1907–08 IAAUS men's basketball season

1907–08 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Chicago (retroactive selection in 1943)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Charles Keinath, Penn (retroactive selection in 1944)

The 1907–08 IAAUS men's basketball season began in December 1907, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1908.

Rule changes

• The position of inspector, a type of game official, was abolished. Previously, two inspectors — who had no decision-making powers — had worked each game as assistants to the referee, stationed at each end of the court and responsible for determining whether goals were scored in accordance with the rules, which they reported to the referee.[1]

Season headlines

• The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association began play, with six original members for basketball.
• Wabash (24–0) went undefeated during the season.
• Plagued by disagreements over playing rules and player eligibility, violent play, and teams failing to meet their obligation to play a complete league schedule on some occasions, the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League (EIBL) collapsed after the season.[2] For the next two seasons, its teams played as independents. After a reorganization, the EIBL resumed competition in the 1910–11 season.
• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Chicago as its national champion for the 1907–08 season.[3]
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Wabash as its national champion for the 1907–08 season.[4]

Conference membership changes

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Drake Bulldogs	Independent	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Harvard Crimson	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Independent
Iowa State Cyclones	No major basketball program	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Kansas Jayhawks	Independent	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Missouri Tigers	Independent	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Nebraska Cornhuskers	Independent	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Washington University Bears	Independent	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners

Conference	Regular Season Winner[5]	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Penn	None selected	No Tournament[6]
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Nebraska (North); Kansas (South)	None selected	No Tournament; Kansas was conference champion[7]
Western Conference	Chicago & Wisconsin	None selected	No Tournament[8]

Conference standings

1907–08 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Penn 8 – 0   1.000 24 – 4   .857 Yale 5 – 3   .625 20 – 9   .690 Columbia 5 – 3   .625 10 – 11   .476 Princeton 1 – 7   .125 7 – 10   .412 Cornell 1 – 7   .125 5 – 8   .385

1907–08 Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT North Division Nebraska 0 – 0   – 7 – 3   .700 Iowa State 1 – 0   1.000 1 – 1   .500 Drake 0 – 1   .000 1 – 6   .143 South Division Kansas† 6 – 0   1.000 18 – 6   .750 Washington University 1 – 0   1.000 4 – 2   .667 Missouri 0 – 5   .000 8 – 10   .444 † Conference championship winner

1907–08 Western Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Chicago 7 – 1   .875 23 – 2   .920 Wisconsin 7 – 1   .875 10 – 2   .833 Illinois 6 – 5   .545 20 – 6   .769 Minnesota 2 – 6   .250 12 – 7   .632 Purdue 0 – 8   .000 5 – 9   .357 Iowa - – -   – 10 – 6   .625 Indiana - – -   – 9 – 6   .600 Northwestern - – -   – 2 – 7   .222

Independents

A total of 98 college teams played as major independents. Among independents that played at least 10 games, Wabash (24–0), Allegheny (12–0), and Bucknell (12-0) were undefeated, and Wabash and Haskell (24–11) finished with the most wins.[9]

1907–08 IAAUS men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Allegheny –   – 12 – 0   1.000 Bucknell –   – 12 – 0   1.000 California –   – 1 – 0   1.000 Cincinnati –   – 9 – 0   1.000 Colorado Mines –   – 5 – 0   1.000 Wabash –   – 24 – 0   1.000 Washington and Lee –   – 8 – 0   1.000 Brigham Young College –   – 10 – 1   .909 Montana State –   – 8 – 1   .889 Canisius –   – 6 – 1   .857 Lehigh –   – 6 – 1   .857 Mount Union –   – 18 – 3   .857 Georgetown –   – 5 – 1   .833 Illinois State –   – 5 – 1   .833 Grinnell –   – 14 – 3   .824 CCNY –   – 9 – 2   .818 St. Lawrence –   – 9 – 2   .818 Muhlenberg –   – 4 – 1   .800 Washington State –   – 12 – 3   .800 Nebraska Wesleyan –   – 11 – 3   .786 Dayton –   – 10 – 3   .769 Syracuse –   – 10 – 3   .769 Army –   – 9 – 3   .750 Michigan State –   – 15 – 5   .750 Notre Dame –   – 12 – 4   .750 Temple –   – 6 – 2   .750 Dartmouth –   – 11 – 4   .733 Hope –   – 8 – 3   .727 Wake Forest –   – 8 – 3   .727 Penn State –   – 10 – 4   .714 Loyola (Md.) –   – 12 – 5   .706 Wesleyan (Conn.) –   – 12 – 5   .706 Southwestern (Kan.) –   – 14 – 6   .700 Denison –   – 11 – 5   .688 Haskell (Kan.) –   – 24 – 11   .686 Baker –   – 13 – 6   .684 Brigham Young –   – 4 – 2   .667 Holy Cross –   – 12 – 6   .667 Kalamazoo –   – 2 – 1   .667 Bradley –   – 9 – 5   .643 New York University –   – 9 – 5   .643 Ohio –   – 7 – 4   .636 Oregon Agricutural –   – 7 – 4   .636 Pittsburgh –   – 10 – 6   .625 Springfield (Mass.) –   – 5 – 3   .625 Tulane –   – 5 – 3   .625 Wooster –   – 10 – 6   .625 Marietta –   – 8 – 5   .615 Fordham –   – 18 – 12   .600 Grove City –   – 9 – 6   .600 North Dakota Agricultural –   – 6 – 4   .600 Brown –   – 11 – 8   .579 Oklahoma –   – 4 – 3   .571 Auburn –   – 5 – 5   .500 Butler –   – 4 – 4   .500 Colorado –   – 6 – 6   .500 Georgia –   – 2 – 2   .500 Idaho –   – 4 – 4   .500 Maine –   – 5 – 5   .500 Navy –   – 2 – 2   .500 Niagara –   – 6 – 6   .500 Rhode Island A&M –   – 8 – 8   .500 Southern California –   – 3 – 3   .500 Virginia –   – 5 – 5   .500 Wisconsin–Stevens Point –   – 4 – 4   .500 Colgate –   – 8 – 9   .471 Oregon –   – 8 – 9   .471 Delaware –   – 5 – 6   .455 Kentucky –   – 5 – 6   .455 Ohio State –   – 5 – 6   .455 Akron –   – 4 – 5   .444 Manhattan –   – 7 – 9   .438 Colorado Agricultural –   – 2 – 3   .400 Connecticut –   – 6 – 9   .400 Trinity (N.C.) –   – 2 – 3   .400 Oklahoma A&M –   – 2 – 3   .400 Westminster (Pa.) –   – 6 – 9   .400 Fairmount –   – 2 – 3   .400 Wyoming –   – 2 – 3   .400 Vanderbilt –   – 6 – 10   .375 Arizona –   – 1 – 2   .333 Denver –   – 1 – 2   .333 St. John's (NY) –   – 4 – 8   .333 West Virginia –   – 3 – 7   .300 Lake Forest –   – 3 – 8   .273 Bloomsburg –   – 3 – 9   .250 Harvard –   – 4 – 12   .250 Indiana State –   – 2 – 6   .250 William & Mary –   – 1 – 4   .200 Trinity (Conn.) –   – 2 – 10   .167 Union (N.Y.) –   – 2 – 10   .167 Miami (Ohio) –   – 1 – 7   .125 Kansas State –   – 1 – 12   .077 New Mexico A&M –   – 0 – 1   .000 Utah State –   – 0 – 8   .000 Widener –   – 0 – 2   .000

Statistical leaders

Awards

Helms College Basketball All-Americans

Main article: 1908 NCAA Men's 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 1907–08 season.[10]

Player	Team
Hugh Harper	Wisconsin
Julian Hayward	Wesleyan (Conn.)
Charles Keinath	Penn
Haskell Noyes	Yale
Pat Page	Chicago
John Pryor	Brown
John Ryan	Columbia
John Schommer	Chicago
Ira Streusand	CCNY
Helmer Swenholt	Wisconsin

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Player of the Year: Charles Keinath, Penn (retroactive selection in 1944)

Coaching changes

References

1. "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. pp. 2, 7. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
2. For disputes about playing rules, see “Basketball News,” Daily Princetonian, October 17, 1906, p. 1, col. 2; for disputes about eligibility, see “Intercollegiate Basketball,” Cornell Daily Sun, December 19, 1905, p. 8, col. 4. For roughness in the game, see “Princeton withdraws from basketball league,” Daily Princetonian, March 20, 1908, p. 1, col. 2, and “Review of 1908 Basketball,” Cornell Daily Sun, March 3, 1908, p. 1, col. 1. For games not being played, see “Basketball Practice Ceases,” Cornell Daily Sun, March 26, 1902, p. 3, col. 2, and “Athletic Committee Meeting,” The Harvard Crimson, February 18, 1904. All retrieved January 17, 2015.
3. Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved May 13, 2021.
4. 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.
5. "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
6. "1907-08 Men's Ivy League Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
7. "1907-08 Men's Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
8. "1907-08 Men's Western Conference Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
9. "1907-08 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
10. The Association for Professional Basketball Research "NCAA All-American Teams, 1919–20 to 1998–99"