Basketball Conference

Basketball

Basketball was invented by a spirited inventor from Canada in 1891. This game has become the most popular indoor sport in the United States. The first documented college basketball game took place in 1893, but it didn’t quite resemble the five-on-five style game that is played today. Originally teams of nine competed against each other in a rather crowded version of the game. Modern ball came along three years later in 1896, and thereafter various colleges began to field basketball teams and form leagues. In 1906, an organization was founded that would help to make intercollegiate basketball a more prestigious and well organized game. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was created in Chicago to govern aspects of all college sports, including basketball. NCAA teams are divided into different conferences.

College Basketball Conferences

College Basketball conferences began to develop in the early 1900’s giving ball players a definitive set of competitors near their immediate geographic locations. African American players were even restricted to their own conference, called the Southeastern Atlantic Conference, and were not commonly seen playing on the courts with white players until around the year 1947. There are now 31 recognized basketball conferences at the collegiate level. These conferences are classified by the general public and the media as major, mid-major, or low-major organizations. Unfortunately, there are no established factors to classify a college basketball conference. Public opinion prevails when it comes to determining what level a conference is. Conference basketball is important to the flow of collegiate games. Each conference maintains its own statistical rankings, and holds a tournament following the regular season. The champion of each conference basketball tournament receives an automatic place in an extremely important national tournament hosted by the NCAA.

NCAA Basketball Tournament

Probably the most well known and publicized event within the NCAA is when basketball invades television sets across the country for weeks at a time during the holiest of tournaments; the men’s NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship. The single-elimination tournament was conceived in 1939, and has been played every year since. 65 teams compete against each other for the coveted title of national champion. Female ball players also have the same type of tournament in which 64 teams compete. 31 of the 65 men’s teams who will vie for the NCAA championship are determined well in advance. They are the winners from the conference tournaments.