by Onemargaret

Created on: March 16, 2009

In 1892, the college basketball tournament was established by Dr. James Naismith. During that time, Dr. Naismith worked for the YMCA training school in Springfield, Massachusetts. Each team was comprised of seven to nine players. No dribbling was allowed and players were disqualified after two fouls.

On February 9, 1895, the first intercollegiate game was played by the Minnesota School of Agriculture and Hamline College. Minnesota won 9-3. On April 4, 1896, the first intercollegiate women's game was held, where Stanford women played Berkeley, 9-on-9, ending in a 2-1 Stanford win.

In 1901, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, University of Minnesota, the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Utah, and Yale University started to sponsor men's games.

In 1906, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) was created, as suggested by President Theodore Roosevelt. It governed the rules of the eligibility for collegiate athletics. This organization was later changed to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Original Celtics and two all African American teams, the New York Renaissance Five ("Rems") and the Harlem Globetrotters played about 200 games per year on their national tours. In 1905, the National Women's Basketball Committee's Executive Committee on Basket Ball Rules was created by the American Physical Education Association. Here, six to nine players are assigned per team with 11 officials.

In 1924, the International Women's Sports Federation included a women's basketball competition. And, in 1926, the Amateur Athletic Union backed the first national women's basketball championship, with men's rules. And the first women's AAU all-American team was chosen in 1929. Remember famous athletics like Babe Didrikson of the Golden Cyclones and the All-American Red Hats Team? They competed against men's teams, using men's rules.

In 1937, the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball tournament was organized. This organization is now known as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

In 1938, the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association created the first basketball tournament "the National Invitation Tournament." The NCAA followed in 1939 with their tournament of eight teams, which later grew to 65 teams.

The NCCA tournament is structured to allow the best teams to have the weakest opponents. In the 1980's, college basketball became a premier sport. College basketball quickly became a proving ground for future National Basketball Association (NBA) stars.

College basketball has come a long way since 1892. According to ESPN, the 25 greatest players in college basketball are Lew Alcindor, Oscar Robertson, Bill Walton, Bill Russell, Pete Maravich, Jerry West, Bill Bradley, David Thompson, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry Lucas, Christian Laettner, Michael Jordan, Elvin Hayes, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing, Tom Gola, Ralph Sampson, Elgin Baylor, Bob Kurland, Tim Duncan, Austin Carr, Calvin Murphy, David Robinson, and George Mikan.

In 2007, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) signed a contract extension with ESPN. This new deal runs from 2009 to 2016. With this deal, came the first ever rights fees to be paid to a women's professional sports league.

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