The Final Four: The Pursuit of College Basketball Glory

The Final Four: The Pursuit of College Basketball Glory — page 5
There should be little surprise that a game played in the basement of a science building didn’t look much like the modern sport The teams played with nine players on each side and shot at peach baskets hung on the walls Even the final score a 9 3 victory for the visiting team would seem much too low to modern fans Yet a college tradition was born that day It wouldn’t take long before college basketball moved out of the basement and into the big time EVOLVING GAME Basketball rapidly grew in popularity Less than a year after that first college game in Minnesota the University of Iowa invited players from the University of Chicago for a contest This game looked a bit more like the sport fans love today It featured five players on each side and the scores actually reached double digits a 15 12 victory for Chicago Over the decades college basketball continued to grow Conferences emerged especially in the eastern United States and the rules evolved Still the game’s following could not match that of college football The shot clock had not yet been added to college basketball so teams could hold on to the ball as long as they liked without shooting To many fans the action was simply too slow and the scores too low THE 1904 OLYMPICS By the early 1900s basketball was getting worldwide notice It was added to the 1904 Olympic Games in St Louis Missouri Olympic officials invited top college teams to compete in a championship tournament Hiram College located in Hiram Ohio won the Olympic Intercollegiate World Championship 8 THE FINAL FOUR