1908–09 IAAUS men's basketball season

The 1908–09 IAAUS men's basketball season began in December 1908, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1909.

1908–09 IAAUS men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Chicago (retroactive selection in 1943)
Player of the Year (Helms)	John Schommer, Chicago (retroactive selection in 1944)
← 1907–08 1909–10 →

Rule changes

• A dribbler was allowed to shoot. Previously, a player could not shoot immediately after dribbling the ball.^[1]
• The double dribble became illegal, with the dribble defined as "continuous passage of the ball."^[1]
• A second official was added to games in an attempt to reduce rough play.^[2]

Season headlines

• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Chicago as its national champion for the 1908–09 season.^[3]
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Chicago as its national champion for the 1908–09 season.^[4]

Conference membership changes

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Columbia Lions	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Independent
Cornell Big Red	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Independent
Penn Quakers	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Independent
Princeton Tigers	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Independent
Yale Bulldogs	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Independent

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners

Conference	Regular Season Winner[5]	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Nebraska (North); Kansas (South)	None selected	No Tournament; Kansas was conference champion
Western Conference	Chicago	None selected	No Tournament

Conference standings

1908–09 Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT North Division Nebraska 5 – 5   .500 8 – 15   .348 Iowa State 4 – 4   .500 4 – 10   .286 Drake 3 – 5   .375 3 – 7   .300 South Division Kansas† 8 – 2   .800 25 – 3   .893 Missouri 3 – 5   .375 11 – 5   .688 Washington University 3 – 5   .375 3 – 5   .375 † Conference championship winner

1908–09 Western Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Chicago 12 – 0   1.000 12 – 0   1.000 Purdue 6 – 4   .600 8 – 4   .667 Wisconsin 5 – 4   .556 8 – 4   .667 Illinois 5 – 6   .455 7 – 6   .538 Minnesota 3 – 6   .333 8 – 6   .571 Indiana 2 – 6   .250 5 – 9   .357 Northwestern 1 – 4   .200 1 – 7   .125 Iowa 1 – 5   .167 8 – 7   .533

Independents

A total of 113 college teams played as major independents. Among independents that played at least 10 games, California (10–0), New York University (13–0), Swarthmore (12–0), and Whittier (14–0) were undefeated, and Notre Dame (33–7) finished with the most wins.^[6]

1908–09 IAAUS men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT California –   – 10 – 0   1.000 Illinois State –   – 9 – 0   1.000 New Mexico –   – 1 – 0   1.000 New York University –   – 13 – 0   1.000 Swarthmore –   – 12 – 0   1.000 Whittier –   – 14 – 0   1.000 Widener –   – 9 – 0   1.000 Columbia –   – 15 – 1   .938 Williams –   – 13 – 1   .929 Grinnell –   – 12 – 1   .923 Ohio State –   – 11 – 1   .917 Oregon Agricultural –   – 10 – 1   .909 Trinity (N.C.) –   – 8 – 1   .889 Hope –   – 8 – 1   .889 Montana State –   – 8 – 1   .889 Dayton –   – 12 – 2   .857 Wake Forest –   – 6 – 1   .857 Allegheny –   – 11 – 2   .846 North Dakota –   – 10 – 2   .833 Washington –   – 5 – 1   .833 Wooster –   – 10 – 2   .833 Notre Dame –   – 33 – 7   .825 Army –   – 9 – 2   .818 Nebraska Wesleyan –   – 11 – 3   .786 New Mexico A&M –   – 7 – 2   .778 Rhode Island A&M –   – 7 – 2   .778 Pennsylvania –   – 19 – 6   .760 Bucknell –   – 9 – 3   .750 Wabash –   – 9 – 3   .750 North Dakota Agricultural –   – 11 – 4   .733 CCNY –   – 8 – 3   .727 Navy –   – 8 – 3   .727 Southern California –   – 8 – 3   .727 Temple –   – 8 – 3   .727 Butler –   – 5 – 2   .714 Seton Hall –   – 10 – 4   .714 Loyola (Md.) –   – 12 – 5   .706 St. Lawrence –   – 12 – 2   .857 Maine –   – 7 – 3   .700 Marietta –   – 7 – 3   .700 William & Mary –   – 7 – 3   .700 Baylor –   – 11 – 5   .688 Dartmouth –   – 11 – 5   .688 Kansas State –   – 6 – 3   .667 Michigan State –   – 10 – 5   .667 Southwestern (Kan.) –   – 6 – 3   .667 Texas –   – 6 – 3   .667 Virginia –   – 6 – 3   .667 Virginia Tech –   – 4 – 2   .667 Denison –   – 11 – 6   .647 Georgetown –   – 9 – 5   .643 Brigham Young –   – 7 – 4   .636 MIT –   – 10 – 6   .625 Washington State –   – 10 – 6   .625 Cincinnati –   – 6 – 4   .600 Grove City –   – 9 – 6   .600 St. John's (NY) –   – 9 – 6   .600 Colorado –   – 4 – 3   .571 Franklin –   – 12 – 9   .571 Santa Clara –   – 4 – 3   .571 Cornell –   – 13 – 10   .565 Kentucky –   – 5 – 4   .556 Washington and Lee –   – 5 – 4   .556 Bloomsburg –   – 6 – 5   .545 Washburn –   – 6 – 5   .545 Colgate –   – 7 – 6   .538 Penn State –   – 7 – 6   .538 Fordham –   – 13 – 12   .520 Arizona –   – 1 – 1   .500 Lehigh –   – 5 – 5   .500 Ohio –   – 1 – 1   .500 Oklahoma –   – 3 – 3   .500 VMI –   – 3 – 3   .500 Wisconsin–Stevens Point –   – 4 – 4   .500 Wyoming –   – 3 – 3   .500 Yale –   – 9 – 9   .500 Syracuse –   – 7 – 8   .467 Akron –   – 6 – 7   .462 Bradley –   – 6 – 7   .462 Gettysburg –   – 4 – 5   .444 Wesleyan (Conn.) –   – 7 – 9   .438 Canisius –   – 3 – 4   .429 Idaho –   – 7 – 10   .412 Miami (Ohio) –   – 4 – 6   .400 Westminster (Pa.) –   – 4 – 6   .400 Fairmount –   – 4 – 6   .400 Mount Union –   – 7 – 11   .389 Princeton –   – 8 – 13   .381 Denver –   – 6 – 10   .375 Delaware –   – 4 – 7   .364 Brown –   – 5 – 10   .333 Davidson –   – 1 – 2   .333 Holy Cross –   – 4 – 8   .333 Lake Forest –   – 3 – 6   .333 Oklahoma A&M –   – 1 – 2   .333 Tulane –   – 3 – 7   .300 Manhattan –   – 4 – 10   .286 Springfield (Mass.) –   – 2 – 5   .286 Utah –   – 3 – 8   .273 Indiana State –   – 2 – 7   .222 Niagara –   – 2 – 7   .222 Trinity (Conn.) –   – 2 – 7   .222 Union (N.Y.) –   – 2 – 8   .200 Harvard –   – 1 – 7   .125 Utah State –   – 1 – 8   .111 Kalamazoo –   – 0 – 3   .000 South Carolina –   – 0 – 3   .000

Statistical leaders

Awards

Helms College Basketball All-Americans

Main article: 1909 NCAA Men's 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 1908–09 season.^[7]

Player	Team
Biaggio Cerussi	Columbia
Julian Hayward	Wesleyan (Conn.)
Tommy Johnson	Kansas
Charles Keinath	Penn
Ted Kiendl	Columbia
Pat Page	Chicago
John Ryan	Columbia
Raymond Scanlon	Notre Dame
John Schommer	Chicago
Helmer Swenholt	Wisconsin

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Player of the Year: John Schommer, Chicago (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
Akron	Dwight Bradley		Clarence Weed
Brown	J. Donald Pryor		Walter White
Butler	Jack McKay		Walter Gipe
Canisius	John Mahoney		Charles McCabe
Cincinnati	Amos Foster		C. A. Shroetter
Cornell	Walter Haggerty		David Coogan
Drake	Charles Pell		John L. Griffith
Fordham	Chris Mahoney		Edward Siskind
Indiana	Robert Harris		John Georgen
Indiana State	Eddy Conners		John Kimmell
Kansas	Phog Allen		W. O. Hamilton
Manhattan	John O'Donnell		Edward Hanrahan
Nebraska	R. G. Clapp		T. J. Hewitt
New Mexico A&M	V. Kays		George Lain
Niagara	Robert Yates		Claude Allen
North Dakota Agricultural	Paul Magoffin		Arthur Rueber
Penn	R. B. Smith		Charles Keinath
Purdue	E. J. Stewart		Ralph Jones
St. John's	P. Joseph Kersey		Harry A. Fisher
Seton Hall	William Caffrey		Dick McDonough
South Carolina	J. H. Brown		F. E. Schofield
TCU	Jesse R. Langley		Oscar Wise
Utah	Erastus Milne		Robert Richardson
Vanderbilt	Ed Hamilton		R. B. McGehee	Hamilton left to coach the baseball team.
Virginia Tech	R. M. Brown		Branch Bocock
VMI	Pete Krebs		F. J. Pratt
Wyoming	Elmer Hoefer		Harold I. Dean