# 1925–26 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1925–26 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1925, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1926.

## Season headlines

* In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Syracuse as its national champion for the 1925–26 season.
* In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Syracuse as its national champion for the 1925–26 season.

## Conference membership changes

| School | Former conference | New conference |
| Oklahoma A&M Aggies | Southwest Conference | Missouri Valley Conference |
| USC Trojans | Independent | Pacific Coast Conference |
| Union Dutchmen | Independent | Non-major basketball program |
| VMI Keydets | Independent | Southern 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 Ten Conference | Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, & Purdue | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League | Columbia | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Kansas | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Pacific Coast Conference | Oregon (North); California (South) | | No Tournament; California defeated Oregon in best-of-three conference championship playoff series | No Tournament; California defeated Oregon in best-of-three conference championship playoff series | No Tournament; California defeated Oregon in best-of-three conference championship playoff series |
| Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference | Colorado Agricultural & Colorado State Normal (Eastern); Utah & Utah Agricultural (Western) | | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Southern Conference | Kentucky | None selected | 1926 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament | Municipal Auditorium (Atlanta, Georgia) | North Carolina |
| Southwest Conference | Arkansas | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |

#### Conference standings

1925–26 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings :
| 1925–26 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Purdue8–4 .66713–4  .765 Indiana8–4 .66712–5  .706 Iowa8–4 .66712–5  .706 Michigan8–4 .66712–5  .706 Illinois6–6 .5009–8  .529 Ohio State6–6 .50010–7  .588 Minnesota5–7 .4177–10  .412 Wisconsin4–8 .3338–9  .471 Northwestern4–8 .3335–11  .313 Chicago3–9 .2505–12  .294 | 1925–26 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Columbia9–1 .90015–2  .882 Dartmouth6–4 .60011–7  .611 Penn5–5 .50014–7  .667 Princeton5–5 .5009–13  .409 Cornell5–5 .5008–12  .400 Yale0–10 .0005–15  .250 | 1925–26 Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Kansas16–2 .88916–2  .889 Oklahoma9–3 .75011–4  .733 Kansas State9–3 .75011–7  .611 Missouri8–8 .5008–10  .444 Nebraska7–7 .5008–10  .444 Drake7–9 .4389–9  .500 Washington University7–9 .4387–9  .438 Oklahoma A&M5–7 .4179–9  .500 Iowa State3–11 .2144–14  .222 Grinnell1–13 .0711–14  .067 |
| 1925–26 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT North Oregon10–0 1.00018–4  .818 Oregon Agricultural6–4 .60018–6  .750 Idaho5–4 .55615–10  .600 Washington5–5 .50010–6  .625 Montana2–8 .2005–10  .333 Washington State1–8 .1119–17  .346 South California †5–0 1.00014–0  1.000 Stanford3–2 .60010–6  .625 USC0–6 .0004–8  .333 † Conference playoff series winner | 1925–26 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings ConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Eastern Northern Colorado13–1 .92913–5  .722 Colorado College9–4 .6929–4  .692 Wyoming7–5 .58312–5  .706 Colorado7–5 .5838–5  .615 Denver5–7 .4175–7  .417 Colorado Mines3–7 .3003–7  .300 Colorado Agricultural2–10 .1672–11  .154 Western State0–5 .0005–9  .357 Western Utah Agricultural8–4 .66713–5  .722 BYU7–5 .58311–5  .688 Montana State5–7 .41720–12  .625 Utah4–8 .3334–8  .333 |
| 1925–26 Southern Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Kentucky8–0 1.00015–3  .833 North Carolina†7–0 1.00020–5  .800 Mississippi8–1 .88916–2  .889 Maryland7–1 .87514–3  .824 Georgia9–4 .69218–6  .750 South Carolina4–2 .6679–5  .643 NC State5–3 .62520–3  .870 Mississippi A&M5–3 .62514–8  .636 Tulane10–7 .58811–7  .611 Alabama6–6 .50010–11  .476 Virginia4–4 .5009–6  .600 LSU4–5 .4449–9  .500 VMI3–5 .3758–6  .571 Georgia Tech4–10 .2866–11  .353 Virginia Tech2–5 .2863–10  .231 Washington and Lee2–6 .2509–7  .563 Tennessee1–3 .2509–8  .529 Vanderbilt2–7 .2228–18  .308 Auburn1–7 .1255–10  .333 Clemson1–7 .1254–17  .190 Sewanee0–2 .0004–6  .400 Florida0–3 .0007–7  .500 † Southern Conference Tournament winner As of April 30, 1926 Rankings from none | 1925–26 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Arkansas11–1 .91723–2  .920 SMU8–4 .66710–6  .625 TCU7–5 .58313–9  .591 Texas6–6 .50012–10  .545 Baylor5–7 .4178–7  .533 Texas A&M4–8 .3338–9  .471 Rice1–11 .0831–13  .071 |

### Independents

A total of 94 college teams played as major independents. Mount Union (10–0) was undefeated, and Notre Dame (19–1) and Syracuse (19–1) had the next-highest winning percentage (.950). North Dakota Agricultural (22–3) finished with the most wins.
1925–26 NCAA men's basketball independents standings :
* 1925–26 NCAA men's basketball independents standings
* vteConfOverall
* TeamW L PCTW L PCT
* Mount Union– –10–0
* 1.000
* Notre Dame– –19–1
* .950
* Syracuse– –19–1
* .950
* Manchester– –15–1
* .938
* Lehigh– –13–1
* .929
* Washburn– –12–1
* .923
* Cincinnati– –17–2
* .895
* Muskingum– –17–2
* .895
* Dickinson– –15–2
* .882
* North Dakota Agricultural– –22–3
* .880
* UCLA– –14–2
* .875
* Massachusetts– –12–2
* .857
* New Mexico– –12–2
* .857
* Springfield (Mass.)– –10–2
* .833
* West Texas State– –14–3
* .824
* Fordham– –18–4
* .818
* Bradley– –15–4
* .789
* Duquesne– –15–4
* .789
* Western State Normal– –15–4
* .789
* Connecticut– –11–3
* .786
* Saint Mary's (Calif.)– –11–3
* .786
* Bowling Green State– –10–3
* .769
* Butler– –16–5
* .762
* Tempe State– –9–3
* .750
* Loyola (Md.)– –9–3
* .750
* Evansville– –8–3
* .727
* Richmond– –16–6
* .727
* St. John's (N.Y.)– –18–7
* .720
* New York University– –10–4
* .714
* St. Bonaventure– –15–6
* .714
* Western Kentucky State– –10–4
* .714
* Navy– –12–5
* .706
* Fairmount– –14–6
* .700
* Saint Louis– –9–4
* .692
* DePaul– –11–5
* .688
* Villanova– –11–5
* .688
* Detroit– –13–6
* .684
* Wake Forest– –13–6
* .684
* Bucknell– –8–4
* .667
* Colgate– –14–7
* .667
* Harvard– –8–4
* .667
* Niagara– –12–6
* .667
* Temple– –12–6
* .667
* New Mexico A&M– –13–7
* .650
* Army– –11–6
* .647
* Buffalo– –11–6
* .647
* Pittsburgh– –11–6
* .647
* CCNY– –9–5
* .643
* Brown– –10–6
* .625
* The Citadel– –10–6
* .625
* Ohio– –15–9
* .625
* Loyola (Ill.)– –13–8
* .619
* Muhlenberg– –9–6
* .600
* Marshall– –10–7
* .588
* Seton Hall– –7–5
* .583
* St. Ignatius– –8–6
* .571
* Denison– –9–7
* .563
* DePauw– –9–7
* .563
* Xavier– –10–8
* .556
* Creighton– –11–9
* .550
* Furman– –11–9
* .550
* Wooster– –8–7
* .533
* Carleton– –7–7
* .500
* Indiana State– –9–9
* .500
* Manhattan– –7–7
* .500
* Penn State– –7–7
* .500
* Rhode Island State– –8–8
* .500
* West Virginia– –10–11
* .476
* Davidson– –8–9
* .471
* Holy Cross– –8–9
* .471
* William & Mary– –8–9
* .471
* Dayton– –7–8
* .467
* Arizona– –6–7
* .462
* Boston University– –6–7
* .462
* Miami (Ohio)– –7–9
* .438
* Kent State Normal– –6–8
* .429
* Texas Tech– –6–8
* .429
* Tulsa– –7–10
* .412
* Duke– –8–12
* .400
* Canisius– –5–8
* .385
* Georgetown– –5–8
* .385
* Northern Arizona State– –5–8
* .385
* Marquette– –8–13
* .381
* Texas State M&M– –3–5
* .375
* George Washington– –5–9
* .357
* Louisville– –4–8
* .333
* Santa Clara– –5–10
* .333
* Lafayette– –6–13
* .316
* Valparaiso– –6–13
* .316
* Rutgers– –4–9
* .308
* Michigan State– –5–13
* .278
* Toledo– –3–8
* .273
* St. Joseph's– –4–11
* .267
* Saint Francis (N.Y.)– –1–6
* .143

### Statistical leaders
## Awards
### Helms College Basketball All-Americans

The practice of selecting a Consensus All-American Team did not begin until the 1928–29 season. The Helms Athletic Foundation later retroactively selected a list of All-Americans for the 1925–26 season.
| Player | Team |
| Jack Cobb | North Carolina |
| George Dixon | California |
| Richard Doyle | Michigan |
| Emanuel Goldblatt | Pennsylvania |
| Gale Gordon | Kansas |
| Vic Hanson | Syracuse |
| Carl Loeb | Princeton |
| Al Peterson | Kansas |
| George Spradling | Purdue |
| Algot Westergren | Oregon |

### Major player of the year awards

* Helms Player of the Year: Jack Cobb, North Carolina (retroactive selection in 1944)