College Basketball History

May 18, 2011 by Fact Master
Filed under: History

The game of basketball was devised by Dr. James Naismith while working for the YMCA training school in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1892. Originally, the game was played with seven to nine players per team, dribbling was not allowed and players were disqualified after two fouls. The original game bore little resemblance to modern basketball. However, the modern game is based on Naismith’s original 13 rules.

The first intercollegiate game was played on February 9, 1895, by the Minnesota School of Agriculture and Hamline College with Minnesota winning 9-3. The game developed over time and on January 18, 1896, the first college basketball game was played with the current five-man format in Iowa City, Iowa. During the game, the University of Chicago defeated the University of Iowa by a score of 15 to 12.

Basketball at the university level quickly grew in the early 20th century and soon there were enough college teams that conferences began to form. In 1906, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) was created to govern the rules of eligibility for collegiate athletics. Four years later, the organization would change its name to become the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

In 1938, the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association created the first college basketball tournament dubbed the “National Invitation Tournament.” That first tournament featured six teams and expanded over time to include 40 teams. The NCAA followed with a tournament of their own in 1939, which included eight teams and eventually grew to 65 teams.

The advent of the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the late 1930s changed the landscape of college basketball. These tournaments created a venue where the best teams in the country could compete against one another for title of “National Champion.” Until the late 1970s, the two tournaments were seen as equals with teams often favoring one over the other. In 1950, the City College of New York (CCNY) actually participated in and won both the NIT and NCAA tournaments. The tournaments were important for the sport of basketball because they allowed for emergence of dominant basketball schools, whose success in the NCAA or NIT helped to entice star high school players to their schools. Some of the early power-house schools such as the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Indiana, North Carolina, Duke and Kansas (whose basketball program was founded by Dr. James Naismith) still dominate the sport to this day. During the first 40 years of their existence, the NIT and NCAA tournaments vied for dominance over the sport. However, by the late 1970s, the NCAA tournament had become the premier college basketball tournament.

The NCAA tournament captures the attention of the nation because of what many people call the “Cinderella” factor. In an attempt to weed out the weakest, the tournaments are structured to allow the best teams to have the weakest opponents. Yet occasionally, a team can come out of nowhere and capture the attention of the sporting world. This was the case in 1983, when the heavily favored University of Houston Cougars were stunned by North Carolina State for the NCAA championship.

By the 1980s, college basketball was one of the premier sports in the country. The rapid growth of the National Basketball Association (NBA) led to increased interest in the college game, as it became the proving ground for future NBA stars. Consequently, many college players began to leave college early for the enticing pay of the NBA with some players entering the NBA immediately following high school. The NBA recently implemented an age limit to prevent players from joining a professional team right after high school. Although many premier players have chosen this route, the college game continues to thrive thanks to legions of dedicated fans and the belief that every player on every team has a shot to become an immortal in the history of the game.

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