Battle of Round Mountain

The 1927–28 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1927, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1928.

Season headlines

On April 9, 1927, the Joint Basketball Rules Committee announced a sudden change in dribbling rules, eliminating the continuous dribble that had become legal in the 1909–10 season and replacing it with the rule in use from the 1901–02 through 1908–09 seasons, which restricted each dribble to a single bounce.^[1]^[2] The committee made the change in the belief that elimination of the continuous dribble would make the game less rough and reward greater team play by encouraging more passing.^[2] In response, Kansas head coach Phog Allen founded the National Association of Basketball Coaches, which under his leadership sponsored a nationwide protest against the change.^[3] By May 1927, the committee had reversed its decision, and the continuous dribble remained legal.^[1]^[4]
After the end of the 1927–28 season, the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) split into the Big Six Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference in May 1928. Both claimed to be a continuation of the MVIAA.
In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Pittsburgh as its national champion for the 1927–28 season.^[5]
In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Pittsburgh as its national champion for the 1927–28 season.^[6]

Conference membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference
UCLA Bruins	Independent	Pacific Coast Conference

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner^[7]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Ten Conference	Michigan & Purdue	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Penn	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Oklahoma	None selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Washington (North); USC (South)		No Tournament; USC defeated Washington in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Wyoming (Eastern); Montana State (Western)		No Tournament
Southern Conference	Auburn	None selected	1928 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Municipal Auditorium (Atlanta, Georgia)	Mississippi State^[8]
Southwest Conference	Arkansas	None selected	No Tournament

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 1927–28 season.^[9]

**Helms NCAA All-Americans**
Player	Team
Victor Holt	Oklahoma
Charley Hyatt	Pittsburgh
Alfred James	Washington
Stretch Murphy	Purdue
Bennie Oosterbaan	Michigan
Sykes Reed	Pittsburgh
Glen Rose	Arkansas
Joe Schaaf	Penn
Ernest Simpson	Colorado College
Cat Thompson	Montana State

Major player of the year awards

Helms Player of the Year: Victor Holt, Oklahoma (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
Oregon State	Robert Hager		Slats Gill
Washington State	Karl Schlademan		Jack Friel

References

^ ^a ^b Hoop Tactics "The Evolution of Basketball: A Chronological Look At The Major Refinements" Accessed 15 May 2021
^ ^a ^b Anonymous, "BASKETBALL RULE REDUCES DRIBBLE; Joint Committee Restricts It to One Bound in All Amateur Contests. TO ENCOURAGE TEAM PLAY' Officials Say Change Also Will Eliminate Roughness -- Time Out on All Fouls," New York Times, April 10, 1927 Accessed 22 May 2021
^ "What is the NABC and what does it do?". National Association of Basketball Coaches. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
^ Anonymous, "Basketball Rules Committee Rescinds Change Regarding One-Bound Dribble," New York Times, May 19, 1927 Accessed 22 May 2021
^ Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved December 14, 2015.
^ 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"

[hooptactics-1] Hoop Tactics "The Evolution of Basketball: A Chronological Look At The Major Refinements" Accessed 15 May 2021

[nytimes19270410-2] Anonymous, "BASKETBALL RULE REDUCES DRIBBLE; Joint Committee Restricts It to One Bound in All Amateur Contests. TO ENCOURAGE TEAM PLAY' Officials Say Change Also Will Eliminate Roughness -- Time Out on All Fouls," New York Times, April 10, 1927 Accessed 22 May 2021

[3] "What is the NABC and what does it do?". National Association of Basketball Coaches. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2012.

[4] Anonymous, "Basketball Rules Committee Rescinds Change Regarding One-Bound Dribble," New York Times, May 19, 1927 Accessed 22 May 2021

[5] Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved December 14, 2015.

[ESPN_526-6] 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.

[7] "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.

[8] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

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

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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