1931–32 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1931–32 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1931, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1932.

1931–32 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Purdue (retroactive selection in 1943)
Player of the Year (Helms)	John Wooden, Purdue (retroactive selection in 1944)
← 1930–31 1932–33 →

Season headlines

• The Border Conference began play, with five original members.
• Purdue senior guard John Wooden became the first three-time All-American.^[1]
• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Purdue as its national champion for the 1931–32 season.^[2]
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Purdue as its national champion for the 1931–32 season.^[3]

Conference membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference
Ada Teachers College Tigers	Independent	Non-major basketball program
Arizona Wildcats	Independent	Border Conference
Arizona State Teachers–Flagstaff Lumberjacks	Independent	Border Conference
Arizona State Teachers Bulldogs	Independent	Border Conference
New Mexico Lobos	Independent	Border Conference
New Mexico A&M Aggies	Independent	Border Conference

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner[4]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Six Conference	Kansas	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Purdue	None selected	No Tournament
Border Conference	Arizona	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Princeton	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Creighton	None selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Washington (North); USC (South)		No Tournament; USC defeated Washington in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Wyoming (Eastern); BYU & Utah (Western)		No Tournament
Southern Conference	Kentucky & Maryland	None selected	1932 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Municipal Auditorium (Atlanta, Georgia)	Georgia[5]
Southwest Conference	Baylor	None selected	No Tournament

Conference standings

1931–32 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Kansas 7 – 3   .700 13 – 5   .722 Oklahoma 6 – 4   .600 9 – 5   .643 Missouri 6 – 4   .600 9 – 9   .500 Kansas State 5 – 5   .500 7 – 8   .467 Iowa State 4 – 6   .400 9 – 6   .600 Nebraska 2 – 8   .200 3 – 17   .150	1931–32 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Purdue 11 – 1   .917 17 – 1   .944 Minnesota 9 – 3   .750 15 – 3   .833 Northwestern 9 – 3   .750 13 – 5   .722 Michigan 8 – 4   .667 11 – 6   .647 Illinois 7 – 5   .583 11 – 6   .647 Ohio State 5 – 7   .417 9 – 9   .500 Indiana 4 – 8   .333 8 – 10   .444 Wisconsin 3 – 9   .250 8 – 10   .444 Iowa 3 – 9   .250 5 – 12   .294 Chicago 1 – 11   .083 2 – 15   .118	1931–32 Border Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Arizona 8 – 2   .800 18 – 2   .900 Arizona State Teachers–Flagstaff 8 – 4   .667 9 – 8   .529 New Mexico 5 – 5   .500 10 – 6   .625 Arizona State Teachers 4 – 8   .333 7 – 12   .368 New Mexico A&M 1 – 7   .125 9 – 10   .474
1931–32 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Princeton 8 – 2   .800 18 – 4   .818 Columbia 8 – 2   .800 16 – 6   .727 Cornell 6 – 4   .600 10 – 10   .500 Dartmouth 5 – 5   .500 15 – 6   .714 Penn 2 – 8   .200 10 – 11   .476 Yale 1 – 9   .100 10 – 12   .455	1931–32 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Creighton 8 – 0   1.000 17 – 4   .810 Grinnell 5 – 3   .625 8 – 8   .500 Washington University 3 – 5   .375 10 – 9   .526 Oklahoma A&M 2 – 6   .250 4 – 15   .211 Drake 2 – 6   .250 2 – 17   .105	1931–32 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT North Washington 12 – 4   .750 19 – 6   .760 Washington State 11 – 5   .688 22 – 5   .815 Oregon State 7 – 9   .438 13 – 11   .542 Oregon 7 – 9   .438 13 – 11   .542 Idaho 2 – 14   .125 8 – 16   .333 South California † 8 – 3   .727 16 – 8   .667 USC 8 – 3   .727 10 – 12   .455 UCLA 4 – 7   .364 9 – 10   .474 Stanford 2 – 9   .182 6 – 13   .316 † Conference playoff series winner
1931–32 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Eastern Wyoming 12 – 0   1.000 18 – 2   .900 Northern Colorado 10 – 4   .714 10 – 4   .714 Colorado College 10 – 4   .714 14 – 6   .700 Colorado 9 – 5   .643 10 – 7   .588 Colorado Agricultural 4 – 8   .333 4 – 8   .333 Western State 2 – 8   .200 3 – 8   .273 Denver 2 – 12   .143 3 – 15   .167 Colorado Mines 1 – 9   .100 1 – 9   .100 Western BYU 8 – 4   .667 20 – 12   .625 Utah 8 – 4   .667 14 – 9   .609 Montana State 6 – 6   .500 14 – 15   .483 Utah State 2 – 10   .167 7 – 15   .318	1931–32 Southern Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Kentucky 9 – 1   .900 15 – 2   .882 Maryland 9 – 1   .900 16 – 4   .800 Auburn 9 – 2   .818 12 – 3   .800 Alabama 11 – 3   .786 16 – 4   .800 North Carolina 6 – 3   .667 16 – 5   .762 Virginia 6 – 3   .667 13 – 8   .619 Georgia † 7 – 4   .636 19 – 7   .731 Ole Miss 8 – 5   .615 9 – 6   .600 Georgia Tech 5 – 3   .625 7 – 6   .538 North Carolina State 6 – 4   .600 10 – 6   .625 Duke 6 – 5   .545 14 – 11   .560 LSU 8 – 8   .500 11 – 9   .550 Tennessee 5 – 5   .500 8 – 7   .533 South Carolina 2 – 2   .500 9 – 7   .563 Vanderbilt 5 – 7   .417 8 – 11   .421 Mississippi A&M 4 – 7   .364 5 – 10   .333 Tulane 5 – 9   .357 6 – 10   .375 Florida 4 – 10   .286 8 – 12   .400 Washington and Lee 3 – 8   .273 9 – 10   .474 Virginia Tech 2 – 8   .200 8 – 9   .471 Clemson 2 – 9   .182 8 – 12   .400 Sewanee 1 – 7   .125 3 – 9   .250 VMI 0 – 9   .000 0 – 14   .000 † Southern Conference Tournament winner	1931–32 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Baylor 10 – 2   .833 14 – 4   .778 TCU 9 – 3   .750 18 – 4   .818 Arkansas 8 – 4   .667 18 – 6   .750 Texas 5 – 7   .417 13 – 9   .591 Texas A&M 4 – 8   .333 10 – 9   .526 Rice 4 – 8   .333 5 – 9   .357 SMU 2 – 10   .167 9 – 13   .409

Major independents

A total of 84 college teams played as major independents. Dakota Wesleyan (19–1) had the best winning percentage (.950), and Northwest Missouri State (26–2) finished with the most wins.^[6]

1931–32 NCAA men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Dakota Wesleyan –   – 19 – 1   .950 Carleton –   – 17 – 1   .944 CCNY –   – 16 – 1   .941 Mount Union –   – 16 – 1   .941 Furman –   – 15 – 1   .938 Northwest Missouri State –   – 26 – 2   .929 Canisius –   – 11 – 1   .917 Notre Dame –   – 18 – 2   .900 Westminster (Pa.) –   – 16 – 2   .889 Loyola (Ill.) –   – 15 – 2   .882 DePauw –   – 14 – 2   .875 West Texas State –   – 20 – 3   .870 St. John's (N.Y.) –   – 22 – 4   .846 Navy –   – 13 – 3   .813 Rhode Island State –   – 13 – 3   .813 LIU –   – 16 – 4   .800 Niagara –   – 19 – 5   .792 Providence –   – 19 – 5   .792 Buffalo –   – 15 – 4   .789 Santa Clara –   – 15 – 4   .789 Xavier –   – 10 – 3   .769 Richmond –   – 9 – 3   .750 Butler –   – 14 – 5   .737 Colgate –   – 14 – 5   .737 Western State Teachers –   – 14 – 5   .737 George Washington –   – 11 – 4   .733 Lafayette –   – 10 – 4   .714 Michigan State –   – 12 – 5   .706 Duquesne –   – 14 – 6   .700 San Francisco –   – 11 – 5   .688 Saint Louis –   – 13 – 6   .684 William & Mary –   – 13 – 6   .684 Louisville –   – 15 – 7   .682 Army –   – 10 – 5   .667 Indiana State –   – 10 – 5   .667 Springfield (Mass.) –   – 10 – 5   .667 La Salle –   – 15 – 8   .652 Western Kentucky State –   – 15 – 8   .652 Temple –   – 13 – 7   .650 Manhattan –   – 14 – 8   .636 Wichita Municipal –   – 12 – 7   .632 Syracuse –   – 13 – 8   .619 DePaul –   – 9 – 6   .600 Tulsa –   – 10 – 7   .588 Marquette –   – 11 – 8   .579 Fordham –   – 10 – 8   .556 Seton Hall –   – 10 – 9   .526 Ohio –   – 11 – 10   .524 Detroit –   – 8 – 8   .500 Loyola (Md.) –   – 8 – 8   .500 New York University –   – 6 – 6   .500 Valparaiso –   – 12 – 12   .500 Toledo –   – 8 – 9   .471 Pittsburgh –   – 14 – 16   .467 Harvard –   – 6 – 7   .462 Texas State M&M –   – 6 – 7   .462 Marshall –   – 8 – 10   .444 St. Joseph's –   – 8 – 10   .444 Saint Mary's (Calif.) –   – 11 – 14   .440 Bucknell –   – 7 – 9   .438 The Citadel –   – 8 – 11   .421 Bradley –   – 7 – 10   .412 Saint Francis (N.Y.) –   – 9 – 13   .409 Penn State –   – 6 – 9   .400 St. Bonaventure –   – 4 – 6   .400 Texas Tech –   – 9 – 14   .391 Villanova –   – 7 – 11   .389 Washburn –   – 7 – 11   .389 Boston University –   – 5 – 8   .385 Miami (Ohio) –   – 6 – 10   .375 Georgetown –   – 6 – 11   .353 Lehigh –   – 6 – 11   .353 Bowling Green State –   – 6 – 12   .333 Wake Forest –   – 4 – 8   .333 West Virginia –   – 7 – 14   .333 Rutgers –   – 4 – 9   .308 Montana –   – 6 – 14   .300 Cincinnati –   – 4 – 11   .267 Connecticut –   – 3 – 11   .214 Muhlenberg –   – 4 – 15   .211 Davidson –   – 3 – 12   .200 Dayton –   – 3 – 12   .200 Kent State –   – 2 – 13   .133 Brown –   – 2 – 14   .125

Statistical leaders

Awards

Consensus All-American team

Main article: 1932 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

Consensus Team

Player	Class	Team
Lou Bender	Senior	Columbia
Boze Berger	Senior	Maryland
Moose Krause	Sophomore	Notre Dame
Forest Sale	Junior	Kentucky
Les Witte	Sophomore	Wyoming
John Wooden	Senior	Purdue

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Player of the Year: John Wooden, Purdue (retroactive selection in 1944)

Coaching changes

References

1. "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. p. 13. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
2. Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved December 14, 2015.
3. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. pp. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
4. "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
5. 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
6. "1931-32 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 31, 2024.