# 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.

## Season headlines

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

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

#### Conference standings

1931–32 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings :
| 1931–32 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Kansas7–3 .70013–5  .722 Oklahoma6–4 .6009–5  .643 Missouri6–4 .6009–9  .500 Kansas State5–5 .5007–8  .467 Iowa State4–6 .4009–6  .600 Nebraska2–8 .2003–17  .150 | 1931–32 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Purdue11–1 .91717–1  .944 Minnesota9–3 .75015–3  .833 Northwestern9–3 .75013–5  .722 Michigan8–4 .66711–6  .647 Illinois7–5 .58311–6  .647 Ohio State5–7 .4179–9  .500 Indiana4–8 .3338–10  .444 Wisconsin3–9 .2508–10  .444 Iowa3–9 .2505–12  .294 Chicago1–11 .0832–15  .118 | 1931–32 Border Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Arizona8–2 .80018–2  .900 Arizona State Teachers–Flagstaff8–4 .6679–8  .529 New Mexico5–5 .50010–6  .625 Arizona State Teachers4–8 .3337–12  .368 New Mexico A&M1–7 .1259–10  .474 |
| 1931–32 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Princeton8–2 .80018–4  .818 Columbia8–2 .80016–6  .727 Cornell6–4 .60010–10  .500 Dartmouth5–5 .50015–6  .714 Penn2–8 .20010–11  .476 Yale1–9 .10010–12  .455 | 1931–32 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Creighton8–0 1.00017–4  .810 Grinnell5–3 .6258–8  .500 Washington University3–5 .37510–9  .526 Oklahoma A&M2–6 .2504–15  .211 Drake2–6 .2502–17  .105 | 1931–32 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT North Washington12–4 .75019–6  .760 Washington State11–5 .68822–5  .815 Oregon State7–9 .43813–11  .542 Oregon7–9 .43813–11  .542 Idaho2–14 .1258–16  .333 South California †8–3 .72716–8  .667 USC8–3 .72710–12  .455 UCLA4–7 .3649–10  .474 Stanford2–9 .1826–13  .316 † Conference playoff series winner |
| 1931–32 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Eastern Wyoming12–0 1.00018–2  .900 Northern Colorado10–4 .71410–4  .714 Colorado College10–4 .71414–6  .700 Colorado9–5 .64310–7  .588 Colorado Agricultural4–8 .3334–8  .333 Western State2–8 .2003–8  .273 Denver2–12 .1433–15  .167 Colorado Mines1–9 .1001–9  .100 Western BYU8–4 .66720–12  .625 Utah8–4 .66714–9  .609 Montana State6–6 .50014–15  .483 Utah State2–10 .1677–15  .318 | 1931–32 Southern Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Kentucky9–1 .90015–2  .882 Maryland9–1 .90016–4  .800 Auburn9–2 .81812–3  .800 Alabama11–3 .78616–4  .800 North Carolina6–3 .66716–5  .762 Virginia6–3 .66713–8  .619 Georgia †7–4 .63619–7  .731 Ole Miss8–5 .6159–6  .600 Georgia Tech5–3 .6257–6  .538 North Carolina State6–4 .60010–6  .625 Duke6–5 .54514–11  .560 LSU8–8 .50011–9  .550 Tennessee5–5 .5008–7  .533 South Carolina2–2 .5009–7  .563 Vanderbilt5–7 .4178–11  .421 Mississippi A&M4–7 .3645–10  .333 Tulane5–9 .3576–10  .375 Florida4–10 .2868–12  .400 Washington and Lee3–8 .2739–10  .474 Virginia Tech2–8 .2008–9  .471 Clemson2–9 .1828–12  .400 Sewanee1–7 .1253–9  .250 VMI0–9 .0000–14  .000 † Southern Conference Tournament winner | 1931–32 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Baylor10–2 .83314–4  .778 TCU9–3 .75018–4  .818 Arkansas8–4 .66718–6  .750 Texas5–7 .41713–9  .591 Texas A&M4–8 .33310–9  .526 Rice4–8 .3335–9  .357 SMU2–10 .1679–13  .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.
1931–32 NCAA men's basketball independents standings :
* 1931–32 NCAA men's basketball independents standings
* vteConfOverall
* TeamW L PCTW 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

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)