🏀 The 1959-60 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 · 25-team tournament

← 1959 1961 →All seasons

Jump to any season1896–2027

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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

1960season

← 1959 1961 →

1959-60 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

Ohio State

25-3Final AP #3

Title gameCalifornia 55, Ohio State 75 (Mar 19)

Final FourOhio StateCaliforniaCincinnatiNYU

The 1960 NCAA tournament

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

25-team field · 4 regions

First Round

California71

Idaho State44

New Mexico State60

Oregon68

USC73

Utah80

Second Round

California69

Santa Clara49

Oregon65

Utah54

Regional Finals

California70

Oregon49

West region

First Round

California71

Idaho State44

New Mexico State60

Oregon68

USC73

Utah80

Second Round

California69

Santa Clara49

Oregon65

Utah54

Regional Finals

California70

Oregon49

Midwest region

First Round

Air Force63

DePaul69

Second Round

Cincinnati99

DePaul59

Kansas90

Texas81

Regional Finals

Cincinnati82

Kansas71

East region

First Round

Duke84

Princeton60

Connecticut59

NYU78

Navy86

West Virginia94

Second Round

Duke58

St. Joseph's56

NYU82

West Virginia81

Regional Finals

Duke59

NYU74

Mideast region

First Round

Ohio74

Second Round

Ohio54

Regional Finals

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

California77

Cincinnati69

West vs Midwest · Mar 18

NYU54

Ohio State76

East vs Mideast · Mar 18

Championship game: Ohio State

California55

Ohio State75

West vs Mideast · Mar 19

Third-place games

St. Joseph's100

West Virginia106

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 12

Santa Clara81

Utah89

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 12

DePaul67

Texas61

Regional Third Place · Midwest · Mar 12

Ohio87

Western Kentucky97

Regional Third Place · Mideast · Mar 12

Cincinnati95

NYU71

Third Place Game · Midwest vs East · Mar 19

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 2 conference tournaments held in 1959-60.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Final
Atlantic Coast	Duke 63-59, Mar 5	Wake Forest	63-59, Mar 5
Southern	West Virginia 82-72, Feb 27	Virginia Tech	82-72, Feb 27

The 1959-60 AP poll, week by week

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

Team	Dec22	29	Jan5	12	19	26	Feb2	9	16	23	Mar1	8
Cincinnati	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
California	4	3	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	2
Ohio State	3	5	7	5	5	5	4	4	4	2	2	3
Bradley	5	9	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	3	4	4
West Virginia	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	5	7	5	5
Utah	6	4	5	7	7	7	7	9	8	5	6	6
Indiana	9	7	11							20	12	7
Utah State			17	12	9	9	9	7	7	8	10	8
St. Bonaventure							19		14	10	9	9
Miami (FL)		15	14	15	11	11	11	10	10	9	8	10
Auburn								17	17	13	11	11
NYU	12	12								14	14	12
Georgia Tech	8	10	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	13
Providence						20	16	14	16	15	15	14
Saint Louis	7	6	12	11	18	16	18	18		16	13	15
Holy Cross								16	13	17	20	16
Villanova	15	17	16	9	8	8	8	8	9	12	17	17
Duke	16	18										18
Wake Forest		19	8	13		20					18	19
St. John's									15	11	19	20
North Carolina			19	16	12	12	17	13	19		16
Texas A&M	18		13	8	10	10	10	12	11	18
Toledo		16	20	18	17	13	12	11	12	19
Ohio									18
Illinois	10	8	9	14	13		19	20	20
Dayton					19	19	13	15
Detroit	17	11	15	20	20	14	14	19
Kansas State							15
Kentucky	13	13		17	16	15
Virginia Tech						17
USC	20		10	10	14	18
Iowa	19	14			15
La Salle	14			19
Western Kentucky State			18
DePaul		20
Michigan State	11

Tap a rank to read it.

1960 final AP Top 20

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

1960 final AP Top 20AP

11Auburn19-3
12NYU22-5
13Georgia Tech22-6
14Providence24-5
15Saint Louis19-8
16Holy Cross20-6
17Villanova20-6
18Duke17-11
19Wake Forest21-7
20St. John's17-8

1960 standings by conference

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

1960 standings by conference19 conferences

Atlantic Coast8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
North Carolina	18-6	12-2	★
Wake Forest	21-7	12-2	AP 19
Maryland	15-8	9-5
Duke	17-11	7-7	🏆 NCAA AP 18
South Carolina	10-16	6-8
North Carolina State	11-15	5-9
Clemson	10-16	4-10
Virginia	6-18	1-13

Big Eight8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kansas	19-9	10-4	★ NCAA
Kansas State	16-10	10-4	★
Oklahoma	14-11	9-5
Iowa State	15-9	7-7
Colorado	13-11	7-7
Missouri	12-13	5-9
Oklahoma State	10-15	4-10
Nebraska	7-17	4-10

Big Five5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
California	28-2	11-1	★ NCAA AP 2
UCLA	14-12	7-5
USC	16-11	5-7	NCAA
Stanford	11-14	4-7
Washington	15-13	2-9

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Ohio State	25-3	13-1	★ NCAA AP 3
Indiana	20-4	11-3	AP 7
Illinois	16-7	8-6
Minnesota	12-12	8-6
Northwestern	11-12	8-6
Iowa	14-10	6-8
Purdue	11-12	6-8
Michigan State	10-11	5-9
Wisconsin	8-16	4-10
Michigan	4-20	1-13

Border6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
New Mexico A&M	20-7	8-2	★ NCAA
Arizona State	16-7	7-3
West Texas State	11-9	7-3
Arizona	10-14	4-6
Hardin-Simmons	8-18	3-7
Texas Western	6-19	1-9

Ivy8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Princeton	15-9	11-3	★ NCAA
Dartmouth	14-9	10-4
Cornell	13-10	8-6
Pennsylvania	14-11	8-6
Brown	13-12	8-6
Harvard	12-11	6-8
Yale	6-17	3-11
Columbia	9-14	2-12

Metropolitan New York5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
NYU	22-5	4-0	NCAA AP 12
St. John's	17-8	5-1	AP 20
St. Francis (NY)	13-8	2-1
Manhattan	13-11	2-2
Fordham	8-18	1-3

Mid-American7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Ohio	16-8	10-2	★ NCAA
Toledo	18-6	9-3
Bowling Green	10-14	6-6
Miami (OH)	8-16	6-6
Western Michigan	13-11	5-7
Marshall	10-13	4-8
Kent State	7-16	2-10

Middle Atlantic10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
St. Joseph's	20-7	7-1	★ NCAA
La Salle	16-6	6-1
Temple	17-9	9-2
Gettysburg	15-11	7-3
Bucknell	10-11	6-5
Rutgers	11-14	4-4
Lafayette	12-13	6-7
Lehigh	6-16	4-10
Muhlenberg	8-18	3-11
Delaware	7-16	1-9

Missouri Valley8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Cincinnati	28-2	13-1	★ NCAA AP 1
Bradley	27-2	12-2	AP 4
Saint Louis	19-8	9-5	AP 15
Wichita	14-12	6-8
Houston	13-12	6-8
Tulsa	9-17	5-9
Drake	11-14	4-10
North Texas	7-19	1-13

Mountain States8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Utah	26-3	13-1	★ NCAA AP 6
Utah State	24-5	12-2	AP 8
Colorado State	13-10	10-4
Denver	13-11	8-6
BYU	8-17	5-9
Montana	7-17	3-11
New Mexico	6-19	3-11
Wyoming	5-19	2-12

Ohio Valley7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Western Kentucky State	21-7	10-2	★ NCAA
Eastern Kentucky	14-8	9-3
Tennessee Tech	13-9	7-4
Murray State	12-11	7-4
Morehead State	5-14	3-7
East Tennessee State	9-14	2-10
Middle Tennessee State	9-14	2-10

Rocky Mountain4 teams

School	W-L	Note
Idaho State	21-5	★ NCAA
Colorado College	17-5
Colorado State College	14-11
Colorado Mines	5-20

Southeastern12 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Auburn	19-3	12-2	★ AP 11
Georgia Tech	22-6	11-3	NCAA AP 13
Kentucky	18-7	10-4
Mississippi	15-9	8-6
Tulane	13-11	8-6
Vanderbilt	14-9	7-7
Tennessee	12-11	7-7
Georgia	12-13	6-8
Mississippi State	12-13	5-9
Alabama	7-17	4-10
Florida	6-16	3-11
LSU	5-18	3-11

Southern9 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Virginia Tech	20-6	12-1	★
West Virginia	26-5	9-2	🏆 NCAA AP 5
Citadel	15-8	8-4
William & Mary	15-11	10-5
George Washington	15-11	7-5
Furman	9-16	6-7
VMI	4-16	3-11
Richmond	7-18	2-12
Davidson	5-19	0-10

Southwest8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Texas	18-8	11-3	★ NCAA
Texas A&M	19-5	10-4
SMU	17-7	10-4
Arkansas	12-11	7-7
Texas Tech	10-14	7-7
Baylor	12-12	6-8
TCU	7-17	4-10
Rice	4-20	1-13

West Coast7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Loyola Marymount	19-8	9-3
Santa Clara	21-10	9-3	★ NCAA
Pepperdine	14-11	8-4
St. Mary's	15-11	7-5
San Francisco	9-16	5-7
Pacific	9-17	2-10
San Jose State	6-19	2-10

Yankee6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Connecticut	17-9	8-2	★ NCAA
Rhode Island	12-14	6-4
Maine	19-4
Massachusetts	14-10
Vermont	9-11
New Hampshire	9-14

Independent46 teams

School	W-L	Note
Miami (FL)	23-4	NCAA AP 10
Providence	24-5	AP 14
St. Bonaventure	21-5	AP 9
Memphis State	18-5
Holy Cross	20-6	AP 16
Villanova	20-6	AP 17
Dayton	21-7
Detroit	20-7
Navy	16-6	NCAA
Iona	13-5
DePaul	17-7	NCAA
Seton Hall	16-7
Oregon	19-10	NCAA
Notre Dame	17-9	NCAA
Xavier	17-9
Syracuse	13-8
Seattle	16-10
Army	14-9
St. Francis (PA)	14-9
Boston University	14-10
Butler	15-11
Louisville	15-11
Oregon State	15-11
Air Force	12-10	NCAA
Creighton	13-11
Gonzaga	14-12
Marquette	13-12
Niagara	13-12
Centenary	12-12
Penn State	11-11
Washington State	13-13
Loyola (LA)	12-13
Oklahoma City	12-13
Colgate	11-12
Georgetown	11-12
Washington University	11-13
Loyola-Chicago	10-12
Boston College	11-14
Montana State	11-14
Pittsburgh	11-14
Canisius	10-13
Idaho	11-15
Portland	11-15
Florida State	10-15
Duquesne	8-15
Siena	3-18

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.

1960 Elo and upsets

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

1960 Elo and upsetsElo

Elo, top 10

Biggest upsets

Wisconsin 63, Iowa 58
Feb 15 · regular season · 6.8% win chance
South Carolina 85, North Carolina 81
Feb 20 · regular season · 7.8% win chance
Brown 84, Dartmouth 82
Feb 12 · regular season · 8.6% win chance
Tennessee 65, Kentucky 63
Feb 27 · regular season · 8.9% win chance
Rhode Island 79, Fordham 77
Dec 12 · regular season · 9.9% win chance
San Francisco 68, Denver 62
Dec 15 · regular season · 11.1% win chance
Pittsburgh 67, Dartmouth 62
Jan 30 · regular season · 11.5% win chance
Centenary 86, Rice 77
Dec 5 · regular season · 11.8% win chance
Texas 69, SMU 65
Feb 13 · regular season · 12.6% win chance
Rhode Island 85, Boston College 80
Dec 15 · regular season · 12.9% 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.