1952–53 NCAA men's basketball season

1952–53 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	None
NCAA Tournament	1953
Tournament dates	March 10 – 18, 1953
National Championship	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
NCAA Champions	Indiana
Helms National Champions	Indiana
Other champions	Seton Hall (NIT)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Bob Houbregs, Washington

The 1952–53 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1952, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1953 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 18, 1953, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The Indiana Hoosiers won their second NCAA national championship with a 69–68 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks.

Rule changes

Teams must take a free throw after a foul, as had been the practice through the 1938–39 season. Previously, under a rule that had been in effect since the 1939–40 season, a team could waive its free throw and instead take the ball at mid-court after a foul.^[1]

Season headlines

• Prior to the season, the NCAA ruled that colleges and universities could no longer count games played against non-collegiate opponents in their annual won-loss records. Previously, it had been a common practice for many years for colleges and universities to include non-collegiate opponents in their schedules, with the games recognized as part of their official record for the season.^[2]
• The California Basketball Association began play, with five original members. It would be renamed the West Coast Athletic Conference in 1956 and the West Coast Conference in 1989.
• The NCAA forced Kentucky to suspend its men's basketball program for the entire 1952–53 season as a result of the CCNY point-shaving scandal, which had been revealed in 1951.^[3]
• The NCAA tournament expanded from 16 to 22 teams.
• Bill Chambers of William and Mary grabbed 51 rebounds against Virginia on February 14, 1953, becoming the first player with more than 50 rebounds in one game.^[4]
• Bob Houbregs of Washington became the first player to score 40 or more points in an NCAA tournament Final Four game when he scored 42 against LSU in the national third-place game on March 18, 1953.^[5]
• Walter Dukes of Seton Hall finished the season with 734 rebounds for the year, the first player to grab 700 rebounds in a single season.^[4]

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

Main article: 1952–53 NCAA men's basketball rankings

The Top 20 from the AP Poll and the UP Coaches Poll during the pre-season.^[6][7]

Associated Press Ranking Team 1 La Salle 2 Kansas State 3 Illinois 4 Seton Hall 5 Oklahoma A&M 6 NC State 7 Notre Dame 8 Holy Cross 9 Washington 10 LSU 11 Western Kentucky State 12 UCLA 13 Oklahoma City 14 St. Bonaventure 15 Tulsa 16 Minnesota 17 Saint Louis 18 California 19 Indiana 20 (tie) Navy Kansas

UP Coaches Ranking Team 1 Illinois 2 Kansas State 3 La Salle 4 Washington 5 NC State 6 Oklahoma A&M 7 UCLA 8 Indiana 9 Seton Hall 10 Saint Louis 11 Holy Cross 12 Santa Clara 13 Notre Dame 14 Duquesne 15 Wyoming 16 St. John's 17 (tie) BYU Minnesota 19 Kansas 20 St. Bonaventure

Conference membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference
Arizona State College-Flagstaff Lumberjacks	Border Conference	Non-major basketball program
Bowling Green State Falcons	Independent	Mid-American Conference
Evansville Purple Aces	Ohio Valley Conference	Non-major basketball program
Marshall Thundering Herd	Ohio Valley Conference	Independent
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders	Non-major basketball program	Ohio Valley Conference
Pacific Tigers	Non-major basketball program	California Basketball Association
Saint Mary's (Calif.) Gaels	Independent	California Basketball Association
San Francisco Dons	Independent	California Basketball Association
San Jose State Spartans	Independent	California Basketball Association
Santa Clara Broncos	Independent	California Basketball Association

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner[8]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Seven Conference	Kansas	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Indiana	None selected	No Tournament
Border Conference	Arizona & Hardin-Simmons		No Tournament
California Basketball Association	Santa Clara	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Penn	None selected	No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference	Manhattan		No Tournament
Mid-American Conference	Miami (OH)	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Oklahoma A&M	None selected	No Tournament
Mountain States (Skyline) Conference	Wyoming		No Tournament
Ohio Valley Conference	Eastern Kentucky State	None selected	1953 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	Jefferson County Armory (Louisville, Kentucky)	Western Kentucky State
Pacific Coast Conference	Washington (North); California (South)		No Tournament; Washington defeated California in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Southeastern Conference	LSU	None selected	No Tournament
Southern Conference	NC State	Frank Selvy, Furman[9]	1953 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Reynolds Coliseum (Raleigh, North Carolina)	Wake Forest[10]
Southwest Conference	TCU	None selected	No Tournament
Western New York Little Three Conference	Niagara		No Tournament
Yankee Conference	Connecticut	None selected	No Tournament

Conference standings

1952–53 Big Seven Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 3 Kansas 10 – 2   .833 19 – 6   .760 No. 12 Kansas State 9 – 3   .750 17 – 4   .810 Missouri 6 – 6   .500 11 – 9   .550 Iowa State 5 – 7   .417 10 – 11   .476 Oklahoma 5 – 7   .417 8 – 13   .381 Nebraska 4 – 8   .333 9 – 11   .450 Colorado 3 – 9   .250 10 – 11   .476 Rankings from AP Poll[11]	1952–53 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 1 Indiana 17 – 1   .944 23 – 3   .885 No. 11 Illinois 14 – 4   .778 18 – 4   .818 Minnesota 11 – 7   .611 14 – 8   .636 Michigan State 11 – 7   .611 13 – 9   .591 Wisconsin 10 – 8   .556 13 – 9   .591 Iowa 9 – 9   .500 12 – 10   .545 Ohio State 7 – 11   .389 10 – 12   .455 Northwestern 5 – 13   .278 6 – 16   .273 Michigan 3 – 15   .167 6 – 16   .273 Purdue 3 – 15   .167 4 – 18   .182 Rankings from AP Poll	1952–53 Border Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Hardin–Simmons 11 – 3   .786 19 – 12   .613 Arizona 11 – 3   .786 13 – 11   .542 Arizona State–Tempe 10 – 4   .714 13 – 12   .520 Texas Tech 9 – 5   .643 12 – 10   .545 West Texas State 5 – 9   .357 8 – 13   .381 New Mexico A&M 5 – 9   .357 7 – 17   .292 Texas Western 3 – 11   .214 4 – 21   .160 Arizona State–Flagstaff 2 – 12   .143 4 – 19   .174 † Regular-season co-championship winner Rankings from AP Poll
1952–53 California Basketball Association men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 16 Santa Clara† 6 – 2   .750 17 – 7   .708 San Francisco 6 – 2   .750 10 – 11   .476 San Jose State 4 – 4   .500 15 – 8   .652 Saint Mary's 4 – 4   .500 9 – 11   .450 Pacific –   – 2 – 18   .100 † Regular-season championship winner Rankings from AP Poll[12]	1952–53 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Pennsylvania 10 – 2   .833 22 – 5   .815 Columbia 8 – 4   .667 17 – 6   .739 Cornell 6 – 6   .500 9 – 12   .429 Yale 6 – 6   .500 10 – 15   .400 Dartmouth 5 – 7   .417 12 – 14   .462 Princeton 5 – 7   .417 9 – 14   .391 Harvard 2 – 10   .167 7 – 16   .304 Rankings from AP Poll	1952–53 Metropolitan New York Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Manhattan 6 – 0   1.000 20 – 6   .769 No. 7 St. John's 5 – 1   .833 17 – 6   .739 Fordham 4 – 2   .667 18 – 8   .692 St. Francis (NY) 2 – 3   .400 19 – 7   .731 NYU 1 – 3   .250 9 – 11   .450 CCNY 1 – 5   .167 10 – 6   .625 Brooklyn 0 – 5   .000 6 – 11   .353 Rankings from AP Poll
1952–53 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Miami (Ohio) 10 – 2   .833 17 – 6   .739 Toledo 9 – 3   .750 16 – 7   .696 Cincinnati 9 – 3   .750 11 – 13   .458 Western Michigan 6 – 6   .500 12 – 9   .571 Ohio 4 – 8   .333 9 – 13   .409 Kent State 3 – 9   .250 7 – 15   .318 Western Reserve 1 – 11   .083 5 – 17   .227 Rankings from AP Poll	1952–53 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 8 Oklahoma A&M 8 – 2   .800 23 – 7   .767 Tulsa 5 – 5   .500 15 – 10   .600 Saint Louis 5 – 5   .500 16 – 11   .593 Houston 5 – 5   .500 9 – 13   .409 Detroit 4 – 6   .400 12 – 14   .462 Wichita Municipal 3 – 7   .300 16 – 11   .593 Rankings from AP Poll	1952–53 Mountain States Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Wyoming 12 – 2   .857 20 – 10   .667 BYU 11 – 3   .786 22 – 8   .733 Utah State 7 – 7   .500 17 – 13   .567 Montana 6 – 8   .429 14 – 11   .560 Colorado A&M 5 – 9   .357 12 – 14   .462 New Mexico 5 – 9   .357 10 – 14   .417 Utah 5 – 9   .357 10 – 14   .417 Denver 5 – 9   .357 9 – 16   .360 Rankings from AP Poll
1952–53 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Eastern Kentucky State 9 – 1   .900 16 – 9   .640 No. 17 Western Kentucky State† 8 – 2   .800 25 – 6   .806 Murray State –   – 18 – 9   .667 Tennessee Tech –   – 14 – 11   .560 Morehead State –   – 13 – 12   .520 Middle Tennessee –   – 7 – 16   .304 † Ohio Valley Conference Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll	1952–53 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT North No. 4 Washington † 15 – 1   .938 30 – 3   .909 Idaho 8 – 8   .500 15 – 12   .556 Oregon 8 – 8   .500 14 – 14   .500 Oregon State 6 – 10   .375 11 – 18   .379 Washington State 3 – 13   .188 7 – 27   .206 South California 9 – 3   .750 16 – 10   .615 USC 7 – 5   .583 17 – 5   .773 UCLA 6 – 0   1.000 16 – 8   .667 Stanford 2 – 10   .167 7 – 20   .259 † Conference playoff series winner Rankings from AP Poll	1952–53 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 5 LSU 13 – 0   1.000 22 – 3   .880 Tulane 9 – 4   .692 12 – 6   .667 Florida 8 – 5   .615 13 – 6   .684 Tennessee 7 – 6   .538 13 – 8   .619 Auburn 6 – 7   .462 13 – 8   .619 Alabama 6 – 7   .462 12 – 9   .571 Ole Miss 5 – 8   .385 14 – 11   .560 Vanderbilt 5 – 8   .385 10 – 9   .526 Mississippi State 5 – 8   .385 9 – 10   .474 Georgia Tech 4 – 9   .308 5 – 17   .227 Georgia 3 – 10   .231 7 – 18   .280 Rankings from AP Poll[13]
1952–53 Southern Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 18 North Carolina State 13 – 3   .813 26 – 6   .813 No. 15 Wake Forest † 12 – 3   .800 19 – 6   .760 Maryland 12 – 3   .800 15 – 8   .652 West Virginia 11 – 3   .786 19 – 17   .528 Furman 10 – 3   .769 21 – 6   .778 Duke 12 – 4   .750 17 – 8   .680 Richmond 13 – 5   .722 21 – 7   .750 North Carolina 15 – 6   .714 17 – 10   .630 George Washington 12 – 6   .667 15 – 7   .682 Clemson 6 – 8   .429 8 – 10   .444 South Carolina 7 – 12   .368 11 – 13   .458 William & Mary 6 – 13   .316 10 – 13   .435 Virginia Tech 4 – 13   .235 4 – 19   .174 Davidson 3 – 14   .176 4 – 16   .200 VMI 1 – 14   .067 5 – 19   .208 Washington and Lee 1 – 17   .056 2 – 20   .091 The Citadel 0 – 11   .000 4 – 14   .222 † Southern Conference Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll	1952–53 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT TCU 9 – 3   .750 16 – 8   .667 Rice 8 – 4   .667 15 – 6   .714 Texas 8 – 4   .667 12 – 9   .571 Baylor 6 – 6   .500 10 – 11   .476 Arkansas 4 – 8   .333 10 – 11   .476 SMU 4 – 8   .333 8 – 12   .400 Texas A&M 3 – 9   .250 6 – 15   .286 Rankings from AP Poll
1952–53 Western New York Little Three Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Niagara 4 – 0   1.000 22 – 6   .786 St. Bonaventure 1 – 3   .250 10 – 11   .476 Canisius 1 – 3   .250 9 – 14   .391 Rankings from AP Poll	1952–53 Yankee Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Connecticut 5 – 1   .833 17 – 4   .810 Rhode Island 6 – 2   .750 13 – 10   .565 Maine 3 – 4   .429 7 – 10   .412 Vermont 1 – 2   .333 11 – 10   .524 New Hampshire 2 – 5   .286 8 – 10   .444 Massachusetts 1 – 4   .200 4 – 15   .211

Major independents

A total of 44 college teams played as major independents. Among them, Seton Hall (31–2) finished with both the best winning percentage (.939) and the most wins.^[14]

Although not considered a major independent during the season,^[14] Southwest Missouri State (24–4) played as an independent^[14] and was ranked No. 20 in the season's final AP Poll.^[15]

1952–53 NCAA men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 2 Seton Hall –   – 31 – 2   .939 No. 14 Seattle –   – 29 – 3   .906 No. 6 La Salle –   – 25 – 3   .893 No. 10 Notre Dame –   – 19 – 5   .792 Louisville –   – 22 – 6   .786 No. 13 Holy Cross –   – 20 – 6   .769 Navy –   – 16 – 5   .762 Oklahoma City –   – 18 – 6   .750 No. 9 Duquesne –   – 21 – 8   .724 Villanova –   – 19 – 8   .704 No. 19 DePaul –   – 19 – 9   .679 Georgetown –   – 13 – 7   .650 Penn State –   – 15 – 9   .625 Temple –   – 16 – 10   .615 Butler –   – 14 – 9   .609 Lehigh –   – 12 – 8   .600 Baldwin Wallace –   – 13 – 9   .591 Army –   – 11 – 8   .579 Colgate –   – 12 – 9   .571 Muhlenberg –   – 13 – 10   .565 St. Joseph's –   – 14 – 11   .560 Bradley –   – 15 – 12   .556 Dayton –   – 16 – 13   .552 Marquette –   – 13 – 11   .542 Pittsburgh –   – 12 – 11   .522 Drake –   – 13 – 12   .520 Lafayette –   – 13 – 12   .520 Loyola (La.) –   – 14 – 13   .519 Gonzaga –   – 15 – 14   .517 Loyola (Calif.) –   – 14 – 14   .500 John Carroll –   – 13 – 14   .481 Xavier –   – 11 – 12   .478 Siena –   – 10 – 11   .476 Bowling Green State –   – 12 – 15   .444 Creighton –   – 11 – 14   .440 Virginia –   – 10 – 13   .435 Miami (Fla.) –   – 9 – 12   .429 Syracuse –   – 7 – 11   .389 Rutgers –   – 8 – 13   .381 Valparaiso –   – 9 – 15   .375 Loyola (Ill.) –   – 8 – 15   .348 Boston College –   – 7 – 15   .318 Brown –   – 5 – 14   .263 Bucknell –   – 3 – 16   .158 Rankings from AP Poll

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Main articles: 1953 NCAA basketball tournament and 1953 NCAA Basketball Championship Game

Final Four

	National semifinals				National finals
	LSU	67
	Indiana	80
					Indiana	69
					Kansas	68
	Kansas	79
	Washington	53			Third place
					LSU	69
					Washington	88

National Invitation tournament

Main article: 1953 National Invitation Tournament

Semifinals & finals

	Semifinals				Finals
	St. John's	64
	Duquesne	55
					St. John's	46
					Seton Hall	58
	Manhattan	56
	Seton Hall	74			Third place
					Duquesne	81
					Manhattan	67

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

Main article: 1953 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

Consensus First Team

Player	Position	Class	Team
Ernie Beck	F	Senior	Pennsylvania
Walter Dukes	C	Senior	Seton Hall
Tom Gola	F	Sophomore	La Salle
Bob Houbregs	F	Senior	Washington
Johnny O'Brien	G	Senior	Seattle

Consensus Second Team

Player	Position	Class	Team
Dick Knostman	F	Senior	Kansas State
Bob Pettit	C	Junior	Louisiana State
Joe Richey	G	Senior	Brigham Young
Don Schlundt	C	Sophomore	Indiana
Frank Selvy	G	Junior	Furman

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Player of the Year: Bob Houbregs, Washington

Other major awards

• NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Walter Dukes, Seton Hall

Coaching changes

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

Team	Former Coach	Interim Coach	New Coach	Reason
Kansas State	Jack Gardner		Tex Winter
Marquette	Tex Winter		Jack Nagle
Pittsburgh	Doc Carlson		Bob Timmons
Utah	Vadal Peterson		Jack Gardner

References

1. orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
2. "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Non-Collegiate Opponents". Archived from the original on February 12, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
3. Goldstein, Joe, "Explosion: 1951 scandals threaten college hoops" - ESPN - November 19, 2003
4. "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. p. 13. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
5. "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. p. 11. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
6. ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. p. 836. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
7. "1977 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
8. "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
9. 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
10. 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
11. sports-reference.com 1952-53 Big Seven Conference Season Summary
12. sports-reference.com 1952-53 California Basketball Association Season Summary
13. sports-reference.com 1952-53 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
14. "1952-53 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
15. "1952-53 Men's College Basketball AP Polls". Sports Reference. Retrieved August 8, 2024.