🏀 The 1969-70 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

← 1969 1971 →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

1970season

← 1969 1971 →

1969-70 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

UCLA

28-2Final AP #2

Title gameJacksonville 69, UCLA 80 (Mar 21)

Final FourUCLAJacksonvilleNew Mexico StateSt. Bonaventure

The 1970 NCAA tournament

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

25-team field · 4 regions

First Round

Jacksonville109

Western Kentucky96

Notre Dame112

Ohio82

Second Round

Iowa103

Jacksonville104

Kentucky109

Notre Dame99

Regional Finals

Jacksonville106

Kentucky100

Mideast region

First Round

Jacksonville109

Western Kentucky96

Notre Dame112

Ohio82

Second Round

Iowa103

Jacksonville104

Kentucky109

Notre Dame99

Regional Finals

Jacksonville106

Kentucky100

East region

First Round

Niagara79

Temple69

Second Round

North Carolina State68

Niagara73

Regional Finals

Midwest region

First Round

Dayton64

Houston71

New Mexico State101

Rice77

Second Round

Drake92

Houston87

Kansas State66

New Mexico State70

Regional Finals

Drake78

New Mexico State87

West region

First Round

UTEP81

Second Round

UCLA88

Regional Finals

UCLA101

Utah State79

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

Jacksonville91

St. Bonaventure83

Mideast vs East · Mar 19

New Mexico State77

UCLA93

Midwest vs West · Mar 19

Championship game: UCLA

Jacksonville69

UCLA80

Mideast vs West · Mar 21

Third-place games

Long Beach State86

Santa Clara89

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 14

Houston98

Kansas State107

Regional Third Place · Midwest · Mar 14

Iowa121

Notre Dame106

Regional Third Place · Mideast · Mar 14

Niagara88

North Carolina State108

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 14

New Mexico State79

St. Bonaventure73

Third Place Game · Midwest vs East · Mar 21

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 2 conference tournaments held in 1969-70.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Final
Atlantic Coast	North Carolina State 42-39, Mar 7	South Carolina	42-39, Mar 7
Southern	Davidson 81-61, Mar 1	Richmond	81-61, Mar 1

The 1969-70 AP poll, week by week

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

Team	Dec2	9	16	23	30	Jan6	13	20	27	Feb3	10	17	24	Mar3	10
Kentucky	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	3	3	2	1	2	1
UCLA	4	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	2
St. Bonaventure	17	20		19	12	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	3	4	3
Jacksonville		18	18	13	10	7	6	6	6	8	7	6	6	6	4
New Mexico State	6	3	3	7	7	6	5	5	5	6	6	5	5	5	5
South Carolina	1	8	5	3	3	3	3	3	4	2	2	4	4	3	6
Iowa								18	20	20	14	11	9	8	7
Marquette	8	12	17		18	13	10	8	7	9	12	10	8	9	8
Notre Dame	13	10	6	11	13			20			16	14	13	15	9
North Carolina State					15	10	11	10	8	5	5	12	14	19	10
Florida State									18	12	9	8	10	11	11
Houston	20		19	8	8	11	9	7	12	16	15	15	15	13	12
Pennsylvania				17	14	18	15	14	14	10	8	7	7	7	13
Drake	19								16	13	11	17	16	14	14
Davidson	5	4	4	9	11	8	8	11	11	15	13	9	11	10	15
Utah State													20	18	16
Niagara						15	12								17
Western Kentucky											17	16	12	12	18
Long Beach State															19
USC	16	6	13	12	19		20	15	15	11	18				20
Kansas State								17	19	18		18	17	16
Ohio		19	10	5	5	9	14	13	13					17
Cincinnati														19
Columbia					15	17	13		17	17	19		18
North Carolina	7	5	7	4	4	4	7	9	9	7	10	13	19
Louisville	15	11	14	14		20	18	18				19
Santa Clara	12	15	11									20
Georgia											20
Illinois				15			17	12	10	14
Villanova	9	12	9	20						19
Duke						19	19	16
Washington			20	10	9	14	15
Tennessee		9	8	6	6	12
Oklahoma						16
Purdue	3	14	12	18	17
Colorado	10	17	16		20
Kansas				16
LSU			15
Duquesne	11	7
Ohio State	18	16
St. John's	14

Tap a rank to read it.

1970 final AP Top 20

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

1970 final AP Top 20AP

11Florida State23-3
12Houston25-5
13Pennsylvania25-2
14Drake22-7
15Davidson22-5
16Utah State22-7
17Niagara22-7
18Western Kentucky22-3
19Long Beach State24-5
20USC18-8

1970 standings by conference

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

1970 standings by conference19 conferences

Atlantic Coast8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
South Carolina	25-3	14-0	★ AP 6
North Carolina State	23-7	9-5	🏆 NCAA AP 10
North Carolina	18-9	9-5
Duke	17-9	8-6
Wake Forest	14-13	6-8
Maryland	13-13	5-9
Virginia	10-15	3-11
Clemson	7-19	2-12

Big Eight8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kansas State	20-8	10-4	★ NCAA
Kansas	17-9	8-6
Oklahoma	19-9	7-7
Nebraska	16-9	7-7
Missouri	15-11	7-7
Colorado	14-12	7-7
Oklahoma State	14-12	5-9
Iowa State	12-14	5-9

Big Sky6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Weber State	20-7	12-3	★ NCAA
Idaho State	13-11	11-4
Gonzaga	10-16	7-8
Idaho	10-15	6-9
Montana	8-18	5-10
Montana State	4-22	4-11

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Iowa	20-5	14-0	★ NCAA AP 7
Purdue	18-6	11-3
Ohio State	17-7	8-6
Illinois	15-9	8-6
Minnesota	13-11	7-7
Michigan	10-14	5-9
Wisconsin	10-14	5-9
Michigan State	9-15	5-9
Northwestern	9-15	4-10
Indiana	7-17	3-11

Ivy8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Pennsylvania	25-2	14-0	★ NCAA AP 13
Columbia	20-5	11-3
Princeton	16-9	9-5
Dartmouth	13-12	7-7
Yale	11-13	7-7
Cornell	7-16	4-10
Brown	6-20	3-11
Harvard	7-19	1-13

Mid-American6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Ohio	20-5	9-1	★ NCAA
Bowling Green	15-9	7-3
Western Michigan	15-9	6-4
Toledo	15-9	5-5
Kent State	7-17	2-8
Miami (OH)	5-18	1-9

Middle Atlantic12 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
St. Joseph's	13-12	5-0
Rider	16-10	7-3	★
Lehigh	13-14	7-3	★
Lafayette	12-14	7-3	★
Delaware	16-9	6-4
La Salle	14-12	3-2
Temple	15-13	2-3	★ NCAA
Hofstra	13-13	2-3
American	11-12	2-3
Bucknell	6-17	3-7
Gettysburg	8-18	0-10
West Chester	11-15

Missouri Valley9 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Drake	22-7	14-2	★ NCAA AP 14
Cincinnati	21-6	12-4
North Texas	18-8	11-5
Louisville	18-9	11-5
Tulsa	15-11	8-8
Bradley	14-12	7-9
Saint Louis	9-17	5-11
Wichita State	8-18	3-13
Memphis State	6-20	1-15

Ohio Valley8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Western Kentucky	22-3	14-0	★ NCAA AP 18
Murray State	17-9	9-5
East Tennessee State	15-11	8-6
Eastern Kentucky	12-10	8-6
Middle Tennessee State	15-11	6-8
Morehead State	13-11	5-9
Tennessee Tech	10-15	4-10
Austin Peay	5-21	2-12

Pacific Coast6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Long Beach State	24-5	10-0	★ NCAA AP 19
UC Santa Barbara	12-14	6-4
San Jose State	3-21	0-10
CSU-Los Angeles	18-8
Fresno State	14-12
San Diego State	13-13

Pacific-88 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
UCLA	28-2	12-2	★ NCAA AP 2
Washington State	19-7	9-5
USC	18-8	9-5	AP 20
Oregon	17-9	8-6
Washington	17-9	7-7
California	11-15	5-9
Oregon State	10-16	4-10
Stanford	5-20	2-12

Southeastern10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kentucky	26-2	17-1	★ NCAA AP 1
LSU	22-10	13-5
Auburn	15-11	11-7
Georgia	13-12	11-7
Tennessee	16-9	10-8
Vanderbilt	12-14	8-10
Mississippi	10-15	6-12
Florida	9-17	6-12
Alabama	8-18	5-13
Mississippi State	6-18	3-15

Southern8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Davidson	22-5	10-0	★ 🏆 NCAA AP 15
East Carolina	16-10	9-2
George Washington	12-15	6-4
Furman	13-13	5-6
William & Mary	11-16	5-7
Citadel	8-16	4-8
Richmond	9-18	4-9
VMI	6-19	3-10

Southland5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Lamar	15-9	7-1	★
Texas-Arlington	8-16	4-4
Trinity	16-8
Arkansas State	14-9
Abilene Christian	10-16

Southwest8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Rice	14-11	10-4	★ NCAA
Texas A&M	14-10	9-5
Baylor	15-9	8-6
Texas Tech	14-10	8-6
TCU	10-14	8-6
Texas	11-13	6-8
SMU	5-19	4-10
Arkansas	5-19	3-11

West Coast8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Santa Clara	23-6	11-3	★ NCAA
Pacific	21-6	11-3
UNLV	17-9	9-5
San Francisco	15-11	9-5
Pepperdine	14-12	7-7
Loyola Marymount	13-13	7-7
Nevada	5-17	2-12
St. Mary's	3-22	0-14

Western Athletic8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
UTEP	17-8	10-4	★ NCAA
Wyoming	19-7	9-5
Utah	18-10	9-5
Arizona	12-14	8-6
Colorado State	14-9	7-7
New Mexico	13-13	7-7
BYU	8-18	4-10
Arizona State	4-22	2-12

Yankee6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Massachusetts	18-7	8-2	★
Connecticut	14-9	8-2	★
Rhode Island	16-10	7-3
New Hampshire	12-11	3-7
Vermont	8-16	3-7
Maine	7-17	1-9

Independent61 teams

School	W-L	Note
Jacksonville	27-2	NCAA AP 4
New Mexico State	27-3	NCAA AP 5
Marquette	26-3	AP 8
St. Bonaventure	25-3	NCAA AP 3
Florida State	23-3	AP 11
Houston	25-5	NCAA AP 12
Army	22-6
Niagara	22-7	NCAA AP 17
Utah State	22-7	NCAA AP 16
Villanova	22-7	NCAA
Notre Dame	21-8	NCAA AP 9
St. John's	21-8
Georgetown	18-7
Duquesne	17-7
Dayton	19-8	NCAA
Manhattan	18-8
Hardin-Simmons	17-9
Holy Cross	16-9
LIU-Brooklyn	16-9
Georgia Tech	17-10
Creighton	15-10
Seattle	15-10
Boston University	14-10
Butler	15-11
Oklahoma City	17-13
Fairleigh Dickinson	13-10
Southern Illinois	13-10
Colgate	14-11
Providence	14-11
Denver	13-11
Loyola-Chicago	13-11
Penn State	13-11
Rutgers	13-11
St. Peter's	13-11
Northern Illinois	13-12
Air Force	12-12
Fairfield	13-13
Iona	12-12
NYU	12-12
Pittsburgh	12-12
St. Francis (PA)	12-12
Syracuse	12-12
DePaul	12-13
West Texas A&M	12-13
Loyola (LA)	12-14
Boston College	11-13
Virginia Tech	10-12
St. Francis (NY)	9-12
West Virginia	11-15
Canisius	9-13
Fordham	10-15
Seton Hall	10-15
Marshall	9-14
Miami (FL)	9-17
Centenary	8-16
Texas-Pan American	8-16
Detroit	7-18
Tulane	5-18
Xavier	5-20
Navy	4-19
Portland	4-22

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.

1970 Elo and upsets

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

1970 Elo and upsetsElo

Elo, top 10

Biggest upsets

Texas-Arlington 88, West Texas A&M 84
Feb 2 · regular season · 5.0% win chance
UNLV 90, Tulsa 89
Dec 20 · regular season · 6.1% win chance
Mississippi State 86, Georgia 77
Feb 23 · regular season · 6.8% win chance
Mississippi 59, Tennessee 57
Jan 5 · regular season · 7.1% win chance
Michigan State 82, Ohio State 80
Feb 28 · regular season · 7.1% win chance
Vermont 69, Connecticut 63
Jan 31 · regular season · 7.9% win chance
Cornell 63, Villanova 58
Dec 30 · regular season · 8.6% win chance
Kent State 61, Toledo 58
Feb 14 · regular season · 9.0% win chance
Wisconsin 66, Illinois 65
Feb 3 · regular season · 9.3% win chance
Texas Tech 85, Arizona 80
Dec 15 · regular season · 9.6% 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.