The 1920–21 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1920, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1921.
Rule changes The basket was moved to from the baseline and the padded wall behind the basket was ruled out of bounds. Previously, players could climb the wall to get closer to the basket for a shot.orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule ChangesSchleyer, Claudia, "The Rules of Basketball: Boy How They've Changed!", Youth Hoops 101 Accessed 15 May 2021 A new substitution rule allowed a player who left the game to re-enter it once. Previously, a player who left the game could not re-enter it.
Season headlines
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference played the first college conference championship tournament. Kentucky won. In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Penn as its national champion for the 1920–21 season. In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Missouri as its top-ranked team for the 1920–21 season.
Conference membership changes SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference Independent Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association Southwest Conference No major basketball program
Regular season Conferences Conference winners and tournaments
ConferenceRegular season winnerConference player of the yearConference tournamentTournament venue (City)Tournament winnerBig Ten Conference Michigan, Purdue & Wisconsin None selected No TournamentEastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Penn None selected No TournamentMissouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association Missouri None selected No TournamentPacific Coast Conference Stanford No TournamentRocky Mountain Athletic Conference Colorado No TournamentSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association none(see note) None selected 1921 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament Municipal Auditorium(Atlanta, Georgia) Kentucky2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09Southwest Conference Texas A&M None selected No Tournament NOTE: The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association did not have an official regular-season champion, but it sponsored the 1921 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament, whose champion claimed the mythical title of "Champions of the South."
Conference standings
Independents A total of 120 college teams played as major independents. Among independents that played at least 10 games, (15–0) was undefeated, and (22–2), (22–2), and (22–4) finished 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 1920–21 season.The Association for Professional Basketball Research "NCAA All-American Teams, 1919–20 to 1998–99"
Player Team R. D. Birkhoff Chicago Herb Bunker Missouri Everett Dean Indiana Forrest DeBernardi Westminster (Mo.) Edwin Durno Oregon Basil Hayden Kentucky Dan McNichol Pennsylvania Arnold Oss Minnesota Donald White Purdue George Williams Missouri
Major player of the year awards
Helms Player of the Year: George Williams, Missouri (retroactive selection in 1944)
Coaching changes A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended. TeamFormerCoachInterimCoachNewCoachReason Arizona Pop McKale James Pierce McKale stepped down as basketball coach, but continued to be the athletic director and football coach. Army Joseph O'Shea Harry A. Fisher Bowling Green State Fred Beyerman Eal Krieger Brown Florence Harvey Walter Snell Canisius Mike Sweeney Luke Urban Connecticut Ross Swartz J. Wilder Tasker Creighton Eddie Mulholland Charles Kearney Dayton Dutch Thiele William Sherry Denver Thomas Thompson Ralph Woods Drake M. B. Banks Ossie Solem Duquesne Ben Lubic Eugene McGuigan Fairmount Wilmer D. Elfrink Lamar Hoover Fordham Orson Kinney Eli Butler Georgetown John O'Reilly James Colliflower After the conclusion of the 1920–21 season, O'Reilly suffered health problems that forced him to miss the next two seasons. For the 1921–22 season, Colliflower returned for a second stint as head coach, without pay. Iowa State Maury Kent Bill Chandler Kansas State E. A. Knoth E. C. Curtis Lehigh J. Murphy Ray Fisher Louisiana State Branch Bocock Tad Gormley Louisville Jimmie Powers John O'Rourke Loyola (Ill.) Bill Feeney Harry Rhode Marshall Skeeter Shelton Herbert Cramer North Carolina State Richard Crozier Harry Hartsell Nebraska Paul J. Schissler Owen A. Frank Northern Arizona Normal Lacey Eastburn R. H. Drake Northwestern Ray Elder Dana Evans Evans also became athletic director. Oklahoma Bennie Owen Hugh McDermott Oklahoma A&M Jim Pixlee John Maulbetsch Pittsburgh George Flint Andrew Kerr Princeton Lou Sugarman James Hynson Hill Zahn Rice Pete Cawthon Howard Yerges Sr. Saint Louis Armin Fischer Stephen G. O-Rourke Saint Mary's (Calif.) H. C. McDonald Slip Madigan Santa Clara Robert E. Harmon Joe Aurrecoechea SMU J. Burton Rix R. N. Blackwell Southern California Gus Henderson Willis O. Hunter St. John's (N. Y.) John Crenny Ed Kelleher Stanford Walter D. Powell Eugene Van Gent Toledo Darrell Fox Claude H. Watts Trinity (N. C.) Floyd J. Egan James A. Baldwin UCLA Fred Cozens Caddy Works Vanderbilt Guy T. Denton Wallace Wade Vermont P. A. Larned Tpm Keady Wake Forest James L. White Bill Holding Yale Albert Sharpe Orson Kinney
References