1926–27 NCAA men's basketball season

1926–27 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Helms National Champions	Notre Dame (retroactive selection in 1943)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Vic Hanson, Syracuse (retroactive selection in 1944)

The 1926–27 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1926, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded in March 1927.

Season headlines

• In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Notre Dame as its national champion for the 1926–27 season.^[1]
• In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected California as its national champion for the 1926–27 season.^[2]

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner[3]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Big Ten Conference	Michigan	None selected	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Dartmouth	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Kansas	None selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Oregon (North); California (South)		No Tournament; California defeated Oregon in best-of-three conference championship playoff series
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado College (Eastern); Montana State (Western)		No Tournament
Southern Conference	South Carolina	None selected	1927 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Municipal Auditorium (Atlanta, Georgia)	Vanderbilt[4]
Southwest Conference	Arkansas	None selected	No Tournament

Conference standings

1926–27 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Michigan 10 – 2   .833 14 – 3   .824 Indiana 9 – 3   .750 13 – 4   .765 Purdue 9 – 3   .750 12 – 5   .706 Illinois 7 – 5   .583 10 – 7   .588 Wisconsin 7 – 5   .583 10 – 7   .588 Iowa 7 – 5   .583 9 – 8   .529 Ohio State 6 – 6   .500 11 – 6   .647 Chicago 3 – 9   .250 6 – 11   .353 Minnesota 1 – 11   .083 3 – 13   .188 Northwestern 1 – 11   .083 3 – 14   .176	1926–27 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Dartmouth† 7 – 3   .700 17 – 6   .739 Princeton 7 – 3   .700 11 – 11   .500 Penn 5 – 5   .500 16 – 10   .615 Columbia 5 – 5   .500 8 – 9   .471 Cornell 4 – 6   .400 5 – 13   .278 Yale 2 – 8   .200 11 – 12   .478 † Conference championship winner	1926–27 Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Kansas 10 – 2   .833 15 – 2   .882 Oklahoma 8 – 4   .667 12 – 5   .706 Missouri 6 – 4   .600 9 – 8   .529 Nebraska 7 – 5   .583 12 – 6   .667 Kansas State 6 – 6   .500 10 – 8   .556 Oklahoma A&M 6 – 6   .500 8 – 9   .471 Drake 6 – 6   .500 8 – 10   .444 Iowa State 7 – 8   .467 9 – 9   .500 Washington University 2 – 8   .200 5 – 10   .333 Grinnell 2 – 10   .167 2 – 15   .118
1926–27 Pacific Coast Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT North Oregon 8 – 2   .800 24 – 4   .857 Washington 7 – 3   .700 15 – 4   .789 Idaho 7 – 3   .700 24 – 7   .774 Oregon Agricultural 4 – 6   .400 14 – 11   .560 Washington State 3 – 7   .300 11 – 10   .524 Montana 1 – 9   .100 5 – 11   .313 South California † 5 – 0   1.000 13 – 0   1.000 Stanford 3 – 2   .600 9 – 9   .500 USC 0 – 6   .000 10 – 8   .556 † Conference playoff series winner	1926–27 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Eastern Colorado College 12 – 2   .857 12 – 4   .750 Northern Colorado 10 – 4   .714 10 – 4   .714 Wyoming 8 – 4   .667 9 – 5   .643 Colorado 7 – 5   .583 7 – 5   .583 Denver 5 – 7   .417 5 – 7   .417 Colorado Agricultural 4 – 8   .333 4 – 8   .333 Colorado Mines 2 – 10   .167 3 – 10   .231 Western State 0 – 7   .000 5 – 7   .417 Western Montana State 10 – 2   .833 30 – 7   .811 Utah Agricultural 9 – 3   .750 11 – 3   .786 Utah 4 – 8   .333 5 – 10   .333 BYU 1 – 11   .083 5 – 14   .263
1926–27 Southern Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT South Carolina 9 – 1   .900 14 – 4   .778 Vanderbilt† 7 – 1   .875 20 – 4   .833 Georgia Tech 8 – 2   .800 17 – 10   .630 Auburn 12 – 4   .750 13 – 6   .684 Washington and Lee 6 – 2   .750 10 – 6   .625 Mississippi 10 – 4   .714 13 – 5   .722 NC State 5 – 2   .714 12 – 5   .706 North Carolina 7 – 3   .700 17 – 7   .708 Maryland 6 – 4   .600 10 – 10   .500 Mississippi A&M 7 – 5   .583 17 – 7   .708 Tennessee 5 – 4   .556 7 – 12   .368 Alabama 4 – 5   .444 5 – 8   .385 Virginia 5 – 7   .417 9 – 10   .474 Tulane 7 – 10   .412 7 – 10   .412 LSU 3 – 5   .375 7 – 9   .438 Georgia 3 – 6   .333 14 – 8   .636 Virginia Tech 2 – 6   .250 6 – 8   .429 Kentucky 1 – 6   .143 3 – 13   .188 Clemson 1 – 7   .125 2 – 13   .133 Florida 1 – 8   .111 6 – 20   .231 VMI 0 – 7   .000 4 – 11   .267 Sewanee 0 – 10   .000 3 – 11   .214 † Southern Conference Tournament winner	1926–27 Southwest Conference men's basketball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Arkansas 8 – 2   .800 14 – 2   .875 SMU 7 – 4   .636 12 – 5   .706 Texas 7 – 4   .636 13 – 9   .591 TCU 6 – 4   .600 9 – 8   .529 Texas A&M 4 – 6   .400 10 – 7   .588 Baylor 0 – 3   .000 8 – 4   .667 Rice 0 – 9   .000 0 – 9   .000

Independents

A total of 93 college teams played as major independents. Notre Dame (19–1) had the highest winning percentage (.950) and West Texas State (23–3) finished with the most wins.^[6]

1926–27 NCAA men's basketball independents standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Notre Dame –   – 19 – 1   .950 New Hampshire –   – 14 – 1   .933 Springfield (Mass.) –   – 13 – 1   .929 Fordham –   – 20 – 2   .909 Northern Illinois State –   – 20 – 2   .909 Muskingum –   – 19 – 2   .905 Wichita Municipal –   – 19 – 2   .905 The Citadel –   – 17 – 2   .895 Pittsburg State –   – 16 – 2   .889 Western State Normal –   – 16 – 2   .889 West Texas State –   – 23 – 3   .885 Navy –   – 15 – 2   .882 Wake Forest –   – 22 – 3   .880 Colgate –   – 17 – 3   .850 Northern Arizona State –   – 17 – 3   .850 Denison –   – 16 – 3   .842 Rhode Island State –   – 13 – 3   .813 Butler –   – 17 – 4   .810 Duquesne –   – 16 – 4   .800 Evansville –   – 16 – 4   .800 Furman –   – 16 – 4   .800 Syracuse –   – 15 – 4   .789 Army –   – 11 – 3   .786 Xavier –   – 11 – 3   .786 Bucknell –   – 14 – 4   .778 Penn State –   – 14 – 4   .778 Richmond –   – 14 – 4   .778 Rutgers –   – 10 – 3   .769 Seton Hall –   – 10 – 3   .769 Arizona –   – 13 – 4   .765 Loyola (Ill.) –   – 13 – 4   .765 New Mexico –   – 13 – 4   .765 CCNY –   – 9 – 3   .750 UCLA –   – 12 – 4   .750 Creighton –   – 14 – 5   .737 Temple –   – 14 – 5   .737 Buffalo –   – 11 – 4   .733 Cincinnati –   – 13 – 5   .722 St. Bonaventure –   – 13 – 5   .722 Carleton –   – 12 – 5   .706 Westminster (Pa.) –   – 12 – 5   .706 Harvard –   – 10 – 5   .667 Mount Union –   – 12 – 6   .667 Canisius –   – 9 – 5   .643 Bowling Green State –   – 12 – 7   .632 Western Kentucky State –   – 12 – 7   .632 Villanova –   – 11 – 7   .611 Lehigh –   – 9 – 6   .600 Miami (Ohio) –   – 9 – 6   .600 St. John's (N.Y.) –   – 15 – 10   .600 Washburn –   – 12 – 8   .600 Pittsburgh –   – 10 – 7   .588 Louisville –   – 7 – 5   .583 Connecticut –   – 9 – 7   .563 Muhlenberg –   – 9 – 7   .563 Saint Mary's (Calif.) –   – 9 – 7   .563 Wooster –   – 9 – 7   .563 Davidson –   – 10 – 8   .556 Georgetown –   – 5 – 4   .556 West Virginia –   – 10 – 8   .556 Holy Cross –   – 7 – 6   .538 Loyola (Md.) –   – 7 – 6   .538 Santa Clara –   – 7 – 6   .538 George Washington –   – 8 – 7   .533 Niagara –   – 8 – 7   .533 St. Ignatius –   – 8 – 7   .533 Manhattan –   – 9 – 8   .529 Dayton –   – 10 – 9   .526 DePaul –   – 7 – 7   .500 DePauw –   – 8 – 8   .500 Valparaiso –   – 10 – 10   .500 Detroit –   – 8 – 9   .471 Bradley –   – 7 – 8   .467 William & Mary –   – 7 – 8   .467 Boston University –   – 6 – 7   .462 Texas Tech –   – 8 – 10   .444 Marshall –   – 7 – 9   .438 Brown –   – 6 – 9   .400 Toledo –   – 6 – 9   .400 Michigan State –   – 7 – 11   .389 Ohio –   – 8 – 13   .381 New York University –   – 4 – 7   .364 St. Joseph's –   – 6 – 11   .353 Tempe State –   – 4 – 8   .333 Marquette –   – 5 – 10   .333 Tulsa –   – 3 – 6   .333 New Mexico A&M –   – 6 – 13   .316 Kent State Normal –   – 5 – 11   .313 Duke –   – 4 – 10   .286 Indiana State –   – 3 – 13   .188 Lafayette –   – 3 – 14   .176 Saint Francis (N.Y.) –   – 2 – 12   .143 Saint Louis –   – 0 – 14   .000

Statistical leaders

Awards

Helms College Basketball All-Americans

Main article: 1927 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 1926–27 season.^[7]

Player	Team
Syd Corenman	Creighton
George Dixon	California
Vic Hanson	Syracuse
John Lorch	Columbia
Ross McBurney	Wichita
John Nyikos	Notre Dame
Bennie Oosterbaan	Michigan
Gerald Spohn	Washburn
Cat Thompson	Montana State
Harry Wilson	Army

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Player of the Year: Vic Hanson, Syracuse (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
Georgetown	John O'Reilly		Elmer Ripley	O'Reilly retired after the end of the season.[8]
Marshall	Bill Strickling		Johnny Stuart
Northwestern	Maury Kent		Dutch Lonborg

References

1. Scott, Jon (November 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved December 14, 2015.
2. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. pp. 526, 529–587. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
3. "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
4. 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
5. "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
6. "1926-27 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
7. The Association for Professional Basketball Research "NCAA All-American Teams, 1919–20 to 1998–99"
8. "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches". Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2014.