The NCAA basketball season is underway! Check out these slam dunking college basketball facts and records.
College Basketball - Famous Firsts
- The first men's college basketball game was played on January 18, 1896 between the University of Iowa and the University of Chicago. The final score was a mind blowing 15-12. (There weren't a lot of slam dunks and fast breaks back then).
- The first women's college basketball game was played on April 4, 1896 in San Francisco between Stanford and Cal. Stanford won the game 2-1, which was played with much different rules from modern basketball. There were nine players on each side and players could only play in certain areas of the court. Women weren't allowed to steal the ball from each other because it was considered "unladylike" and they had to wear clothes that covered every part of their body except their hands and face!
- The first NCAA college basketball tournament, which is now known as March Madness, was played in 1939.
College Basketball - Changing Rules
College basketball in 2005 is much different from the first college hoops game played more than 100 years ago. Here are some of the major rule changes in college basketball:
- In 1913, the bottom of the basketball net is left open for the first time - meaning it was no longer necessary to retrieve the ball from the net, once a basket was scored.
- In 1920, the backboards were moved two feet from the wall of the court. Before this rule change, players would "climb" the padded wall to sink baskets.
- In 1967, the slam dunk was made illegal! (What were they thinking?) The much-loved dunk was made legal again in 1976.
- In 1986, the three-point field goal is introduced with the three-point line set at 19 feet, 9 inches from the center of the basket.
College Basketball - Scoring Records
- Bevo Francis set a record in 1954 by scoring 113 points in a single game for the University of Rio Grande.
- Pistol Pete Maravich is college basketball's all-time leading scorer. He scored 3,667 points during his three seasons at LSU, where he averaged more than 44 points per game from 1968 to 1970!
- The most points scored by one team in college basketball was 258 scored by Troy University during a 258-141 thrashing of Devry on January 12, 1992.
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