The 1915–16 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1915, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1916.

Season headlines

* The

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA),

Young Men’s Christian Association YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

(YMCA), and

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) adopted a new set of rules nationally for amateur basketball in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, standardizing the rules used in

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

, YMCA, and AAU basketball. Officially appointed representatives of the three organizations prepared the uniform set of rules, the NCAA, YMCA, and AAU having decided that working together in this way was in the best interests of the game's welfare and of the organizations themselves. * The

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (includin ...

began play with four original members, three of which fielded basketball teams for the 1915–16 season. *

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

won the post-season

(AAU) national championship tournament— in which a mix of collegiate and non-collegiate amateur teams competed — in 1916 to become the first of only four collegiate teams to win the tournament. No college team would win the tournament again until

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

. * In February 1943, the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

retroactively selected

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

as its national champion for the 1915–16 season. * In 1995, the

Premo-Porretta Power Poll The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...

retroactively selected Wisconsin as its national champion for the 1915–16 season.

Rule changes

* "Class A" fouls — general fouls called for delay of game; "tackling" the ball (i.e., touching the ball while a teammate already was touching it); kicking, striking, advancing, or hugging the ball; tackling, holding, or pushing an opponent; and addressing the game officials — were changed to violations. "Class B" fouls — striking, kicking, shouldering, tripping, or hacking an opponent; unnecessary roughness; and using profane or abusive language — became

technical Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who ...

and personal fouls. * A player is disqualified after committing his fourth personal foul in a game. Previously, a player was disqualified if he committed two "Class B" fouls in a game. * If a player was fouled in the act of shooting, his team was awarded two

free-throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

attempts regardless of whether he made the

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

. Previously, the shooting team had been awarded one point and one free-throw attempt if a shooter was fouled. If the shooting player made the shot, it counted for two points, just as it had before this rule change. * The shooting team was awarded one free-throw attempt if a defending player interfered with the ball or basket while the ball was on the basket's rim. Previously, the shooting team had been awarded one point under these circusmtances. * All players were required to wear plain numbers at least high and wide fastened securely on the backs of their shirts.

Conference membership changes

NOTE: Although

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

joined the

in 1915, it did not field a basketball team during the 1915–16 season.

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners

Conference standings

Independents

A total of 122 college teams played as major independents. Among independents that played at least 10 games, (15–0), (18–0),

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

(12–0), and (11–0) were undefeated, and (20–2) finished with the most wins.

Statistical leaders

Awards

Helms College Basketball All-Americans

The practice of selecting a Consensus

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

Team did not begin until the 1928–29 season. The

later retroactively selected a list of All-Americans for the 1915–16 season.The Association for Professional Basketball Research "NCAA All-American Teams, 1919–20 to 1998–99"
/ref>

Major player of the year awards

* Helms Player of the Year: George Levis,

(retroactive selection in 1944)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1915-16 Ncaa Men's Basketball Season