The 1927–28 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1927, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1928.
Season headlines
On April 9, 1927, the Joint Basketball Rules Committee announced a sudden change in dribbling rules, eliminating the continuous dribble that had become legal in the 1909–10 season and replacing it with the rule in use from the 1901–02 through 1908–09 seasons, which restricted each dribble to a single bounce.Hoop Tactics "The Evolution of Basketball: A Chronological Look At The Major Refinements" Accessed 15 May 2021Anonymous, "BASKETBALL RULE REDUCES DRIBBLE; Joint Committee Restricts It to One Bound in All Amateur Contests. TO ENCOURAGE TEAM PLAY' Officials Say Change Also Will Eliminate Roughness -- Time Out on All Fouls," New York Times, April 10, 1927 Accessed 22 May 2021 The committee made the change in the belief that elimination of the continuous dribble would make the game less rough and reward greater team play by encouraging more passing. In response, Kansas head coach Phog Allen founded the National Association of Basketball Coaches, which under his leadership sponsored a nationwide protest against the change. By May 1927, the committee had reversed its decision, and the continuous dribble remained legal.Anonymous, "Basketball Rules Committee Rescinds Change Regarding One-Bound Dribble," New York Times, May 19, 1927 Accessed 22 May 2021 The Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia deemed Pittsburgh the mythical national champion of the 1927–28 season and awarded the Panthers the U. S. Senator Boies Penrose Memorial Trophy. After the end of the 1927–28 season, the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) split into the Big Six Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference in May 1928. Both claimed to be a continuation of the MVIAA. In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Pittsburgh as its top-ranked team for the 1927–28 season. In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Pittsburgh as its national champion for the 1927–28 season.
Conference membership changes SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference Independent Pacific Coast Conference
Regular season Conferences Conference winners and tournaments
ConferenceRegular season winnerConference player of the yearConference tournamentTournament venue (City)Tournament winnerBig Ten Conference Indiana & Purdue None selected No TournamentEastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Penn None selected No TournamentMissouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association Oklahoma None selected No TournamentPacific Coast Conference ; No Tournament;USC defeated Washington in best-of-three conference championship playoff seriesRocky Mountain Athletic Conference No TournamentSouthern Conference Auburn None selected 1928 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament Municipal Auditorium(Atlanta, Georgia) Mississippi2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section , Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09Southwest Conference Arkansas None selected No Tournament
Conference standings
Independents A total of 90 college teams played as major independents. Pittsburgh (21–0) finished both undefeated and with the most wins.
Awards
Helms College Basketball All-Americans
The practice of selecting a Consensus All-American Team did not begin until the 1928–29 season. The Helms Athletic Foundation later retroactively selected a list of All-Americans for the 1927–28 season.The Association for Professional Basketball Research "NCAA All-American Teams, 1919–20 to 1998–99"
+ Helms NCAA All-Americans Player Team Victor Holt Oklahoma Charley Hyatt Pittsburgh Alfred James Washington Stretch Murphy Purdue Bennie Oosterbaan Michigan Sykes Reed Pittsburgh Glen Rose Arkansas Joe Schaaf Penn Ernest Simpson Colorado College Cat Thompson Montana State
Major player of the year awards
Helms Player of the Year: Victor Holt, Oklahoma (retroactive selection in 1944)
Coaching changes A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended. TeamFormerCoachInterimCoachNewCoachReason Auburn Mike Papke George Bohler BYU E. L. Roberts G. Ott Romney Cincinnati Boyd Chambers Frank E. Rice Colgate William Reid Lloyd Jordan Dartmouth Lew Wachter Dolly Stark Dayton Harry Bujan George Fitzgerald Duke George Buchheit Eddie Cameron Furman Rock Norman Dizzy McLeod Norman left to coach at South Carolina. Iowa State Bill Chandler Louis Menze Chandler left to be an assistant coach at Wisconsin. Loyola (Md.) Pat Miller Tony Comerford Miller left to coach at Wake Forest. Manhattan Chief Muller James Houlihan Michigan E. J. Mather George F. Veenker Montana State G. Ott Romney Schubert R. Dyche New Hampshire Butch Cowell Henry Swasey Oregon State Robert Hager Slats Gill Saint Joseph's Tom Temple Bill Ferguson Saint Louis Harry Reget Mike Nylkos South Carolina A. Burnet Stoney Rock Norman St. Bonaventure Frederick V. Ostergren Mike Reilly Saint Francis (N. Y.) Nip Lynch Edward Keating Texas State M&M E. J. Stewart Mack Saxon Tulane Claude Simons Sr. Bernie Bierman Virginia Tech Bud Moore I. E. Randall Washington State Karl Schlademan Jack Friel Schlademan left to coach the Washington State track team. Wake Forest James A. Baldwin Pat Miller Wichita Municipal Leonard J. Umnus Gene Johnson Wyoming Stewart Clark George McLaren Yale George Taylor Elmer Ripley
References