1917–18 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1917–18 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1917, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1918.

1917–18 NCAA men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Syracuse (retroactive selection in 1943)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Bill Chandler, Wisconsin (retroactive selection in 1944)
← 1916–17 1918–19 →

Season headlines

• The Pacific Coast Conference did not play as a basketball conference during the 1917–18 season. Its members competed as independents.
• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Syracuse as its national champion for the 1917–18 season.^[1]
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Syracuse as its national champion for the 1917–18 season.^[2]

Conference membership changes

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Michigan Wolverines	No basketball program	Big Ten Conference
Oklahoma A&M Aggies	Independent	Southwest Conference
Stanford Indians	Pacific Coast Conference	Independent
Washington State Cougars	Pacific Coast Conference	Independent

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners

Conference	Regular Season Winner[3]	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Big Ten Conference	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	Did not play as conference
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado		No Tournament
Southwest Conference	Rice	None selected	No Tournament

Conference standings

1917–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Wisconsin 9 – 3   .750 14 – 3   .824 Minnesota 7 – 3   .700 13 – 3   .813 Northwestern 5 – 3   .625 7 – 4   .636 Illinois 6 – 6   .500 9 – 6   .600 Chicago 6 – 6   .500 14 – 10   .583 Purdue 5 – 5   .500 11 – 5   .688 Ohio State 5 – 5   .500 12 – 7   .632 Indiana 3 – 3   .500 10 – 4   .714 Iowa 4 – 6   .400 6 – 8   .429 Michigan 0 – 10   .000 6 – 12   .333	1917–18 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Penn 9 – 1   .900 18 – 2   .900 Princeton 8 – 2   .800 12 – 3   .800 Cornell 7 – 3   .700 11 – 4   .733 Yale 4 – 6   .400 7 – 14   .333 Columbia 2 – 8   .200 4 – 9   .308 Dartmouth 0 – 10   .000 0 – 26   .000	1917–18 Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Missouri 15 – 1   .938 17 – 1   .944 Kansas State 10 – 5   .667 12 – 5   .706 Kansas 9 – 8   .529 10 – 8   .556 Washington University 4 – 8   .333 9 – 8   .529 Nebraska 4 – 5   .444 7 – 7   .500 Iowa State 1 – 6   .143 6 – 10   .375 Drake 0 – 10   .000 1 – 15   .063
1917–18 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Colorado 6 – 1   .857 9 – 2   .818 Denver 3 – 3   .500 3 – 4   .429 Colorado Agricultural 2 – 3   .400 5 – 5   .500 Colorado Mines 1 – 5   .167 3 – 5   .375 Colorado College –   – 3 – 2   .600	1917–18 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Rice 7 – 3   .700 10 – 4   .714 Texas 8 – 4   .667 14 – 5   .737 Texas A&M 7 – 7   .500 9 – 9   .500 Baylor 2 – 7   .222 2 – 15   .118 Oklahoma A&M 1 – 4   .200 6 – 10   .375

Independents

A total of 127 college teams played as major independents. Among independents that played at least 10 games, Creighton (14–0), Miami of Ohio (10–0), North Dakota (15–0), Oregon Agricultural (15–0), Saint Mary's (15–0), the Stevens Institute (14–0), and Wisconsin–Stevens Point (14–0) were undefeated, and Syracuse (16–1) finished with the most wins.^[4]

1917–18 NCAA men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Canisius –   – 5 – 0   1.000 Creighton –   – 14 – 0   1.000 Miami (Ohio) –   – 10 – 0   1.000 Oregon Agricultural –   – 15 – 0   1.000 Rhode Island State –   – 3 – 0   1.000 Saint Mary's (Calif.) –   – 15 – 0   1.000 Santa Clara –   – 4 – 0   1.000 Stevens Institute –   – 14 – 0   1.000 Utah State –   – 9 – 0   1.000 Wisconsin–Stevens Point –   – 14 – 0   1.000 Syracuse –   – 16 – 1   .941 Union (N.Y.) –   – 14 – 1   .933 Idaho –   – 12 – 1   .923 Louisiana State –   – 12 – 1   .923 Penn State –   – 12 – 1   .923 Oklahoma –   – 11 – 1   .917 Central (Ky.) –   – 10 – 1   .909 Navy –   – 14 – 2   .875 Virginia –   – 7 – 1   .875 Geneva –   – 13 – 2   .867 Georgia –   – 6 – 1   .857 Washington & Jefferson –   – 10 – 2   .833 Kentucky –   – 9 – 2   .818 North Carolina State –   – 13 – 3   .813 Springfield (Mass.) –   – 13 – 3   .813 California –   – 8 – 2   .800 Bucknell –   – 11 – 3   .786 Tempe Normal –   – 14 – 4   .778 Valparaiso –   – 7 – 2   .778 Fordham –   – 10 – 3   .769 Kalamazoo –   – 10 – 3   .769 Boston –   – 6 – 2   .750 Buffalo –   – 6 – 2   .750 Franklin –   – 9 – 3   .750 North Carolina –   – 9 – 3   .750 North Central –   – 9 – 3   .750 Tulane –   – 6 – 2   .750 Virginia Tech –   – 15 – 5   .750 Stanford –   – 11 – 4   .733 Marietta –   – 8 – 3   .727 Niagara –   – 8 – 3   .727 Detroit –   – 13 – 5   .722 St. Joseph's –   – 5 – 2   .714 CCNY –   – 7 – 3   .700 New Mexico A&M –   – 7 – 3   .700 Akron –   – 9 – 4   .692 Carleton –   – 9 – 4   .692 Central Missouri –   – 9 – 4   .692 Lafayette –   – 15 – 7   .682 Army –   – 8 – 4   .667 Trinity (N.C.) –   – 10 – 5   .667 Vanderbilt –   – 6 – 3   .667 Western State Normal –   – 8 – 4   .667 Wyoming –   – 4 – 2   .667 Grinnell –   – 7 – 4   .636 Roanoke –   – 7 – 4   .636 Brigham Young –   – 5 – 3   .625 Rutgers –   – 5 – 3   .625 Seton Hall –   – 8 – 5   .615 South Carolina –   – 8 – 5   .615 Southwestern (Kan.) –   – 8 – 5   .615 Arizona –   – 3 – 2   .600 Bowling Green State –   – 6 – 4   .600 Clemson –   – 3 – 2   .600 North Dakota Agricultural –   – 9 – 6   .600 Davidson –   – 7 – 5   .583 Denison –   – 7 – 5   .583 Millsaps –   – 7 – 5   .583 Swarthmore –   – 7 – 5   .583 Georgetown –   – 8 – 6   .571 SMU –   – 5 – 4   .556 Utah –   – 5 – 4   .556 Lehigh –   – 11 – 9   .550 Mount Union –   – 7 – 6   .538 Temple –   – 8 – 7   .533 Wabash –   – 8 – 7   .533 Duquesne –   – 4 – 4   .500 Indiana State –   – 8 – 8   .500 Montana –   – 6 – 6   .500 Nevada –   – 3 – 3   .500 St. John's (N.Y.) –   – 8 – 8   .500 Texas Christian –   – 4 – 4   .500 VMI –   – 6 – 6   .500 Millikin –   – 10 – 11   .476 DePauw –   – 7 – 8   .467 Catholic –   – 5 – 6   .455 Delaware –   – 5 – 6   .455 Washington and Lee –   – 5 – 6   .455 Bradley –   – 6 – 8   .429 Colgate –   – 9 – 12   .429 Louisville –   – 3 – 4   .429 Manhattan –   – 6 – 8   .429 Northern Colorado –   – 3 – 4   .429 Gettysburg –   – 5 – 7   .417 Auburn –   – 2 – 3   .400 Beloit –   – 4 – 6   .400 Marquette –   – 4 – 6   .400 Michigan State –   – 6 – 10   .375 Washington State –   – 7 – 12   .368 Pittsburgh –   – 5 – 9   .357 William & Mary –   – 6 – 11   .353 Dayton –   – 2 – 4   .333 Notre Dame –   – 2 – 4   .333 Ohio –   – 4 – 8   .333 Richmond –   – 3 – 6   .333 Toledo –   – 2 – 4   .333 Washington –   – 4 – 8   .333 Wooster –   – 4 – 9   .308 Alabama –   – 2 – 5   .286 Oregon –   – 3 – 8   .273 Cincinnati –   – 2 – 6   .250 Montana State –   – 2 – 6   .250 Tennessee –   – 3 – 9   .250 Wake Forest –   – 4 – 12   .250 West Virginia –   – 4 – 13   .235 Fairmount –   – 3 – 10   .231 Grove City –   – 2 – 7   .222 Saint Louis –   – 3 – 12   .200 Washburn –   – 2 – 9   .182 Tulsa –   – 1 – 5   .167 Connecticut –   – 1 – 6   .143 New York University –   – 1 – 10   .091 Butler –   – 0 – 6   .000 The Citadel –   – 0 – 1   .000 Muhlenberg –   – 0 – 7   .000 Southern California –   – 0 – 2   .000

Statistical leaders

Awards

Helms College Basketball All-Americans

Main article: 1918 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 1917–18 season.^[5]

Player	Team
Earl Anderson	Illinois
Bill Chandler	Wisconsin
Harold Gillen	Minnesota
Hubert Peck	Penn
Craig Ruby	Missouri
Joseph Schwarzer	Syracuse
Eber Simpson	Wisconsin
Alfred Sorenson	Washington State
George Sweeney	Penn
Gene Vidal	Army

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Player of the Year: Bill Chandler, Wisconsin (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
Alabama	B. L. Noojin		Yancey Goodall
Bradley	Fred Brown		Harold Olsen
Bucknell	Malcolm Musser		Haps Benfer
Butler	G. Cullen Thomas		Joe Mullane
California	Walter Christie		Bill Hollander
Cincinnati	Whitelaw Morrison		Boyd Chambers
The Citadel	Harry J. O'Brien		C. F. Myers
Colorado	Bob Evans		Enoch J. Mills	Evans left to coach Stanford.
Columbia	John Murray		Fred Dawson
Delaware	William McAvoy		Burton Shipley
Denver	John Fike		Charles Wingender
Drake	S. W. Hobbs		M. B. Banks
Georgia	Alfred Scott		Earl Ford
Kentucky	Stanley A. Boles		Thomas Andrew Gill
Louisiana State	Charles C. Stroud		R. E. Edmonds
Missouri	Walter Meanwell		John F. Miller
Navy	James Colliflower		Billy Lush
NC State	Harry Hartsell		Tal Stafford
North Dakota	Thomas Andrew Gill		Harry Caldwell	Gill left to coach at Kentucky
North Dakota Agricultural	Paul J. Davis		Curly Movold
Northwestern	J. Norman Elliott		Tom Robinson
Ohio	M. B. Banks		Frank Gullum	Banks left to coach Drake.
Oregon	Bill Hayward		Dean Walker
Oregon Agricultural	Howard Ray		Homer Woodson Hargiss
Purdue	J. J. Maloney		Ward Lambert
Rhode Island State	James A. Baldwin		Mysterious Walker	Walker also took on the athletic director role from Baldwin.
Richmond	Dave E. Satterfield Jr.		Robert C. Marshall
Saint Mary's (Calif.)	Otto Rittler		Percival Ritchie
Santa Clara	Terry Desmond		Norbert Keefe
Southern California	Dean Cromwell		Motts Blair
Stanford	Russell T. Wilson		Bob Evans
Toledo	Darrell Fox		Sam Monetta
Trinity (N.C.)	Charles Doak		Henry Cole
Tulane	Clark Shaughnessy		M. A. Moenck
Vanderbilt	Ralph Palmer		Ray Morrison
Wake Forest	E. T. MacDonnell		Irving E. Carlyle