# 1932–33 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1932–33 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1932, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1933.

## Rule changes

* To reduce stalling, a mid-court line is introduced: After crossing it, a team on offense was not permitted to move the ball back across the line. Previously, teams on offense could use the entire court to spread the defense thin, and often played keep-away without trying to score, leading to dull, low-scoring games.
* A player with the ball was prohibited from standing in the free-throw lane (also known as the "key") for more than three seconds.
* The number of referees increased from one to two.

## Season headlines

* The Eastern Intercollegiate Conference began play, with five original members.
* The Southeastern Conference began play, with 13 original members.
* In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Kentucky as its national champion for the 1932–33 season.
* In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Texas as its national champion for the 1932–33 season.

## Conference membership changes

| School | Former conference | New conference |
| Alabama Crimson Tide | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Auburn Tigers | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Butler Bulldogs | Independent | Missouri Valley Conference |
| Carnegie Tech Tartans | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Conference |
| Florida Gators | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Georgia Bulldogs | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Georgetown Hoyas | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Conference |
| Kentucky Wildcats | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| LSU Tigers | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Mississippi Rebels | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Mississippi State Bulldogs | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Pittsburgh Panthers | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Conference |
| Sewanee Tigers | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Temple Owls | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Conference |
| Tennessee Volunteers | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Texas Tech Matadors | Independent | Border Conference |
| Tulane Green Wave | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Vanderbilt Commodores | Southern Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| West Virginia Mountaineers | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate 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 | Northwestern & Ohio State | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Border Conference | Texas Tech | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League | Yale | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Eastern Intercollegiate Conference | Pittsburgh | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Missouri Valley Conference | Butler | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Pacific Coast Conference | Oregon State (North); USC (South) | | No Tournament; Oregon State defeated USC in best-of-three conference championship playoff series | No Tournament; Oregon State defeated USC in best-of-three conference championship playoff series | No Tournament; Oregon State defeated USC in best-of-three conference championship playoff series |
| Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference | Colorado Agricultural & Wyoming (Eastern); BYU & Utah (Western) | | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Southeastern Conference | Kentucky | None selected | 1933 SEC men's basketball tournament | Atlanta Athletic Club (Atlanta, Georgia) | Kentucky |
| Southern Conference | South Carolina | None selected | 1933 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament | Thompson Gym (Raleigh, North Carolina) | South Carolina |
| Southwest Conference | Texas | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |

#### Conference standings

1932–33 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings :
| 1932–33 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Kansas8–2 .80013–4  .765 Oklahoma7–3 .70012–5  .706 Missouri6–4 .60010–8  .556 Kansas State4–6 .4009–9  .500 Nebraska3–7 .3003–13  .188 Iowa State2–8 .2006–10  .375 | 1932–33 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Ohio State10–2 .83317–3  .850 Northwestern10–2 .83315–4  .789 Iowa8–4 .66715–5  .750 Michigan8–4 .66710–8  .556 Illinois6–6 .50011–7  .611 Purdue6–6 .50011–7  .611 Indiana6–6 .50010–8  .556 Wisconsin4–8 .3337–13  .350 Minnesota1–11 .0835–15  .250 Chicago1–11 .0832–16  .111 | 1932–33 Border Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Texas Tech4–0 1.00013–9  .591 Arizona7–3 .70019–5  .792 Arizona State Teachers–Flagstaff7–5 .5839–5  .643 New Mexico8–6 .57113–6  .684 Arizona State Teachers7–9 .43813–12  .520 New Mexico A&M2–10 .1677–11  .389 |
| 1932–33 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Yale8–2 .80019–3  .864 Princeton7–3 .70019–3  .864 Penn6–4 .60012–6  .667 Dartmouth5–5 .50012–6  .667 Columbia3–7 .3007–10  .412 Cornell1–9 .1006–11  .353 | 1932–33 Eastern Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Pittsburgh7–1 .87517–5  .773 Temple5–3 .62515–6  .714 Carnegie Tech4–4 .5004–5  .444 Georgetown3–5 .3756–11  .353 West Virginia1–7 .12510–14  .417 | 1932–33 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Butler9–1 .90016–5  .762 Creighton8–2 .80012–5  .706 Washington University5–5 .50011–6  .647 Grinnell3–7 .3005–11  .313 Oklahoma A&M3–7 .3005–12  .294 Drake2–8 .2004–12  .250 |
| 1932–33 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT North Oregon State †12–4 .75021–6  .778 Washington10–6 .62522–6  .786 Washington State8–8 .50017–8  .680 Idaho8–8 .50020–9  .690 Oregon2–14 .1258–19  .296 South USC10–1 .90918–5  .783 California8–3 .72718–7  .720 Stanford3–8 .2739–18  .333 UCLA1–10 .09110–11  .476 † Conference playoff series winner | 1932–33 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Eastern Wyoming†12–2 .85718–5  .783 Northern Colorado12–2 .85713–7  .650 Colorado Agricultural†7–5 .5837–5  .583 Western State6–6 .5008–6  .571 Colorado College6–8 .4297–12  .368 Denver4–10 .2867–12  .368 Colorado Mines0–14 .0000–14  .000 Western BYU†9–3 .75020–7  .741 Utah†9–3 .75013–8  .619 Utah State4–8 .33310–12  .455 Colorado7–7 .5008–8  .500 Montana State2–10 .1679–18  .333 † Respective division co-championship winner | 1932–33 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Kentucky †8–0 1.00021–3  .875 Alabama12–3 .80014–5  .737 Vanderbilt11–5 .68814–8  .636 LSU13–7 .65015–8  .652 Georgia Tech7–5 .5839–6  .600 Florida4–4 .5009–5  .643 Georgia5–6 .4559–10  .474 Ole Miss5–7 .4176–12  .333 Auburn4–7 .3644–9  .308 Tulane6–14 .3008–15  .348 Tennessee3–7 .3009–11  .450 Mississippi State3–9 .2506–13  .316 Sewanee0–7 .0001–10  .091 † 1933 SEC Tournament winner |
| 1932–33 Southern Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT South Carolina †4–0 1.00017–2  .895 Duke7–3 .70017–5  .773 Maryland7–3 .70011–9  .550 North Carolina State6–3 .66711–8  .579 North Carolina5–3 .62512–5  .706 Virginia5–3 .62512–6  .667 Virginia Tech3–7 .3005–10  .333 VMI2–8 .2005–10  .333 Washington and Lee1–8 .1116–10  .375 Clemson0–2 .00010–9  .526 † Southern Conference Tournament winner | 1932–33 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Texas11–1 .91722–1  .957 TCU9–3 .75016–4  .800 Texas A&M8–4 .6679–10  .474 Arkansas6–6 .50014–7  .667 SMU5–7 .4179–9  .500 Rice2–10 .1678–10  .444 Baylor1–11 .0834–13  .235 |

### Major independents

A total of 74 college teams played as major independents. Duquesne (15–1) had the best winning percentage (.938), and St. John's (23–4) finished with the most wins.
1932–33 NCAA men's basketball independents standings :
* 1932–33 NCAA men's basketball independents standings
* vteConfOverall
* TeamW L PCTW L PCT
* Duquesne– –15–1
* .938
* Carleton– –14–1
* .933
* CCNY– –13–1
* .929
* Michigan State Normal– –15–2
* .882
* Navy– –14–2
* .875
* Syracuse– –14–2
* .875
* Valparaiso– –14–2
* .875
* Wichita Municipal– –14–2
* .875
* St. John's (N.Y.)– –23–4
* .852
* West Texas State– –20–4
* .833
* Marquette– –14–3
* .824
* Western State Teachers– –14–3
* .824
* La Salle– –13–3
* .813
* Providence– –13–3
* .813
* DePaul– –12–3
* .800
* Ohio– –16–4
* .800
* Rhode Island State– –14–4
* .778
* Westminster (Pa.)– –19–6
* .760
* George Washington– –15–5
* .750
* New York University– –11–4
* .733
* Notre Dame– –16–6
* .727
* Western Kentucky State– –16–6
* .727
* William & Mary– –13–5
* .722
* Detroit– –12–5
* .706
* St. Bonaventure– –7–3
* .700
* Villanova– –9–4
* .692
* Niagara– –13–6
* .684
* Loyola (Ill.)– –14–7
* .667
* Richmond– –8–4
* .667
* Seton Hall– –8–4
* .667
* Tulsa– –11–6
* .647
* Bowling Green State– –9–5
* .643
* Penn State– –7–4
* .636
* Indiana State– –10–6
* .625
* Xavier– –5–3
* .625
* Bradley– –8–5
* .615
* Michigan State– –10–7
* .588
* San Francisco– –10–7
* .588
* Furman– –11–8
* .579
* Manhattan– –11–8
* .579
* Rutgers– –8–6
* .571
* Saint Francis (N.Y.)– –12–9
* .571
* Washburn– –8–6
* .571
* Lehigh– –9–7
* .563
* Boston University– –8–7
* .533
* Springfield (Mass.)– –9–8
* .529
* Marshall– –10–9
* .526
* Army– –5–5
* .500
* Cincinnati– –9–9
* .500
* Dayton– –7–7
* .500
* Louisville– –11–11
* .500
* Saint Louis– –9–9
* .500
* Loyola (Md.)– –8–9
* .471
* Saint Mary's (Calif.)– –10–12
* .455
* Muhlenberg– –9–11
* .450
* Santa Clara– –8–10
* .444
* St. Joseph's– –7–9
* .438
* Bucknell– –6–8
* .429
* Montana– –8–11
* .421
* Brown– –6–9
* .400
* Canisius– –6–9
* .400
* Fordham– –7–11
* .389
* Wake Forest– –5–8
* .385
* LIU– –6–11
* .353
* Colgate– –5–10
* .333
* The Citadel– –4–11
* .267
* Kent State– –4–11
* .267
* Connecticut– –4–12
* .250
* Davidson– –4–14
* .222
* Miami (Ohio)– –3–13
* .188
* Toledo– –3–13
* .188
* Harvard– –2–10
* .167
* Lafayette– –2–10
* .167
* Texas State M&M– –1–9
* .100

### Statistical leaders
## Awards
### Consensus All-American team

Consensus Team :
| Player | Class | Team |
| Moose Krause | Junior | Notre Dame |
| Elliott Loughlin | Senior | Navy |
| Jerry Nemer | Senior | USC |
| Joe Reiff | Senior | Northwestern |
| Forest Sale | Senior | Kentucky |
| Don Smith | Senior | Pittsburgh |

### Major player of the year awards

* Helms Player of the Year: Forest Sale, Kentucky (retroactive selection in 1944)