1919–20 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1919–20 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1919, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1920.

1919–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Penn Quakers (retroactive selection in 1943)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Howard Cann, NYU (retroactive selection in 1944)

Season headlines

• Penn of the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League met Chicago of the Big Ten Conference in a three-game national championship playoff, with the first game at Chicago, the second at Penn, and the third at Princeton University. Chicago won the first game 28–24, and Penn the second game, 29-18, after which Penn students celebrated all night and threw bricks and fired shots at policemen. Penn also won the third game, 23-21, to win the championship. On February 25, 1921, the Atlanta Constitution ran an article by sportswriter Walter Camp in which Camp observed that the Chicago-Penn championship series had demonstrated the need for a national standardization of college basketball rules and the interpretation of them and expressed the view that no way of determining a national champion yet existed in college basketball.
• NYU, led by Howard Cann, won the post-season Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championship tournament by defeating Rutgers, 49-24. NYU became the second of only four collegiate teams to win the tournament — in which a mix of collegiate and non-collegiate amateur teams competed — and the only one to do so between 1916 and 1924.
• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Penn as its national champion for the 1919–20 season.
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Penn as its national champion for the 1919–20 season.

Conference membership changes

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Nebraska Cornhuskers	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Independent
Oklahoma Sooners	Independent	Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Phillips Haymakers	No major basketball program	Southwest Conference

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners

Conference	Regular Season Winner	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Big Ten Conference	Chicago	None Selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	None[a]	None Selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Missouri	None Selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Stanford	None Selected	No Tournament
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado		No Tournament
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Vanderbilt	None Selected	No Tournament
Southwest Conference	Texas A&M	None Selected	No Tournament

^a Dartmouth was unable to field a team, so Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League conference play was informal in 1919–20 and no official champion was declared. However, had a champion been named, Penn would have won the regular-season championship with a 7–1 conference record.

Conference standings

1919–20 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Chicago 10 – 2   .833 14 – 4   .778 Purdue 8 – 2   .800 16 – 4   .800 Illinois 8 – 4   .667 9 – 4   .692 Indiana 6 – 4   .600 13 – 8   .619 Wisconsin 7 – 5   .583 15 – 5   .750 Iowa 6 – 6   .500 9 – 10   .474 Ohio State 3 – 9   .250 17 – 10   .630 Minnesota 3 – 9   .250 7 – 9   .438 Michigan 3 – 9   .250 10 – 13   .435 Northwestern 2 – 6   .250 3 – 7   .300	1919–20 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Penn 10 – 0   1.000 22 – 1   .957 Princeton 6 – 4   .600 16 – 6   .727 Yale 6 – 4   .600 16 – 9   .640 Cornell 4 – 6   .400 14 – 6   .700 Columbia 3 – 7   .300 4 – 10   .286 Dartmouth 1 – 9   .100 5 – 20   .200	1919–20 Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Missouri 17 – 1   .944 17 – 1   .944 Washington University 11 – 5   .688 13 – 5   .722 Kansas 9 – 7   .563 11 – 7   .611 Kansas State 8 – 8   .500 10 – 8   .556 Oklahoma 3 – 7   .300 9 – 7   .563 Drake 3 – 7   .300 12 – 11   .522 Iowa State 2 – 10   .167 6 – 12   .333 Grinnell 1 – 9   .100 4 – 10   .286
1919–20 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Stanford 9 – 1   .900 8 – 3   .727 California 5 – 5   .500 8 – 5   .615 Washington State 6 – 7   .462 10 – 11   .476 Oregon Agricultural 5 – 7   .417 7 – 12   .368 Washington 5 – 7   .417 7 – 8   .467 Oregon 5 – 8   .385 8 – 9   .471 As of 1920	1919–20 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Colorado† –   – 6 – 4   .600 Colorado Mines –   – 3 – 8   .273 Colorado College –   – 9 – 6   .600 Colorado Agricultural –   – 5 – 5   .500 Denver –   – 1 – 8   .111 † Official championship winner	1919–20 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Texas A&M 16 – 0   1.000 19 – 0   1.000 Phillips 2 – 1   .667 0 – 0   – Texas 4 – 6   .400 10 – 6   .625 Rice 2 – 5   .286 5 – 6   .455 SMU 2 – 8   .200 4 – 9   .308 Baylor 1 – 7   .125 8 – 13   .381

Independents

A total of 130 college teams played as independents. Among independents that played at least 10 games, Montana State (13–0), North Dakota (16–0), Southwestern (14–0), and Westminster (17–0) were undefeated, and Millikin (22–1) and Nebraska (22–2) finished with the most wins.

1919–20 NCAA men's basketball independents standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Montana State –   – 13 – 0   1.000 North Dakota –   – 16 – 0   1.000 Northern Arizona Normal –   – 2 – 0   1.000 Southwestern (Kan.) –   – 14 – 0   1.000 The Citadel –   – 9 – 0   1.000 Utah State –   – 2 – 0   1.000 Washington and Lee –   – 6 – 0   1.000 Westminster (Mo.) –   – 17 – 0   1.000 Millikin –   – 22 – 1   .957 New York University –   – 16 – 1   .941 Georgetown –   – 13 – 1   .929 Penn State –   – 12 – 1   .923 Nebraska –   – 22 – 2   .917 VMI –   – 11 – 1   .917 Wyoming –   – 10 – 1   .909 Louisiana State –   – 19 – 2   .905 Buffalo –   – 9 – 1   .900 Central Missouri –   – 17 – 2   .895 Franklin –   – 8 – 1   .889 Creighton –   – 15 – 2   .882 WPI –   – 14 – 2   .875 Delaware –   – 13 – 2   .867 Akron –   – 12 – 2   .857 Army –   – 12 – 2   .857 UCLA –   – 12 – 2   .857 Ripon –   – 11 – 2   .846 Tulsa –   – 16 – 3   .842 Marietta –   – 15 – 3   .833 Syracuse –   – 15 – 3   .833 Utah –   – 5 – 1   .833 Idaho –   – 14 – 3   .824 Navy –   – 14 – 3   .824 CCNY –   – 13 – 3   .813 DePauw –   – 13 – 3   .813 Southern California –   – 8 – 2   .800 Stevens Institute –   – 12 – 3   .800 Tennessee –   – 11 – 3   .786 Nevada –   – 7 – 2   .778 Vanderbilt –   – 14 – 4   .778 Virginia Tech –   – 14 – 4   .778 Seton Hall –   – 10 – 3   .769 Virginia –   – 10 – 3   .769 Marquette –   – 9 – 3   .750 Niagara –   – 6 – 2   .750 Washburn –   – 12 – 4   .750 Denison –   – 11 – 4   .733 Rutgers –   – 11 – 4   .733 Wooster –   – 11 – 4   .733 Toledo –   – 8 – 3   .727 Western State Normal –   – 8 – 3   .727 Birmingham–Southern –   – 5 – 2   .714 Canisius –   – 10 – 4   .714 Trinity (N.C.) –   – 10 – 4   .714 Mississippi A&M –   – 12 – 5   .706 Bucknell –   – 14 – 6   .700 Colgate –   – 16 – 7   .696 Carleton –   – 9 – 4   .692 Ole Miss –   – 9 – 4   .692 Wake Forest –   – 9 – 4   .692 North Carolina State –   – 11 – 5   .688 Brigham Young –   – 4 – 2   .667 Gettysburg –   – 6 – 3   .667 Grove City –   – 13 – 7   .650 Arizona –   – 9 – 5   .643 Miami (Ohio) –   – 9 – 5   .643 Detroit –   – 12 – 7   .632 Kalamazoo –   – 12 – 7   .632 Tempe Normal –   – 5 – 3   .625 North Dakota Agricultural –   – 10 – 6   .625 Wabash –   – 13 – 8   .619 Millsaps –   – 8 – 5   .615 Springfield (Mass.) –   – 8 – 5   .615 Auburn –   – 11 – 7   .611 Pittsburgh –   – 9 – 6   .600 St. Joseph's –   – 9 – 6   .600 Valparaiso –   – 12 – 8   .600 Connecticut –   – 7 – 5   .583 Mount Union –   – 7 – 5   .583 Clemson –   – 8 – 6   .571 Fordham –   – 12 – 9   .571 Georgia –   – 9 – 7   .563 Temple –   – 9 – 7   .563 New Mexico A&M –   – 5 – 4   .556 Louisville –   – 6 – 5   .545 West Virginia –   – 12 – 10   .545 Geneva –   – 10 – 9   .526 Michigan State Normal –   – 12 – 11   .522 Fairmount –   – 8 – 8   .500 Muhlenberg –   – 8 – 9   .471 North Carolina –   – 8 – 9   .471 Union (N.Y.) –   – 8 – 9   .471 Ohio –   – 5 – 6   .455 Washington College –   – 5 – 6   .455 Montana –   – 7 – 9   .438 Alabama –   – 5 – 7   .417 Kentucky –   – 5 – 7   .417 Lehigh –   – 5 – 7   .417 William & Mary –   – 5 – 7   .417 Georgia Tech –   – 7 – 10   .412 Indiana State –   – 4 – 6   .400 St. John's (N.Y.) –   – 9 – 14   .391 South Carolina –   – 7 – 11   .389 Dayton –   – 5 – 8   .385 Duquesne –   – 6 – 10   .375 St. Bonaventure –   – 6 – 10   .375 Northern Colorado –   – 4 – 7   .364 Cincinnati –   – 5 – 9   .357 Tulane –   – 5 – 9   .357 Beloit –   – 5 – 10   .333 Bradley –   – 5 – 10   .333 Brown –   – 5 – 10   .333 Butler –   – 2 – 4   .333 Kent State Normal –   – 2 – 4   .333 Santa Clara –   – 2 – 4   .333 Bowling Green State –   – 4 – 9   .308 Lafayette –   – 3 – 7   .300 Notre Dame –   – 5 – 13   .278 Rhode Island State –   – 3 – 8   .273 Davidson –   – 3 – 10   .231 Richmond –   – 3 – 10   .231 Saint Louis –   – 2 – 11   .154 Furman –   – 2 – 12   .143 Texas Christian –   – 1 – 7   .125 Manhattan –   – 1 – 8   .111 Loyola (Md.) –   – 1 – 11   .083 Oklahoma A&M –   – 1 – 12   .077 Boston University –   – 0 – 6   .000 New Mexico –   – 0 – 3   .000 Saint Mary's (Calif.) –   – 0 – 6   .000 Xavier –   – 0 – 3   .000

Premo-Porretta Power Poll

St. Bonaventure University accounting professor Patrick M. Premo and computer programmer Phil Porretta researched teams from the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons, reviewing results, opponents, and margins of victory to create retroactive polls for the seasons predating the debut of the AP Poll. In 1995, they released their retroactive annual rankings as the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. Their poll for the 1919–20 season is below.

1920 Premo-Porretta Power Poll Ranking Team 1 Penn (22–1) 2 Missouri (17–1) 3 NYU (16–1) 4 Penn State (12–1) 5 Texas A&M (19–0) 6 Georgetown (13–1) 7 Purdue (16–4) 8 Chicago (27–8) 9 Delaware (13–2) 10 Southwestern (Kan.) (20–0) 11 Navy (14–3) 12 VMI (11–1) 13 Westminster (Mo.) (17–0) 14 Army (12–2) 15 Montana State (13–0) 16 Nebraska (22–2) 17 Buffalo (9–1) 18 Syracuse (15–3) 19 DePauw (13–3) 20 Nevada (7–2) 21 North Dakota (16–0) 22 CCNY (13–3) 23 Millikin (24–1) 24 Stevens Tech (12–3) 25 Worcester Polytechnic Institute (14–2)

Award winners

Helms College Basketball All-Americans

Main article: 1920 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 1919–20 season.

Player	Team
Howard Cann	New York University
Chuck Carney	Illinois
Erving Cook	Washington
Forrest DeBernardi	Westminster (Mo.)
George Gardner	Southwestern (Kan.)
Tony Hinkle	Chicago
Dan McNichol	Pennsylvania
Hubert Peck	Pennsylvania
George Sweeney	Pennsylvania
George Williams	Missouri

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Foundation Player of the Year: Howard Cann, New York University

Coaching changes

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

Team	Former Coach	Interim Coach	New Coach	Reason
Rhode Island State	Fred Murray		Frank Keaney