP 3
Kansas State	17-4	9-3	AP 12
Missouri	11-9	6-6
Iowa State	10-11	5-7
Oklahoma	8-13	5-7
Nebraska	9-11	4-8
Colorado	10-11	3-9

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Indiana	23-3	17-1	★ NCAA AP 1
Illinois	18-4	14-4	AP 11
Minnesota	14-8	11-7
Michigan State	13-9	11-7
Wisconsin	13-9	10-8
Iowa	12-10	9-9
Ohio State	10-12	7-11
Northwestern	6-16	5-13
Michigan	6-16	3-15
Purdue	4-18	3-15

Border8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Hardin-Simmons	19-12	11-3	★ NCAA
Arizona	13-11	11-3	★
Arizona State	12-7	10-4
Texas Tech	12-10	9-5
West Texas State	8-13	5-9
New Mexico A&M	7-17	5-9
Texas Western	4-21	3-11
Northern Arizona	4-19	2-12

Eastern Intercollegiate7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Pennsylvania	22-5	10-2	★ NCAA
Columbia	17-6	8-4
Cornell	9-12	6-6
Yale	10-15	6-6
Dartmouth	12-14	5-7
Princeton	9-14	5-7
Harvard	7-16	2-10

Metropolitan New York6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Manhattan	20-6	6-0
St. John's	17-6	5-1	AP 7
Fordham	18-8	4-2	NCAA
St. Francis (NY)	20-7	2-3
NYU	9-11	1-3
CCNY	10-6	1-5

Mid-American7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Miami (OH)	17-6	10-2	★ NCAA
Toledo	16-7	9-3
Cincinnati	11-13	9-3
Western Michigan	12-9	6-6
Ohio	9-13	4-8
Kent State	7-15	3-9
Western Reserve	5-17	1-11

Missouri Valley6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Oklahoma A&M	23-7	8-2	★ NCAA AP 8
Tulsa	15-10	5-5
Saint Louis	16-11	5-5
Houston	9-13	5-5
Detroit	12-14	4-6
Wichita	16-11	3-7

Mountain States8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Wyoming	20-10	12-2	★ NCAA
BYU	22-8	11-3
Utah State	17-13	7-7
Montana	14-11	6-8
Colorado A&M	12-14	5-9
New Mexico	10-14	5-9
Utah	10-14	5-9
Denver	9-16	5-9

Ohio Valley6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Eastern Kentucky	16-9	9-1	★ NCAA
Western Kentucky State	25-6	8-2	🏆 AP 17
Murray State	18-9	7-3
Tennessee Tech	14-11	3-7
Morehead State	13-12	3-7
Middle Tennessee State	7-16	0-10

Pacific Coast9 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Washington	28-3	15-1	★ NCAA AP 4
California	15-10	9-3
USC	17-5	7-5
UCLA	16-8	6-6
Idaho	14-11	8-8
Oregon	14-14	8-8
Oregon State	11-18	6-10
Washington State	7-27	3-13
Stanford	6-17	2-10

Rocky Mountain5 teams

School	W-L	Note
Idaho State	18-7	★ NCAA
Colorado State College	11-9
Montana State	11-24
Colorado College	2-16
Colorado Mines	2-18

Southeastern11 teams

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

Southern17 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
North Carolina State	26-6	13-3	★ AP 18
Wake Forest	19-6	12-3	🏆 NCAA AP 15
Maryland	15-8	12-3
West Virginia	19-7	11-3
Furman	21-6	10-3
Duke	17-8	12-4
Richmond	20-7	13-5
North Carolina	17-10	15-6
George Washington	15-7	12-6
Clemson	8-10	6-8
South Carolina	11-13	7-12
William & Mary	10-13	6-13
Virginia Tech	4-19	4-13
Davidson	4-16	3-14
VMI	5-19	1-14
Washington & Lee	2-20	1-17
Citadel	4-14	0-11

Southwest7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
TCU	16-8	9-3	★ NCAA
Rice	15-6	8-4
Texas	12-9	8-4
Baylor	10-11	6-6
Arkansas	10-11	4-8
SMU	8-12	4-8
Texas A&M	6-15	3-9

West Coast5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Santa Clara	17-7	6-2	★ NCAA
San Francisco	10-11	6-2
San Jose State	15-8	4-4
St. Mary's	9-11	4-4
Pacific	2-20

Western N.Y. Little 33 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Niagara	22-6	4-0	★
St. Bonaventure	10-11	1-3
Canisius	9-14	1-3

Yankee6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Connecticut	17-4	5-1	★
Rhode Island	13-10	6-2
Vermont	11-10
New Hampshire	8-10
Maine	7-10
Massachusetts	4-15

Independent45 teams

School	W-L	Note
Lebanon Valley	18-1	NCAA
Seton Hall	31-2	AP 2
Seattle	29-3	NCAA AP 14
La Salle	25-3	AP 6
Notre Dame	19-5	NCAA AP 10
Louisville	22-6
Holy Cross	20-6	NCAA AP 13
Navy	16-5	NCAA
Oklahoma City	18-6	NCAA
Duquesne	21-8	AP 9
Villanova	19-8
DePaul	19-9	NCAA AP 19
Georgetown	13-7
Penn State	15-9
Temple	16-10
Butler	14-9
Lehigh	12-8
Baldwin-Wallace	13-9
Army	11-8
Colgate	12-9
Muhlenberg	13-10
St. Joseph's	14-11
Bradley	15-12
Dayton	16-13
Marquette	13-11
Pittsburgh	12-11
Drake	13-12
Lafayette	13-12
Loyola (LA)	14-13
Gonzaga	15-14
Loyola Marymount	14-14
John Carroll	13-14
Xavier	11-12
Siena	10-11
Bowling Green	12-15
Creighton	11-14
Virginia	10-13
Miami (FL)	9-12
Syracuse	7-11
Rutgers	8-13
Valparaiso	9-15
Loyola-Chicago	8-15
Boston College	7-15
Brown	5-14
Bucknell	3-16

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.

1953 Elo and upsets

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

1953 Elo and upsetsElo

Elo, top 10

Biggest upsets

Rhode Island 74, St. John's 72
Dec 13 · regular season · 4.2% win chance
Xavier 110, Miami (OH) 91
Feb 25 · regular season · 6.7% win chance
Houston 71, Saint Louis 70
Jan 28 · regular season · 6.7% win chance
Georgia 87, Tennessee 86
Feb 25 · regular season · 8.2% win chance
Northwestern 71, Minnesota 65
Jan 3 · regular season · 8.2% win chance
Temple 77, NYU 68
Dec 18 · regular season · 8.6% win chance
Valparaiso 64, Villanova 62
Mar 7 · regular season · 8.7% win chance
Valparaiso 69, Western Michigan 58
Jan 10 · regular season · 9.9% win chance
Temple 62, Princeton 57
Dec 10 · regular season · 10.5% win chance
Seattle 63, Wyoming 55
Dec 12 · regular season · 11.0% 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.