1952–53 Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers basketball team

1952–53 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
1952–53 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
OVC Tournament Champion
NIT Tournament, Quarterfinals
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 16
AP	No. 17
Record	25–6 (8–2 OVC)
Head coach	Edgar Diddle (31st season);
Assistant coach	Ted Hornback
Home arena	Health & Physical Education Building
	Seasons ← 1951–52 1953–54 →

The 1952–53 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team represented Western Kentucky State College during the 1952-53 NCAA University Division Basketball season. The Hilltoppers were led by future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Edgar Diddle and All-American player Tom Marshall.^[1] The Hilltoppers won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and were invited to the 1953 National Invitation Tournament.^[2] During this period, the NIT was considered on par with the NCAA Tournament.^[3]^[4] Art Spoelstra joined Marshall on the All-Conference and OVC Tournament teams.^[5]

Schedule

^[6]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/29/1952*		at Kentucky Wesleyan	W 76–62	1–0	Owensboro Sportscenter Owensboro, KY
12/2/1952		at Middle Tennessee	W 87–57	2–0 (1-0)	Alumni Memorial Gym Murfreesboro, TN
12/8/1952		Morehead State	W 56–33	3–0 (2-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
12/13/1952		at Morehead State	W 79–66	4–0 (3-0)	Button Auditorium Morehead, KY
12/16/1952*	No. 11	at Cincinnati	W 77–76	5–0	Cincinnati Gardens Cincinnati, OH
12/18/1952*	No. 11	vs. No. 4 Seton Hall	L 74–77	5–1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/20/1952*	No. 11	at Saint Joseph's (PA)	W 88–83	6–1	Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse Philadelphia, PA
12/29/1952*	No. 10	vs. No. 20 Idaho All-College Basketball Classic	L 60–75	6–2	Oklahoma City, OK
12/30/1952*	No. 10	vs. No. 8 Tulsa All-College Basketball Classic	W 79–70	7–2	Oklahoma City, OK
12/31/1952*	No. 10	vs. Penn State All-College Basketball Classic	W 91–78	8–2	Oklahoma City, OK
1/3/1953*	No. 10	vs. No. 15 St. Bonaventure	W 94–63	9–2	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
1/8/1953*	No. 10	Cincinnati	W 84–76	10–2	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1/10/1953	No. 10	Murray State	W 62–57	11–2 (4-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1/13/1953	No. 10	Tennessee Tech	W 99–61	12–2 (5-0)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1/17/1953	No. 10	at Eastern Kentucky	L 69–78	12–3 (5-1)	Weaver Gymnasium Richmond, KY
1/22/1953*	No. 12	at Miami	W 98–56	13–3	Miami, FL
1/24/1953*	No. 12	at Loyola (LA)	W 84–75	14–3	New Orleans, LA
1/26/1953*	No. 12	Tampa	W 117–58	15–3	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
1/31/1953*	No. 9	Tampa	W 104–56	16–3	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/2/1953*	No. 9	Bowling Green State	W 71–60	17–3	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/4/1953*	No. 8	Dayton	W 88–77	18–3	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/7/1953	No. 8	No. 15 Eastern Kentucky	W 86–76	19–3 (6-1)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/9/1953*	No. 8	Loyola (LA)	W 92–67	20–3	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/14/1953	No. 9	at Murray State	L 67–77	20–4 (6-2)	Carr Health Building Murray, KY
2/17/1953	No. 9	Middle Tennessee	W 95–57	21–4 (7-2)	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/19/1953	No. 9	at Tennessee Tech	W 74–61	22–4 (8-2)	Memorial Gymnasium Cookeville, TN
2/21/1953*	No. 9	Kentucky Wesleyan	W 108–69	23–4	Health & Phys Ed Building Bowling Green, KY
2/23/1953*	No. 8	vs. Bowling Green State	L 82–86	23–5	Bowling Green, OH
1953 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
2/27/1953	No. 8	vs. Morehead State OVC Tournament Semifinal	W 76–65	24–5	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
2/28/1953	No. 8	vs. No. 20 Eastern Kentucky OVC Tournament Final	W 70–60	25–5	Jefferson County Armory Louisville, KY
1953 National Invitation Tournament
3/10/1953*	No. 9	vs. No. 11 Duquesne NIT Quarterfinal	L 61–69	25–6	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

^ Ruby, Earl (1979). Red Towel Territory : A History of Athletics at Western Kentucky University. American National Bank and Trust Co.
^ 2019-2020 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 2020
^ "NCAA Tournament History". Retrieved 2013-02-12. The tournament now determines the national champion, but that wasn't always the case. Until the 1950s, the NIT was just as big a tournament as the NCAA, and teams often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney
^ Davies, Richard O. (2007). "Sports in American Life: A History." Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. p. 155. ISBN 9781405106474.
^ 2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020
^ 1952-53 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 12 May 2020

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[Ruby-1] Ruby, Earl (1979). Red Towel Territory : A History of Athletics at Western Kentucky University. American National Bank and Trust Co.

[2] 2019-2020 OVC Basketball Media Guide, retrieved 4 May 2020

[3] "NCAA Tournament History". Retrieved 2013-02-12. The tournament now determines the national champion, but that wasn't always the case. Until the 1950s, the NIT was just as big a tournament as the NCAA, and teams often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney

[4] Davies, Richard O. (2007). "Sports in American Life: A History." Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. p. 155. ISBN 9781405106474.

[5] 2019-2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020

[6] 1952-53 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Schedule and Results, Sports Reference, retrieved 12 May 2020

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v t e Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
Venues	Red Barn (1920–1931) Health & Physical Education Building (1931–1963) E. A. Diddle Arena (1963–present)
Culture & lore	Big Red
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1914–15 1915–16 1916–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics