🏀 The 1971-72 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 · 20 conferences · 25-team tournament

← 1971 1973 →All seasons

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1980s

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1970s

1979Michigan State 1978Kentucky 1977Marquette 1976Indiana 1975UCLA 1974North Carolina State 1973UCLA 1972UCLA 1971UCLA 1970UCLA

1960s

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1950s

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1972season

← 1971 1973 →

1971-72 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

UCLA

30-0Final AP #1

Title gameFlorida State 76, UCLA 81 (Mar 25)

Final FourUCLAFlorida StateLouisvilleNorth Carolina

The 1972 NCAA tournament

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

25-team field · 4 regions

First Round

Eastern Kentucky81

Florida State83

Marquette73

Ohio49

Second Round

Regional Finals

Mideast region

First Round

Eastern Kentucky81

Florida State83

Marquette73

Ohio49

Second Round

Regional Finals

East region

First Round

Temple51

Second Round

Regional Finals

Midwest region

First Round

Houston74

Texas85

Marshall101

Second Round

Texas55

Regional Finals

West region

First Round

BYU90

Hawaii64

Second Round

UCLA90

Regional Finals

UCLA73

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

Florida State79

North Carolina75

Mideast vs East · Mar 23

Louisville77

UCLA96

Midwest vs West · Mar 23

Championship game: UCLA

Florida State76

UCLA81

Mideast vs West · Mar 25

Third-place games

Marquette72

Minnesota77

Regional Third Place · Mideast · Mar 18

South Carolina90

Villanova78

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 18

San Francisco74

Weber State64

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 18

SW Louisiana100

Texas70

Regional Third Place · Mar 18

Louisville91

North Carolina105

Third Place Game · Midwest vs East · Mar 25

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 3 conference tournaments held in 1971-72.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Final
Atlantic Coast	North Carolina 73-64, Mar 11	Maryland	73-64, Mar 11
Mid-Eastern	North Carolina A&T	Howard
Southern	East Carolina 77-75, Mar 4	Furman	77-75, Mar 4

The 1971-72 AP poll, week by week

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

Team	Nov30	Dec7	14	21	28	Jan4	11	18	25	Feb1	8	15	22	29	Mar7	14
UCLA	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
North Carolina	2	3	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	5	3	3	2
Pennsylvania	15	10	5	13	14	6	6	10	9	6	5	5	4	4	2	3
Louisville	9	16	17	19	15	7	5	6	4	3	4	4	3	2	4	4
Long Beach State	8	6	13	9	10	8	7	4	5	5	8	9	6	6	5	5
South Carolina	12	11	3	3	3	4	4	5	11	8	9	7	9	8	6	6
Marquette	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	5	7	7
SW Louisiana			16	12	13	15	13	12	12	13	13	12	10	11	9	8
BYU	19	15	6	7	8	18	14	13	13	10	10	11	7	7	8	9
Florida State		18	9	14		20	12	11	10	12	14	14	11	10	14	10
Minnesota								17	16	19	19				16	11
Marshall				20	17	13	20	16	14	11	11	10	8	9	10	12
Memphis State											15	18	19	20	11	13
Maryland	6	5	15	15	16	12			18			19	12	18	13	14
Villanova	18	18				14	11	15								15
Oral Roberts													20	17	17	16
Indiana			12	8	7	5	17								20	17
Kentucky	10	7	7	11	12	19	15					17	18			18
Ohio State	5	4	10	6	6	10	9	7	6	9	7	8	15	14		19
Virginia			19	18	11	9	8	9	8	7	6	6	13	12	15	20
Hawaii					18	16	19	18	15	14	18	16	17	15	12
Missouri							18		20	15	17	15	14	19	18
Houston	7	12	20										16	13	19
Michigan	13	9								20				16
Providence										16	12	13
Tennessee					20			19				20
Jacksonville	11	8	14	16						17	16
Duquesne											20
USC	3	13	10	5	5	11	10	8	7	18
Princeton			18					14	17
Northern Illinois								20	19
Illinois							16
St. John's	17	14	8	10	9	17
West Virginia					19
Ohio				17
Arizona State		17
North Carolina State		20
Kansas	14
New Mexico	16
Oklahoma	20

Tap a rank to read it.

1972 final AP Top 20

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

1972 final AP Top 20AP

11Minnesota18-7
12Marshall23-4
13Memphis State21-7
14Maryland27-5
15Villanova20-8
16Oral Roberts26-2
17Indiana17-8
18Kentucky21-7
19Ohio State18-6
20Virginia21-7

1972 standings by conference

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

1972 standings by conference20 conferences

Atlantic Coast7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
North Carolina	26-5	9-3	★ 🏆 NCAA AP 2
Maryland	27-5	8-4	AP 14
Virginia	21-7	8-4	AP 20
North Carolina State	16-10	6-6
Duke	14-12	6-6
Wake Forest	8-18	3-9
Clemson	10-16	2-10

Big Eight8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kansas State	19-9	12-2	★ NCAA
Missouri	21-6	10-4
Oklahoma	14-12	9-5
Nebraska	14-12	7-7
Kansas	11-15	7-7
Iowa State	12-14	5-9
Colorado	7-19	4-10
Oklahoma State	4-22	2-12

Big Sky8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Weber State	18-11	10-4	★ NCAA
Northern Arizona	13-10	8-6
Gonzaga	14-12	8-6
Idaho State	14-12	8-6
Boise State	14-12	7-7
Montana	14-12	7-7
Montana State	10-16	6-8
Idaho	5-20	2-12

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Minnesota	18-7	11-3	★ NCAA AP 11
Ohio State	18-6	10-4	AP 19
Indiana	17-8	9-5	AP 17
Michigan	14-10	9-5
Michigan State	13-11	6-8
Wisconsin	13-11	6-8
Purdue	12-12	6-8
Illinois	14-10	5-9
Iowa	11-13	5-9
Northwestern	5-18	3-11

Ivy8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Pennsylvania	25-3	13-1	★ NCAA AP 3
Princeton	20-7	12-2
Harvard	15-11	8-6
Dartmouth	14-12	8-6
Brown	10-16	6-8
Yale	7-17	5-9
Columbia	4-20	3-11
Cornell	5-19	1-13

Mid-American6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Toledo	18-7	7-3
Ohio	15-11	7-3	★ NCAA
Kent State	7-17	6-4
Western Michigan	10-14	5-5
Miami (OH)	12-12	4-6
Bowling Green	4-20	1-9

Mid-Eastern7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
South Carolina State	15-11	6-6
North Carolina A&T	17-6		★ 🏆
MD-Eastern Shore	14-6
Morgan State	15-8
Howard	16-9
Delaware State	7-15
North Carolina Central	4-20

Middle Atlantic12 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Temple	23-8	6-0	★ NCAA
St. Joseph's	19-9	5-1
Rider	15-11	8-2	★
Lafayette	21-6	7-3
Delaware	18-7	7-3
American	16-8	3-3
Hofstra	11-14	2-4
La Salle	6-19	2-4
Lehigh	10-14	3-7
Bucknell	5-18	3-7
Gettysburg	11-12	2-8
West Chester	9-16

Missouri Valley10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Louisville	26-5	12-2	★ NCAA AP 4
Memphis State	21-7	12-2	★ AP 13
Saint Louis	18-8	9-5
Bradley	17-9	8-6
Wichita State	16-10	6-8
Tulsa	15-11	5-9
North Texas	8-18	2-12
Drake	7-19	2-12
New Mexico State	19-6
West Texas A&M	14-11

Ohio Valley8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Morehead State	16-11	9-5	★
Eastern Kentucky	15-11	9-5	★ NCAA
Western Kentucky	15-11	9-5	★
Tennessee Tech	14-11	7-7
Murray State	15-11	6-8
East Tennessee State	11-14	6-8
Middle Tennessee State	15-11	5-9
Austin Peay	10-14	5-9

Pacific Coast7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Long Beach State	25-4	10-2	★ NCAA AP 5
Pacific	17-9	8-4
San Diego State	18-10	7-5
UC Santa Barbara	17-9	5-7
CSU-Los Angeles	14-12	5-7
San Jose State	11-15	5-7
Fresno State	9-17	2-10

Pacific-88 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
UCLA	30-0	14-0	★ NCAA AP 1
Washington	20-6	10-4
Oregon State	18-10	9-5
USC	16-10	9-5
California	13-16	6-8
Stanford	10-15	5-9
Washington State	11-15	3-11
Oregon	6-20	0-14

Southeastern10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Tennessee	19-6	14-4	★
Kentucky	21-7	14-4	★ NCAA AP 18
Alabama	18-8	13-5
Vanderbilt	16-10	10-8
Georgia	14-12	9-9
Mississippi	13-12	8-10
Mississippi State	13-13	6-12
Auburn	10-16	6-12
LSU	10-16	6-12
Florida	10-15	4-14

Southern7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Davidson	19-9	8-2	★
Furman	17-11	8-3
William & Mary	10-17	6-4
East Carolina	14-15	7-5	🏆 NCAA
Citadel	12-13	5-6
Richmond	6-19	3-9
VMI	6-19	2-10

Southland7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
SW Louisiana	25-4	8-0	NCAA AP 8
Lamar	13-13	6-2
Texas-Arlington	14-12	5-3
Arkansas State	12-14	4-4
Abilene Christian	17-8	3-5
Trinity	6-18	0-8
Louisiana Tech	25-1		★

Southwest8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Texas	19-9	10-4	★ NCAA
SMU	16-11	10-4	★
TCU	15-9	9-5
Texas A&M	16-10	9-5
Texas Tech	14-12	8-6
Arkansas	8-18	5-9
Baylor	14-12	4-10
Rice	6-20	1-13

West Coast8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
San Francisco	20-8	13-1	★ NCAA
Santa Clara	17-9	11-3
Seattle	17-9	10-4
UNLV	14-12	8-6
Loyola Marymount	11-15	6-8
Pepperdine	10-15	5-9
St. Mary's	9-17	3-11
Nevada	2-24	0-14

Western Athletic8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
BYU	21-5	12-2	★ NCAA AP 9
UTEP	20-7	9-5
Arizona State	18-8	9-5
Colorado State	15-9	7-7
New Mexico	15-11	7-7
Utah	13-12	5-9
Arizona	6-20	4-10
Wyoming	12-14	3-11

Yankee6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Rhode Island	15-11	8-2	★
Maine	15-10	6-4
Massachusetts	14-12	6-4
New Hampshire	14-9	5-5
Connecticut	8-17	5-5
Vermont	5-19	0-10

Independent67 teams

School	W-L	Note
Oral Roberts	26-2	AP 16
Marquette	25-4	NCAA AP 7
Hawaii	23-4	NCAA
Marshall	23-4	NCAA AP 12
Florida State	28-5	NCAA AP 10
Northern Illinois	21-4
South Carolina	24-5	NCAA AP 6
Duquesne	20-5
Syracuse	22-6
Providence	21-6	NCAA
Detroit	18-6
Houston	20-7	NCAA
Jacksonville	20-8
Villanova	20-8	NCAA AP 15
Texas-Pan American	17-7
Niagara	21-9
Penn State	17-8
Fordham	18-9
St. Bonaventure	16-8
Cincinnati	17-9
Georgia Southern	17-9
Colgate	15-8
St. John's	19-11
Fairleigh Dickinson	15-9
Illinois State	16-10
Virginia Tech	16-10
Canisius	15-11
Creighton	15-11
Holy Cross	15-11
Oklahoma City	16-12
Loyola (LA)	14-11
Rutgers	14-11
West Virginia	13-11
Hardin-Simmons	14-12
DePaul	12-11
Centenary	13-12
LIU-Brooklyn	13-12
Boston College	13-13
Dayton	13-13
Pittsburgh	12-12
Air Force	12-13
Fairfield	12-13
St. Francis (PA)	12-13
St. Peter's	12-13
Indiana State	12-14
St. Francis (NY)	12-14
Utah State	12-14
Xavier	12-14
Army	11-13
Manhattan	11-13
George Washington	11-14
Navy	10-13
Denver	11-15
Portland	10-16
Seton Hall	10-16
Southern Illinois	10-16
Ball State	9-15
Loyola-Chicago	8-14
Tulane	8-18
Boston University	7-16
South Alabama	7-17
Iona	6-17
Butler	6-20
Georgia Tech	6-20
Notre Dame	6-20
Stetson	6-20
Georgetown	3-23

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.

1972 Elo and upsets

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

1972 Elo and upsetsElo

Elo, top 10

Biggest upsets

South Alabama 75, Oklahoma 72
Jan 22 · regular season · 4.9% win chance
Arizona 78, Utah 76
Jan 7 · regular season · 6.6% win chance
Rice 73, Texas A&M 69
Feb 26 · regular season · 6.6% win chance
LSU 63, Tennessee 62
Jan 31 · regular season · 7.0% win chance
VMI 57, Virginia Tech 56
Dec 21 · regular season · 7.4% win chance
Boston University 65, Holy Cross 64
Feb 1 · regular season · 7.5% win chance
Yale 85, Wake Forest 75
Dec 21 · regular season · 7.8% win chance
Canisius 94, Wake Forest 87
Dec 1 · regular season · 8.5% win chance
Iowa State 83, Drake 80
Dec 7 · regular season · 8.7% win chance
Toledo 88, Michigan 72
Dec 21 · regular season · 9.0% 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.