List of SIAA basketball champions

The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the earliest collegiate athletic conferences, formed in December 1894. Though many of its earliest schools departed in the 1920s to form the Southern Conference, and later the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference, it existed until 1942.

The first post-season college conference basketball tournament was staged in 1921 by the SIAA.[1][2] In 1922 and 1923, the SIAA and Southern Conference shared a common tournament. Western Kentucky under Edgar Diddle won the last six tournaments, with three led by center Carlisle Towery. In 1947 there was an attempt, led by Western Kentucky, to revive the SIAA. Western Kentucky hosted an SIAA basketball tournament that turned out to be little more than an invitational tournament because most former SIAA members declined to participate.[3]

Basketball was invented by James Naismith in 1891. It seemed to take off in the South in 1906, when Yale's basketball team traveled throughout the South.[4] In 1909, continuous dribbling and shots off the dribble were allowed.[5]

Champions by year

This is an incomplete list of champions of the SIAA.

Year Team
1906 Auburn or Nashville[6]
1907 ?
1908 Auburn
1909 Georgia or Vanderbilt
1910 Central[7]
1911 Central[7]
1912 Mississippi A&M[8]
1913 Mississippi A&M[8]
1914 Georgia or Mississippi A&M[8]
1915 LSU
1916 Mississippi A&M[8]
1917 Georgia[9] and LSU[10]
1918 LSU
1919 Centre[11]
1920 Vanderbilt[12]
1921 Kentucky[13]

Post-Southern Conference

Year Team
1922 Mercer
1923 Chattanooga
1924 Mercer
1925 Mercer
1926 Mississippi College
1927 The Citadel
1928 Mississippi College
1929 Mississippi College
1930 Louisiana-Lafayette
1931 Centenary
1932 Chattanooga and Mississippi College
1933 ?
1934 Western Kentucky
1935 Millsaps
1936 Murray State
1937 Western Kentucky
1938 Western Kentucky
1939 Western Kentucky
1940 Western Kentucky
1941 Western Kentucky
1942 Western Kentucky[14]

Revival

Year Team
1947 Western Kentucky

References

  1. ^ "Why Are There So Many Major College Post-Season Conference Basketball Tournaments When Forty Years Ago There Were Almost None? – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog". 8 November 2009.
  2. ^ "The Early SIAA/Southern Conference Atlanta Basketball Tournament". www.bigbluehistory.net.
  3. ^ SIAA having trouble filling basketball tournament, [1], The Paducah Sun-Democrat 02 Mar 1947 Page 16, retrieved April 30, 2019.
  4. ^ Mike Donahue (1907). "Intercollegiate Basket Ball in the South". Spalding's Official Collegiate Basket Ball Guide: 55.
  5. ^ "NCAA Basketball Rule Change History". Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Spalding's official collegiate basket ball guide". New York, The American sports publishing company. 1905.
  7. ^ a b "Coach C. C. Stroud of Macon Picks All-Southern Quintet". Atlanta Constitution. March 12, 1911. p. 6. Retrieved November 13, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ^ a b c d Miss State Media Guide
  9. ^ "122-2: The best Georgia basketball game, player and court you've never heard of". 31 March 2017.
  10. ^ Planas, J. F. (1979). The History of LSU Basketball. United States: Moran. p. 6
  11. ^ "Continent". 1919.
  12. ^ "Vanderbilt SIAA champs in 1920". Vanderbilt University Athletics. 14 March 2012.
  13. ^ "History of the Early S.I.A.A. Atlanta Basketball Tournament". www.bigbluehistory.net. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  14. ^ "2017-18 WKU Hilltopper Basketball Media Guide". Issuu. 31 October 2017.