Battle of Round Mountain

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 2 feet (0.6 m) 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.^[1]^[2]
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.^[1]^[2]

Season headlines

In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Penn as its national champion for the 1920–21 season.^[3]
In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Missouri as its national champion for the 1920–21 season.^[4]

Conference membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference
Nebraska Cornhuskers	Independent	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Phillips Haymakers	Southwest Conference	No major basketball program

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner^[5]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Ten Conference	Michigan, Purdue & Wisconsin	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Penn	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Missouri	None selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Stanford		No Tournament
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado		No Tournament
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association	none	None selected	1921 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament	Municipal Auditorium (Atlanta, Georgia)	Kentucky^[6]
Southwest 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 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament, whose champion claimed the mythical title of "Champions of the South."^[3]

Statistical leaders

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.^[7]

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.

Team	Former Coach	Interim Coach	New Coach	Reason
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.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
^ ^a ^b Schleyer, Claudia, "The Rules of Basketball: Boy How They've Changed!", Youth Hoops 101 Accessed 15 May 2021
^ ^a ^b Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved May 10, 2021.
^ 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.
^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
^ The Association for Professional Basketball Research "NCAA All-American Teams, 1919–20 to 1998–99"
^ "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches". Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2014.

[rules-1] rangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes

[youthhoops-2] Schleyer, Claudia, "The Rules of Basketball: Boy How They've Changed!", Youth Hoops 101 Accessed 15 May 2021

[jps-3] Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved May 10, 2021.

[ESPN_526-4] 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] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

[7] The Association for Professional Basketball Research "NCAA All-American Teams, 1919–20 to 1998–99"

[8] "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches". Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2014.

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NCAA Division I men's basketball seasons
Pre-regulation	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898-99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06
IAAUS / NCAA pre-Tournament era	1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38
NCAA Tournament era	1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24