1901–02 collegiate men's basketball season in the United States

The 1901–02 collegiate men's basketball season in the United States began in December 1901, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1902.

1901–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Minnesota (retroactive selection in 1943)
← 1900–01 1902–03 →

Rule changes

• An early form of dribbling became legal; previously, players were not allowed to bounce the ball at all and could advance it only by passing.^[1] The new dribbling rule did not permit continuous dribbling in the modern sense; instead, a player could bounce a ball only once and then recover it, and the bounce had to be higher than his head.^[1] A player was allowed to bounce and recover the ball in this way as many times in a row as he wanted or pass the ball to another player after any single-bounce dribble, but he was not allowed to shoot the ball after a dribble.^[1][2] The rule limited dribbling to a defensive tactic in which a player in effect passed the ball to himself.^[1] Continuous dribbling — dribbling in its modern sense — was not permitted until the 1909–10 season.^[1]

Season headlines

• The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League began play, with five original members. It played the first college conference basketball season.^[3]
• Minnesota went undefeated (15–0).
• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Minnesota as its national champion for the 1901–02 season.^[4]
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Minnesota as its national champion for the 1901–02 season.^[5]

Conference membership changes

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Columbia Lions	Independent	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League
Cornell Big Red	Independent	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League
Harvard Crimson	Independent	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League
Iowa Hawkeyes	No major basketball program	Western Conference
Penn Quakers	No major basketball program	Independent
Princeton Tigers	Independent	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League
Yale Bulldogs	Independent	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League

Regular season

Conferences

Conference	Regular Season Winner[6]	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Yale	None selected	No Tournament[7]
Western Conference	None (see note)	None selected	No Tournament[8]

NOTE: The Western Conference (the future Big Ten Conference) did not sponsor an official conference season or recognize a regular-season champion until the 1905–06 season, although a few intermural games took place within the conference during the 1901–02 season. Minnesota (15–0), Iowa (10–2), and Purdue (10–3) won 10 or more games.^[8]

1901–02 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Yale 5 – 3   .625 13 – 8   .619 Harvard 4 – 4   .500 9 – 5   .643 Columbia 3 – 3   .500 5 – 3   .625 Princeton 4 – 4   .500 10 – 10   .500 Cornell 2 – 4   .333 5 – 5   .500

1901–02 Western Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Minnesota†* 2 – 0   1.000 15 – 0   1.000 Iowa –   – 10 – 2   .833 Purdue 2 – 0   1.000 10 – 3   .769 Wisconsin 0 – 1   .000 7 – 3   .700 Indiana 0 – 2   .000 4 – 4   .500 † Intramural play only, the conference did not have an official championship *Minnesota was named Premo-Porretta and Helms Foundation National Champions winner

Independents

A total of 50 college teams played as major independents. Among them, St. Francis (NY) (13–1), Allegheny (13–1), Bucknell (12–2), Grove City (13–3), Mount Union (11–3), and Dartmouth (11–5) won more than 10 games.^[9]

1901–02 collegiate men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Amherst –   – 8 – 0   1.000 Colorado Agricultural –   – 2 – 0   1.000 Michigan State –   – 5 – 0   1.000 New Mexico –   – 2 – 0   1.000 Ripon –   – 4 – 0   1.000 Washington –   – 7 – 0   1.000 Wisc.–Stevens Point –   – 4 – 0   1.000 St. Francis (NY) –   – 13 – 1   .929 Allegheny –   – 12 – 1   .923 Bucknell –   – 12 – 2   .857 St. Lawrence –   – 6 – 1   .857 Penn State –   – 9 – 2   .818 Grove City –   – 13 – 3   .813 Mount Union –   – 11 – 3   .786 Colgate –   – 7 – 2   .778 Penn –   – 7 – 2   .778 Williams –   – 13 – 4   .765 Colorado –   – 3 – 1   .750 Illinois State –   – 3 – 1   .750 Temple –   – 8 – 3   .727 Vanderbilt –   – 5 – 2   .714 Wheaton (Ill.) –   – 5 – 2   .714 Dartmouth –   – 11 – 5   .688 Lehigh –   – 9 – 5   .643 Geneva –   – 7 – 4   .636 Hiram –   – 7 – 4   .636 Nebraska –   – 5 – 3   .625 North Dakota Agricultural –   – 5 – 3   .625 Bloomsburg –   – 4 – 3   .571 Cincinnati –   – 5 – 4   .556 Akron –   – 2 – 2   .500 Connecticut –   – 5 – 5   .500 Grinnell –   – 2 – 2   .500 Lafayette –   – 5 – 5   .500 Syracuse –   – 3 – 3   .500 Wooster –   – 2 – 2   .500 Muhlenberg –   – 5 – 6   .455 Holy Cross –   – 4 – 5   .444 Wabash –   – 4 – 5   .444 Rensselaer –   – 3 – 4   .429 Kansas –   – 5 – 7   .417 Westminster (Pa.) –   – 3 – 5   .375 Augustana (Ill.) –   – 1 – 2   .333 Oregon Agricultural –   – 1 – 2   .333 Brown –   – 5 – 15   .250 Butler –   – 1 – 3   .250 Montana State –   – 1 – 4   .200 Indiana State –   – 1 – 6   .143 Washington State –   – 0 – 2   .000 Wesleyan (Conn.) –   – 0 – 4   .000

Statistical leaders

Coaching changes

References

1. Hoop Tactics "The Evolution of Basketball: A Chronological Look At The Major Refinements" Accessed 15 May 2021
2. Schleyer, Claudia, "The Rules of Basketball: Boy How They've Changed!", Youth Hoops 101 Accessed 15 May 2021
3. "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. p. 11. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
4. Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved May 13, 2021.
5. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. pp. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
6. "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
7. "1901-02 Men's Ivy League Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
8. "1901-02 Men's Western Conference Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
9. "1901-02 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 17, 2024.