The 1952 basketball team went 22-5 overall and won its fourth straight Northwest Conference championship with a 14-1 march under fifth-year head coach John Lewis. The Bearcats' season ended in an NAIB district playoff loss to the University of Portland. All five Willamette starters were selected to the All-Northwest Conference team. Ted Loder, Doug Logue and Lou Scrivens were named to the first team, and Hugh Bellinger and Dick Mase were named to the second team. Both Loder and Logue scored a school record of 32 points in a game during the year and the Bearcats tallied 103 points in a win over Lewis and Clark. During the four-year NWC championship run for the seniors-which included Loder, Logue, Scrivens, Bellinger, Larry Smith, Dick Brouwer, Cliff Girod and Claude Nordhill- the Bearcats went a combined 66-38 (.635).