Premo-Porretta Power Poll


The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. These rankings are not officially recognized by the NCAA.
The poll was intended to serve collectively as a source of information regarding the relative standings of college basketball teams within given seasons during the early decades of the sport. No systematic end-of-season national tournament existed in college basketball until the founding of the National Invitation Tournament in 1938 and the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Tournament in 1939, the latter of which determines the NCAA champion for a given season. Furthermore, no regular, recognized national polling took place for college basketball prior to the establishment of the Associated Press poll and the coaches poll in the 1948–49 and 1950–51 seasons, respectively.

Background

Patrick Premo, a professor emeritus of accounting at St. Bonaventure University, and Phil Porretta, a former computer programmer, have each spent more than 40 years—first separately, and later collaboratively—researching the early history of college basketball. Their archival work has often uncovered game results that had not previously been reported in books and basketball program media guides, such as the results of competition against AAU, semi-professional, club sports|club], and YMCA teams. Whereas Bill Schroeder of the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively named only his choice of the top team nationally for each season from 1900–01 through 1941–42, Premo and Porretta have used the data they have compiled to compare teams against one another and assign rankings to multiple teams for each season—15 teams for the 1895–96 season, 20 teams for each season from 1896–97 through 1908–09, and 25 teams for each season from 1909–10 through 1947–48.
Premo's findings, which he clarified were "simply his opinion", were first published in 1995 as the Premo Power Poll. Most recently, in 2009, Premo and Porretta's full collaborative rankings were included with the core information for each season prior to 1949 in the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia.

Retroactive top-ranked teams

The teams listed below are the highest-ranked teams in the Premo-Porretta Power Poll for that season. They did not win a contemporary national tournament or title.

Pre-NCAA tournament top-ranked teams

YearTeamRecord
1892–931892–93 [Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team|Iowa]2–0–1
1893–94Hiram1–0
1894–951894–95 [Temple Owls men's basketball team|Temple]8–3
1895–961895–96 [Yale Bulldogs men's basketball team|Yale]8–5
1896–97Yale Bulldogs men's basketball team|Yale]11–6
1897–98Mount Union8–1
1898–99Yale9–2
1899–1900Yale9–6
1900–01Bucknell Bison men's basketball team|Bucknell]12–1
1901–021901–02 [Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team|Minnesota]15–0
1902–03Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team|Minnesota]13–0
1903–041903–04 [Columbia Lions men's basketball team|Columbia]17–1
1904–05Columbia Lions men's basketball team|Columbia]19–1
1905–061905–06 [Wabash Little Giants men's basketball team|Wabash]17–1
1906–07Williams15–1
1907–08Wabash24–0
1908–09Chicago Maroons men's basketball team|Chicago]12–0
1909–10Williams11–0
1910–11St. John's14–0
1911–12Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team|Wisconsin]15–0
1912–13Navy Midshipmen men's basketball team|Navy]9–0
1913–14Wisconsin15–0
1914–151914–15 [Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team|Illinois]16–0
1915–16Wisconsin20–1
1916–171916–17 [Washington State Cougars men's basketball team|Washington State]25–1

YearTeamRecord
1917–18Syracuse Orangemen basketball team|Syracuse]16–1
1918–19Navy16–0
1919–20Penn Quakers men's basketball team|Penn]22–1
1920–21Missouri Tigers men's basketball team|Missouri]17–1
1921–22Missouri16–1
1922–23Army Cadets men's basketball team|Army]17–0
1923–241923–24 [North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team|North Carolina]26–0
1924–25Princeton Tigers men's basketball team|Princeton]21–2
1925–26Syracuse19–1
1926–271926–27 [California Golden Bears men's basketball team|California]17–0
1927–28Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team|Pittsburgh]21–0
1928–291928–29 [Montana State Bobcats men's basketball team|Montana State]36–2
1929–301929–30 [Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team|Alabama]20–0
1930–31Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team|Northwestern]16–1
1931–32Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team|Purdue]17–1
1932–33Texas Longhorns men's basketball team|Texas]22–1
1933–34Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky]16–1
1934–35NYU Violets men's basketball team|NYU]19–1
1935–361935–36 [Long Island Blackbirds men's basketball team|Long Island]26–0
1936–37Stanford Indians men's basketball team|Stanford]25–2
1937–38Temple Owls men's basketball team|Temple] †23–2

Top-ranked teams during the post-season tournament era

YearTeamRecord
1938–39Long Island Blackbirds men's basketball team|Long Island] †24–0
1939–401939–40 [Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team|Indiana] ‡20–3
1940–41Long Island †25–2
1941–42Stanford ‡28–4
1942–43Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team|Illinois]17–1
1943–44Army15–0
1944–45Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team|Iowa]17–1
1945–461945–46 [Oklahoma A&M Aggies men's basketball team|Oklahoma A&M] ‡31–2
1946–47Kentucky34–3
1947–48Kentucky ‡36–3