🏀 The 1953-54 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 · 19 conferences · 24-team tournament

← 1953 1955 →All seasons

Jump to any season1896–2027

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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

1954season

← 1953 1955 →

1953-54 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

La Salle

26-4Final AP #2

Title gameBradley 76, La Salle 92 (Mar 20)

Final FourLa SalleBradleyPenn StateUSC

The 1954 NCAA tournament

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

24-team field · 2 regions

First Round

Bradley61

Seattle75

Second Round

Bradley76

Rice45

USC73

Regional Finals

Bradley71

Oklahoma A&M57

Santa Clara65

USC66

West region

First Round

Bradley61

Seattle75

Second Round

Bradley76

Rice45

USC73

Regional Finals

Bradley71

Oklahoma A&M57

Santa Clara65

USC66

East region

First Round

Fordham74

La Salle76

George Washington73

North Carolina State75

Navy85

Toledo50

Second Round

La Salle88

North Carolina State81

Cornell67

Navy69

Indiana64

LSU70

Regional Finals

Navy48

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

Bradley74

USC72

West · Mar 19

La Salle69

Penn State54

East · Mar 19

Championship game: La Salle

Bradley76

La Salle92

West vs East · Mar 20

Third-place games

Indiana73

LSU62

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 13

Cornell54

North Carolina State65

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 13

Colorado A&M57

Idaho State62

Regional Third Place · Mar 13

Colorado55

Rice78

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 13

Penn State70

USC61

Third Place Game · East vs West · Mar 20

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 3 conference tournaments held in 1953-54.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Final
Atlantic Coast	North Carolina State 82-80, Mar 6	Wake Forest	82-80, Mar 6
Ohio Valley	Western Kentucky State 85-69, Feb 26	Eastern Kentucky	85-69, Feb 26
Southern	George Washington 83-70, Mar 6	Richmond	83-70, Mar 6

The 1953-54 AP poll, week by week

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

Team	Dec8	15	22	29	Jan5	12	19	26	Feb2	9	16	23	Mar2	9	21
Kentucky	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	1
La Salle	6	20	16	13			19	12	9	7	12	13	8	12	2
Holy Cross	19	14	10	12	7	6	8	7	10	9	9	7	13	9	3
Indiana	1	1	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	4
Duquesne	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	4	3	5
Notre Dame		16	19				6	6	7	6	6	6	5	6	6
Bradley									18						7
Western Kentucky State	11	10	6	7	5	5	4	4	4	5	4	4	3	4	8
Penn State															9
Oklahoma A&M	4	7	5	5	4	4	5	4	5	4	5	5	6	5	10
USC															11
George Washington					12	7	10	10	11	10	8	8	9	7	12
Iowa											10	20	16	16	13
LSU	10	5	14	18		16	12	14	17	17	13	12	7	8	14
Duke		13			8	9	13	20	8	15	14	10	11	18	15
Niagara		18			12	13	18								16
Seattle				15	16	14	16	11	6	8	7	9	10	11	17
Kansas	5				16	11	17	17	19	20		17	15	13	18
Illinois	9	4	4	8	15	19	20					20			19
Maryland							14	13	13	11	11	11	17	14	20
North Carolina State	7	8	9	9	20					19			18	10
Dayton	15		16		14	17		18			17	16	14	15
Oregon State	13	11	12	4	10									16
Colorado A&M						18					19	18		19
Wichita						11	11	16	14	18	15	14	12	20
Connecticut								18					19
Louisville									20				20
Oklahoma City	19	12	15	11	9	8	7	9	16	13	16	15
UCLA		17	13	14								19
Minnesota	12	6	8	6	6	10	9	8	12	12	18
Navy					18					16	20
California	17	15					15	14	15	14
Rice			11	16	11	15
Idaho			20	17		20
Vanderbilt			20	20	19
Fordham		9	7	10
BYU				19
Wyoming	14			20
Wisconsin			18
Siena		19
Kansas State	8
Santa Clara	16
Saint Louis	18

Tap a rank to read it.

1954 final AP Top 20

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

1954 final AP Top 20AP

11USC19-14
12George Washington23-3
13Iowa17-5
14LSU20-5
15Duke21-6
16Niagara24-6
17Seattle26-2
18Kansas16-5
19Illinois17-5
20Maryland23-7

1954 standings by conference

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

1954 standings by conference19 conferences

Atlantic Coast8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Duke	21-6	9-1	★ AP 15
Maryland	23-7	7-2	AP 20
Wake Forest	17-12	8-4
North Carolina State	26-7	5-3	🏆 NCAA
North Carolina	11-10	5-6
Virginia	16-11	1-4
South Carolina	10-16	2-8
Clemson	5-18	0-9

Big Seven7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kansas	16-5	10-2	★ AP 18
Colorado	11-11	10-2	★ NCAA
Missouri	11-10	6-6
Kansas State	11-10	5-7
Nebraska	8-13	5-7
Oklahoma	8-13	4-8
Iowa State	6-15	2-10

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Indiana	20-4	12-2	★ NCAA AP 4
Iowa	17-5	11-3	AP 13
Illinois	17-5	10-4	AP 19
Minnesota	17-5	10-4
Wisconsin	12-10	6-8
Northwestern	9-13	6-8
Ohio State	11-11	5-9
Michigan State	9-13	4-10
Michigan	9-13	3-11
Purdue	9-13	3-11

Border7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Texas Tech	20-5	11-1	★ NCAA
West Texas State	13-7	9-3
Arizona	14-10	8-4
Texas Western	8-14	4-8
Hardin-Simmons	7-17	4-8
New Mexico A&M	6-12	3-9
Arizona State	5-18	3-9

Eastern Intercollegiate8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Cornell	17-7	11-3	★ NCAA
Princeton	16-9	11-3
Pennsylvania	17-8	10-4
Yale	12-14	7-7
Columbia	11-13	6-8
Dartmouth	13-13	5-9
Brown	13-11	4-10
Harvard	9-16	2-12

Metropolitan New York5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
St. Francis (NY)	23-5	5-0
Fordham	18-6	3-1	NCAA
Manhattan	15-11	3-3
NYU	9-9	2-2
St. John's	9-11	2-3

Mid-American8 teams

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

Missouri Valley6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Oklahoma A&M	24-5	9-1	★ NCAA AP 10
Wichita	27-4	8-2
Tulsa	15-14	5-5
Saint Louis	14-12	4-6
Houston	11-15	3-7
Detroit	11-17	1-9

Mountain States8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Colorado A&M	22-7	12-2	★ NCAA
Wyoming	19-9	10-4
BYU	18-11	9-5
Utah State	14-13	7-7
Utah	12-14	7-7
New Mexico	11-11	5-9
Montana	7-20	3-11
Denver	6-21	3-11

Ohio Valley6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Western Kentucky State	29-3	9-1	★ 🏆 AP 8
Morehead State	16-8	6-4
Murray State	15-16	6-4
Tennessee Tech	12-10	4-6
Eastern Kentucky	7-16	4-6
Middle Tennessee State	16-17	1-9

Pacific Coast9 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Oregon State	19-10	11-5
USC	19-14	8-4	★ NCAA AP 11
UCLA	18-7	7-5
Idaho	15-8	9-7
Oregon	17-10	9-7
California	17-7	6-6
Washington	8-18	7-9
Stanford	13-10	3-9
Washington State	10-17	4-12

Rocky Mountain5 teams

School	W-L	Note
Idaho State	22-5	★ NCAA
Montana State	18-11
Colorado State College	9-8
Colorado Mines	5-15
Colorado College	3-14

Southeastern12 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kentucky	25-0	14-0	★ AP 1
LSU	20-5	14-0	★ NCAA AP 14
Alabama	16-8	10-4
Tulane	15-8	10-4
Auburn	16-8	8-6
Mississippi	12-12	7-7
Tennessee	11-12	7-7
Vanderbilt	12-10	5-9
Mississippi State	11-10	5-9
Florida	7-15	3-11
Georgia	7-18	2-12
Georgia Tech	2-22	0-14

Southern10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
George Washington	23-3	10-0	★ 🏆 NCAA AP 12
Furman	20-9	6-1
Richmond	23-8	10-3
West Virginia	12-11	6-4
William & Mary	9-14	6-5
VMI	11-12	6-7
Davidson	7-15	3-5
Washington & Lee	6-17	3-9
Virginia Tech	3-24	3-13
Citadel	2-17	1-7

Southwest7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Rice	23-5	9-3	★ NCAA
Texas	16-9	9-3	★
Arkansas	13-9	6-6
SMU	13-9	6-6
Baylor	12-11	6-6
TCU	10-14	5-7
Texas A&M	2-20	1-11

West Coast5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Santa Clara	20-7	9-3	★ NCAA
San Francisco	14-7	8-4
San Jose State	12-15	6-6
St. Mary's	10-14	4-8
Pacific	9-17	3-9

Western N.Y. Little 33 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Niagara	24-6	3-1	★ AP 16
St. Bonaventure	12-11	2-2
Canisius	9-14	1-3

Yankee6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Connecticut	23-3	7-0	★ NCAA
Rhode Island	7-14	4-4
Vermont	13-7
Massachusetts	13-9
New Hampshire	8-10
Maine	6-12

Independent44 teams

School	W-L	Note
Holy Cross	26-2	AP 3
Seattle	26-2	NCAA AP 17
Duquesne	26-3	AP 5
Notre Dame	22-3	NCAA AP 6
La Salle	26-4	NCAA AP 2
Dayton	25-7
St. Francis (PA)	21-6
Louisville	22-7
Penn State	18-6	NCAA AP 9
Oklahoma City	18-7	NCAA
Navy	18-8	NCAA
Army	15-7
Loyola (LA)	15-8	NCAA
Villanova	20-11
Lafayette	17-10
St. Joseph's	14-9
Xavier	18-12
Bradley	19-13	NCAA AP 7
John Carroll	15-11
Seton Hall	13-10
Temple	15-12
Muhlenberg	12-10
Washington University	12-10
Syracuse	10-9
Cincinnati	11-10
DePaul	11-10
Iona	11-10
Butler	13-12
Boston College	11-11
Loyola Marymount	14-16
Rutgers	11-13
Creighton	14-17
Gonzaga	12-15
Valparaiso	10-13
Marquette	11-15
Lehigh	8-12
Pittsburgh	9-14
Georgetown	11-18
Siena	7-14
Portland	9-19
Loyola-Chicago	7-15
Drake	7-16
Colgate	5-12
Bucknell	4-16

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.

1954 Elo and upsets

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

1954 Elo and upsetsElo

Elo, top 10

Biggest upsets

Oregon State 67, Indiana 51
Dec 22 · regular season · 4.5% win chance
St. Francis (PA) 69, Duquesne 63
Mar 9 · postseason · 6.9% win chance
Houston 69, Saint Louis 66
Jan 16 · regular season · 6.9% win chance
William & Mary 57, Seton Hall 55
Jan 1 · regular season · 7.4% win chance
Stanford 66, Washington 51
Dec 4 · regular season · 7.6% win chance
Denver 60, Wyoming 49
Feb 9 · regular season · 8.3% win chance
Oklahoma 69, Wisconsin 65
Dec 14 · regular season · 8.4% win chance
Idaho State 77, Seattle 75
Mar 9 · postseason · 10.3% win chance
Citadel 75, Davidson 70
Feb 13 · regular season · 10.7% win chance
Iowa State 64, Kansas State 62
Feb 13 · regular season · 10.7% 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.