🏀 The 1960-61 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 · 24-team tournament

← 1960 1962 →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

1961season

← 1960 1962 →

1960-61 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

Cincinnati

27-3Final AP #2

Title gameCincinnati 70, Ohio State 65 (Mar 25)

Final FourCincinnatiOhio StateSt. Joseph'sUtah

The 1961 NCAA tournament

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

24-team field · 4 regions

First Round

Houston77

Second Round

Houston64

Regional Finals

Midwest region

First Round

Houston77

Second Round

Houston64

Regional Finals

West region

First Round

Arizona State72

Seattle70

Oregon79

USC81

Second Round

Arizona State86

USC71

Loyola Marymount75

Utah91

Regional Finals

Arizona State80

Utah88

Mideast region

First Round

Morehead State71

Xavier66

Louisville76

Ohio70

Second Round

Regional Finals

East region

First Round

Second Round

Regional Finals

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

Cincinnati82

Utah67

Midwest vs West · Mar 24

Ohio State95

St. Joseph's69

Mideast vs East · Mar 24

Championship game: Cincinnati

Cincinnati70

Ohio State65

Midwest vs Mideast · Mar 25

Third-place games

Loyola Marymount69

USC67

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 18

Houston67

Texas Tech69

Regional Third Place · Midwest · Mar 18

Princeton67

St. Bonaventure85

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 18

Louisville83

Morehead State61

Regional Third Place · Mideast · Mar 18

St. Joseph's127

Utah120

Third Place Game · East vs West · Mar 25

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 2 conference tournaments held in 1960-61.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Final
Atlantic Coast	Wake Forest 96-81, Mar 4	Duke	96-81, Mar 4
Southern	George Washington 93-82, Mar 4	William & Mary	93-82, Mar 4

The 1960-61 AP poll, week by week

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

Team	Dec13	20	27	Jan3	10	17	24	31	Feb7	14	21	28	Mar7
Ohio State	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Cincinnati									5	4	3	3	2
St. Bonaventure	6	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3
Kansas State	20	12	12		9	10		10	7	6	8	7	4
North Carolina	5	10	11	6	7	6	4	5	6	7	7	5	5
Bradley	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	5	4	4	6
USC							9	9	8	8	10	10	7
Iowa				7	6	4	6	6	9	9	5	6	8
West Virginia										10	9	8	9
Duke	8	7	6	8	8	8	5	4	3	3	6	9	10
Louisville	9	5	5	4	4	5	8	8	10
St. John's	7	6	7	5	5	9	7	7
Purdue							10
DePaul						7
UCLA	13	14	16	9	10
Auburn	11	9	9	10
Indiana	4	4	4
Saint Louis		16	8
North Carolina State	10	10	10
Detroit	3	8	13
Drake		20	14
Providence		13	15
Vanderbilt		17	16
Wichita	16		18
Kentucky	20		19
Memphis State			19
Colorado		15
Utah	18	18
Wake Forest		19
Kansas	16	20
Maryland	12
Utah State	14
Georgia Tech	15
Illinois	19
Dayton	20

Tap a rank to read it.

1961 final AP Top 10

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

1961 final AP Top 10AP

6Bradley21-5
7USC21-8
8Iowa18-6
9West Virginia23-4
10Duke22-6

1961 standings by conference

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

1961 standings by conference18 conferences

Atlantic Coast8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
North Carolina	19-4	12-2	★ AP 5
Wake Forest	19-11	11-3	🏆 NCAA
Duke	22-6	10-4	AP 10
North Carolina State	16-9	8-6
Maryland	14-12	6-8
Clemson	10-16	5-9
South Carolina	9-17	2-12
Virginia	3-23	2-12

Big Eight8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kansas State	22-5	12-2	★ NCAA AP 4
Kansas	17-8	10-4
Oklahoma State	14-11	8-6
Colorado	15-10	7-7
Missouri	11-13	7-7
Iowa State	14-11	6-8
Nebraska	10-14	4-10
Oklahoma	10-15	2-12

Big Five5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
USC	21-8	9-3	★ NCAA AP 7
UCLA	18-8	7-5
Washington	13-13	6-6
California	13-9	5-7
Stanford	7-17	3-9

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Ohio State	27-1	14-0	★ NCAA AP 1
Iowa	18-6	10-4	AP 8
Purdue	16-7	10-4
Indiana	15-9	8-6
Minnesota	10-13	8-6
Northwestern	10-12	6-8
Illinois	9-15	5-9
Wisconsin	7-17	4-10
Michigan State	7-17	3-11
Michigan	6-18	2-12

Border6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Arizona State	23-6	9-1	★ NCAA
New Mexico State	19-5	9-1	★
Arizona	11-15	5-5
Texas Western	12-12	4-6
Hardin-Simmons	12-14	2-8
West Texas State	7-16	1-9

Ivy8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Princeton	18-8	11-3	★ NCAA
Pennsylvania	16-9	10-4
Yale	12-12	8-6
Brown	11-14	8-6
Cornell	14-10	7-7
Harvard	11-13	4-10
Columbia	8-15	4-10
Dartmouth	5-19	4-10

Metropolitan New York5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
St. John's	20-5	4-0	NCAA
NYU	12-11	2-1
St. Francis (NY)	10-10	2-1
Manhattan	8-11	1-2
Fordham	7-16	0-3

Mid-American7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Ohio	17-7	10-2	★ NCAA
Toledo	15-8	8-4
Miami (OH)	12-12	7-5
Marshall	11-13	5-7
Bowling Green	10-14	4-8
Western Michigan	10-14	4-8
Kent State	9-14	4-8

Middle Atlantic10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
St. Joseph's	25-5	8-0	★ NCAA
Temple	20-8	9-1
La Salle	15-7	7-2
Gettysburg	19-6	8-4
Lafayette	16-8	6-6
Bucknell	12-11	5-6
Rutgers	11-10	3-6
Lehigh	5-16	4-10
Delaware	8-11	2-7
Muhlenberg	5-20	2-12

Missouri Valley7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Cincinnati	27-3	10-2	★ NCAA AP 2
Bradley	21-5	9-3	AP 6
Drake	19-7	7-5
Saint Louis	21-9	7-5
Wichita	18-8	6-6
Tulsa	8-17	2-10
North Texas	2-22	1-11

Mountain States8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Utah	23-8	12-2	★ NCAA
Colorado State	17-9	12-2	★
BYU	15-11	9-5
Montana	14-9	7-7
Denver	12-14	6-8
Utah State	12-14	4-10
Wyoming	7-18	3-11
New Mexico	6-17	3-11

Ohio Valley7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Western Kentucky State	18-8	9-3	★
Eastern Kentucky	15-9	9-3	★
Morehead State	19-12	9-3	★ NCAA
Murray State	13-10	7-5
Middle Tennessee State	9-14	4-8
Tennessee Tech	6-13	3-9
East Tennessee State	9-15	1-11

Southeastern12 teams

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

Southern9 teams

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

Southwest8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Texas Tech	15-10	11-3	★ NCAA
Texas A&M	16-8	10-4
Arkansas	16-7	9-5
Texas	14-10	8-6
Rice	11-12	7-7
SMU	12-12	6-8
TCU	5-19	3-11
Baylor	4-20	2-12

West Coast7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Loyola Marymount	20-7	10-2	★ NCAA
St. Mary's	19-7	8-4
Santa Clara	18-9	8-4
San Francisco	17-11	8-4
San Jose State	11-14	5-7
Pepperdine	9-16	3-9
Pacific	5-21	0-12

Yankee6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Rhode Island	18-9	9-1	★ NCAA
Connecticut	11-13	6-4
Maine	18-5
Massachusetts	16-10
Vermont	9-11
New Hampshire	6-18

Independent46 teams

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

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.

1961 Elo and upsets

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

1961 Elo and upsetsElo

Elo, top 10

Biggest upsets

Rhode Island 78, Providence 76
Feb 11 · regular season · 4.3% win chance
Drake 86, Bradley 76
Feb 6 · regular season · 5.8% win chance
BYU 65, Washington 63
Dec 2 · regular season · 6.2% win chance
South Carolina 80, North Carolina State 78
Mar 2 · conference tournament · 6.9% win chance
South Carolina 89, North Carolina 82
Feb 8 · regular season · 7.2% win chance
Iowa 83, California 80
Dec 28 · regular season · 8.2% win chance
Florida State 63, Kentucky 58
Dec 3 · regular season · 8.5% win chance
Nebraska 69, Kansas 68
Feb 25 · regular season · 8.9% win chance
Oklahoma State 54, Kansas 49
Jan 16 · regular season · 9.7% win chance
Mississippi State 56, Auburn 48
Jan 7 · regular season · 9.9% 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.