The 1904–05 collegiate men's basketball season in the United States began in December 1904, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1905.
Season headlines
Referring to the "college championship" competition on the basketball program of the 1904 Olympic Games — which Hiram College had won, prompting it to claim the mythical collegiate national basketball championship for the 1903–04 season — Spalding's Official Basket Ball Guide for 1904, published in September 1904, offers the opinion that "This tournament marks the beginning of what may in the years to come be an annual fixture, namely — a National College Basket Ball Championship held annually between the colleges of the U.S. played in alternate years in the East and West. Such a championship could easily be made a great athletic and social event." Christian Steinmetz of Wisconsin became the first player to score at least 1,000 points during his career. Columbia (19–1) claimed to be the collegiate national champion of the 1904–05 season because it had two wins over traveling Western Conference teams — Wisconsin and Minnesota — during the season and because of its combined record over the 1903–04 season (when it had finished 17–1) and 1904–05 season. In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Columbia as its national champion for the 1904–05 season. In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Columbia as its top-ranked team for the 1904–05 season.
Conference membership changes SchoolFormer ConferenceNew Conference Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Independent No major basketball program Western Conference
Regular season
Conference winners
ConferenceRegular Season WinnerConference Player of the YearConference TournamentTournament Venue (City)Tournament WinnerEastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Columbia None selected No TournamentWestern Conference None None selected No Tournament 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 intramural games took place between conference members during the 1904–05 season. In 1904–05, Chicago (9–3) finished with the best winning percentage (.750) and Wisconsin (10–8) with the most wins.
Independents
A total of 64 college teams played as major independents. Among them, and 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 1904–05 season.The Association for Professional Basketball Research "NCAA All-American Teams, 1919–20 to 1998–99"
Player Team Harry A. Fisher Columbia Marcus Hurley Columbia Willard Hyatt Yale Gilmore Kinney Yale C. D. McLees Wisconsin James Ozanne Chicago Walter Runge Colgate Chris Steinmetz Wisconsin George Tuck Minnesota Oliver deGray Vanderbilt Princeton
Major player of the year awards
Helms Player of the Year: Christian Steinmetz, Wisconsin (retroactive selection in 1944)
Coaching changes A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended. TeamFormerCoachInterimCoachNewCoachReason Brown Paul DeWolf Oscar Rackle Canisius J. P. Quinslisk John Schmitt Fordham Harry A. Fisher Loren Black Iowa John Chalmers Ed Rule Maine George Huntington George Owen Purdue James Nufer Clarence B. Jamison Temple Harry Wingert John Crescenzo Washington Agricultural James N. Ashmore Everett Sweeley
References