1930–31 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1930–31 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1930, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1931.

1930–31 NCAA men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Northwestern (retroactive selection in 1943)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Bart Carlton, Ada Teachers College (retroactive selection in 1944)
← 1929–30 1931–32 →

Rule changes

If the player with the ball is guarded closely and withholds the ball from play for five seconds, a "held ball" can be called.^[1]

Season headlines

• On February 20, 1931, St. John's and Carnegie Tech met in the first college basketball game ever filmed for a newsreel.^[2]
• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Northwestern as its national champion for the 1930–31 season.^[3]
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Northwestern as its national champion for the 1930–31 season.^[4]

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner[5]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Six Conference	Kansas	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Northwestern	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Columbia	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Creighton & Oklahoma A&M	None selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Washington (North); USC (South)		No Tournament; Washington defeated USC in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Wyoming (Eastern); Utah (Western)		No Tournament
Southern Conference	Georgia	None selected	1931 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Municipal Auditorium (Atlanta, Georgia)	Maryland[6]
Southwest Conference	TCU	None selected	No Tournament

Conference standings

1930–31 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Kansas 7 – 3   .700 15 – 3   .833 Nebraska 6 – 4   .600 9 – 9   .500 Kansas State 5 – 5   .500 11 – 6   .647 Missouri 5 – 5   .500 8 – 9   .471 Iowa State 4 – 6   .400 8 – 8   .500 Oklahoma 3 – 7   .300 10 – 8   .556	1930–31 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Northwestern 11 – 1   .917 16 – 1   .941 Michigan 8 – 4   .667 13 – 4   .765 Minnesota 8 – 4   .667 13 – 4   .765 Purdue 8 – 4   .667 12 – 5   .706 Illinois 7 – 5   .583 12 – 5   .706 Indiana 5 – 7   .417 9 – 8   .529 Chicago 4 – 8   .333 8 – 9   .471 Wisconsin 4 – 8   .333 8 – 9   .471 Ohio State 3 – 9   .250 4 – 13   .235 Iowa 2 – 10   .167 5 – 12   .294	1930–31 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Columbia 10 – 0   1.000 20 – 2   .909 Dartmouth 6 – 4   .600 14 – 7   .667 Yale 6 – 4   .600 15 – 8   .652 Cornell 4 – 6   .400 10 – 9   .526 Penn 3 – 7   .300 9 – 17   .346 Princeton 1 – 9   .100 9 – 13   .409
1930–31 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Creighton 5 – 3   .625 8 – 10   .444 Oklahoma A&M 5 – 3   .625 7 – 9   .438 Washington University 5 – 3   .625 6 – 12   .333 Grinnell 3 – 5   .375 7 – 8   .467 Drake 2 – 6   .250 4 – 15   .211	1930–31 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT North Washington † 14 – 2   .875 25 – 3   .893 Washington State 10 – 6   .625 18 – 7   .720 Oregon State 9 – 7   .563 19 – 9   .679 Oregon 6 – 10   .375 12 – 10   .545 Idaho 1 – 15   .063 3 – 16   .158 South California 6 – 3   .667 12 – 10   .545 USC 5 – 4   .556 8 – 8   .500 UCLA 4 – 5   .444 9 – 6   .600 Stanford 3 – 0   1.000 8 – 9   .471 † Conference playoff series winner	1930–31 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Eastern Wyoming 11 – 1   .917 19 – 4   .826 Northern Colorado 10 – 4   .714 11 – 5   .688 Colorado 8 – 4   .667 8 – 7   .533 Western State 5 – 4   .556 8 – 5   .615 Denver 7 – 7   .500 10 – 8   .556 Colorado College 5 – 9   .357 14 – 15   .483 Colorado Agricultural 4 – 8   .333 4 – 8   .333 Colorado Mines 0 – 12   .000 0 – 12   .000 Western Utah 8 – 4   .667 21 – 6   .778 Utah State 7 – 5   .583 13 – 7   .650 BYU 7 – 5   .583 20 – 13   .606 Montana State 2 – 10   .167 9 – 13   .409
1930–31 Southern Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Georgia 15 – 1   .938 23 – 2   .920 Maryland † 8 – 1   .889 18 – 4   .818 Alabama 11 – 2   .846 14 – 6   .700 Kentucky 8 – 2   .800 15 – 3   .833 Auburn 7 – 4   .636 8 – 6   .571 Washington and Lee 4 – 3   .571 11 – 7   .611 Duke 5 – 4   .556 14 – 7   .667 Georgia Tech 8 – 7   .533 11 – 13   .458 Vanderbilt 7 – 7   .500 16 – 8   .667 North Carolina 6 – 6   .500 15 – 9   .625 North Carolina State 5 – 5   .500 8 – 8   .500 LSU 4 – 4   .500 7 – 8   .467 Virginia 5 – 6   .455 11 – 9   .550 Florida 5 – 7   .417 10 – 9   .526 Clemson 3 – 5   .375 6 – 7   .462 Sewanee 3 – 5   .375 5 – 9   .357 Tennessee 4 – 8   .333 11 – 10   .524 Ole Miss 2 – 4   .333 6 – 9   .400 Virginia Tech 3 – 7   .300 5 – 10   .333 VMI 2 – 8   .200 4 – 12   .250 Tulane 2 – 10   .167 6 – 14   .300 South Carolina 1 – 12   .077 1 – 17   .056 † Southern Conference Tournament winner	1930–31 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT TCU 9 – 3   .750 18 – 4   .818 SMU 8 – 4   .667 9 – 8   .529 Arkansas 7 – 5   .583 14 – 9   .609 Baylor 7 – 5   .583 12 – 8   .600 Texas A&M 5 – 7   .417 14 – 8   .636 Rice 4 – 8   .333 8 – 9   .471 Texas 2 – 10   .167 9 – 15   .375

Major independents

A total of 95 college teams played as major independents. Buffalo (15–0), Central Normal (19–0), and Pittsburg State (21–0) were undefeated and Northwest Missouri State (32–6) finished with the most wins.^[7]

1930–31 NCAA men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Buffalo –   – 15 – 0   1.000 Central Normal –   – 19 – 0   1.000 Pittsburg State –   – 21 – 0   1.000 St. John's (N.Y.) –   – 21 – 1   .955 Michigan State –   – 16 – 1   .941 Loyola (Md.) –   – 14 – 1   .933 Westminster (Pa.) –   – 13 – 1   .929 Wittenberg –   – 18 – 2   .900 Butler –   – 17 – 2   .895 Manhattan –   – 17 – 2   .895 Rider –   – 17 – 2   .895 Valparaiso –   – 16 – 2   .889 Wooster –   – 16 – 2   .889 Furman –   – 15 – 2   .882 Mount Union –   – 19 – 3   .864 West Texas State –   – 18 – 3   .857 East Central –   – 22 – 4   .846 Northwest Missouri State –   – 32 – 6   .842 Santa Clara –   – 16 – 3   .842 LIU –   – 15 – 3   .833 Pittsburgh –   – 20 – 4   .833 Navy –   – 14 – 3   .824 Western State Teachers –   – 14 – 3   .824 DePaul –   – 13 – 3   .813 Temple –   – 17 – 4   .810 Army –   – 12 – 3   .800 Carleton –   – 12 – 3   .800 Syracuse –   – 16 – 4   .800 Western Kentucky State –   – 11 – 3   .786 Wichita Municipal –   – 18 – 5   .783 St. Bonaventure –   – 10 – 3   .769 Xavier –   – 10 – 3   .769 Rhode Island State –   – 13 – 4   .765 William & Mary –   – 13 – 6   .684 St. Joseph's –   – 16 – 5   .762 CCNY –   – 12 – 4   .750 Ohio –   – 12 – 4   .750 Fordham –   – 14 – 5   .737 Providence –   – 14 – 5   .737 Tulsa –   – 10 – 4   .714 George Washington –   – 11 – 5   .688 Saint Louis –   – 13 – 6   .684 Arizona State –   – 12 – 6   .667 Bowling Green State –   – 10 – 5   .667 Canisius –   – 10 – 5   .667 DePauw –   – 12 – 6   .667 Duquesne –   – 12 – 6   .667 Harvard –   – 10 – 5   .667 San Francisco –   – 12 – 6   .667 Springfield (Mass.) –   – 11 – 6   .647 Connecticut –   – 10 – 6   .625 Holy Cross –   – 10 – 6   .625 Colgate –   – 11 – 7   .611 Marquette –   – 11 – 7   .611 Arizona –   – 9 – 6   .600 New York University –   – 9 – 6   .600 Notre Dame –   – 12 – 8   .600 New Mexico –   – 9 – 7   .563 Texas Tech –   – 11 – 9   .550 Niagara –   – 12 – 10   .545 Loyola (Ill.) –   – 8 – 7   .533 Northern Arizona State –   – 8 – 7   .533 Marshall –   – 9 – 8   .529 Bradley –   – 10 – 9   .526 Detroit –   – 10 – 9   .526 Seton Hall –   – 12 – 11   .522 Saint Francis (N.Y.) –   – 17 – 16   .515 Davidson –   – 8 – 8   .500 Brown –   – 9 – 10   .474 Kent State –   – 8 – 9   .471 Indiana State –   – 7 – 8   .467 Boston University –   – 6 – 7   .462 Montana –   – 10 – 12   .455 West Virginia –   – 9 – 11   .450 Wake Forest –   – 8 – 10   .444 Texas State M&M –   – 7 – 9   .438 Richmond –   – 6 – 8   .429 Lafayette –   – 8 – 12   .400 The Citadel –   – 6 – 9   .400 Muhlenberg –   – 6 – 9   .400 Rutgers –   – 6 – 9   .400 New Mexico A&M –   – 9 – 14   .391 Bucknell –   – 6 – 11   .353 Villanova –   – 7 – 13   .350 Miami (Ohio) –   – 5 – 10   .333 Louisville –   – 5 – 11   .313 Toledo –   – 5 – 12   .294 Washburn –   – 4 – 11   .267 Georgetown –   – 5 – 16   .238 Saint Mary's (Calif.) –   – 4 – 13   .235 Lehigh –   – 4 – 14   .222 Penn State –   – 3 – 12   .200 Cincinnati –   – 2 – 15   .118 Dayton –   – 2 – 15   .118

Statistical leaders

Awards

Consensus All-American team

Main article: 1931 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

Consensus Team

Player	Class	Team
Wes Fesler	Senior	Ohio State
George Gregory	Senior	Columbia
Joe Reiff	Sophomore	Northwestern
Elwood Romney	Sophomore	Brigham Young
John Wooden	Junior	Purdue

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Player of the Year: Bart Carlton, Ada Teachers College (retroactive selection in 1944)

Coaching changes

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

Team	Former Coach	Interim Coach	New Coach	Reason
Brown	Rufus Bond		Art Kahler
Canisius	Luke Urban		Russell Burt
Clemson	Josh Cody		Joe Davis	Cody left to coach at Vanderbilt.
Connecticut	Louis Alexander		John Heldman
Davidson	William L. Younger		Red Laird
Georgetown	John Colrick		Fred Mesmer
Georgia	Herman Stegeman		Rex Enright
Indiana State	Wally Marks		J. Roy Goodland
Marshall	Johnny Stuart		Tom Dandelet
Michigan	George Veenker		Frank Cappon
New Mexico	Roy W. Johnson		Tom Churchill
Niagara	William McCarthy		John J. Gallagher
North Carolina	James N. Ashmore		Bo Shepard
Northern Colorado	George E. Cooper		John S. Davis
Oklahoma A&M	George E. Rody		Harold James	Rody left to coach at Tulane.
Rider	Clair Bee		Paul Frank
San Francisco	Jimmy Needles		Phil Morrissey
Seton Hall	Dan Steinberg		Les Fries
Texas	Mysterious Walker		Ed Olle
Texas Tech	W. L. Golightly		Dell Morgan
Tulane	Claude Simons Sr.		George E. Rody
Vanderbilt	Garland Morrow		Josh Cody
Virginia Tech	C. D. Rhodes		George S. Proctor
Wake Forest	R. S. Hayes		Fred Emmerson