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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

basketball game played generally indoors by two opposing teams of five players each. Basketball was conceived in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith , a physical education instructor at the YMCA college in Springfield, Mass., as a way to condition outdoor athletes during the winter months. His original list of 13 rules has undergone a century of revision, leading to faster pacing and greater athleticism. Today basketball is one of the most popular American sports and one the rest of the world has adopted.

Basic Rules

At each end of the court—usually about 92 ft (28 m) long and 50 ft (15 m) wide—is a bottomless basket made of white cord net and suspended from a metal ring, 18 in. (46 cm) in diameter, which is attached 10 ft (3.05 m) above the floor (usually hardwood) to a backboard made of fiberglass, wood, or other material. Players may throw, dribble (bounce), or shoot the basketball (an inflated ball usually made of leather or rubber) but may not run with it or kick it.

Teams try to advance the ball and shoot it through one basket (the ball must enter from above) and to keep the opposition from scoring through the other. Each field goal, or basket, scores two points, or three points if shot from beyond a specified distance (21 ft/6 m in U.S. colleges, slightly longer in international and professional play). Teams must shoot the ball within a prescribed time limit (24 sec in the National Basketball Association; 30 sec in international games and in most women's play; 45 sec in men's collegiate play).

Any player making illegal body contact with an opposing player is assessed a foul; the opposing team may be given possession of the ball, or an opposing player awarded free throws at the basket from the foul line. Each made foul shot is worth one point. Players who exceed the foul limit (usually five, but six in the NBA) are disqualified from the game. International and collegiate basketball games have two 20-min halves, professionals play four 12-min quarters, and high schoolers play four 8-min quarters.

Professional Basketball

Professional basketball began (1896) in New York City and was at one time played on courts enclosed by wire mesh (basketball players are still occasionally referred to as "cagers" ). Until the 1950s it languished in popularity behind college basketball and such touring black teams as the Harlem Globetrotters and the New York Rens.

The merger (1949) of the National Basketball League and the rival Basketball Association of America into the National Basketball Association (NBA) led to greater popularity. The appearance of stars like George Mikan , the signing of black players beginning in 1950, the temporary disrepute of the college game owing to gambling scandals in the early 1950s, and the adoption of the 24-sec shot clock in 1954, further boosted the NBA.

Its success inspired the formation of several competing leagues, among them the American Basketball Association (ABA), founded in 1967 and merged into the NBA in 1975. In the 1980s the emergence of charismatic players like "Magic" Johnson (see Johnson, Earvin ), Larry Bird , and Michael Jordan , combined with aggressive marketing, made the NBA hugely successful, so that basketball often seemed the premier U.S. professional sport. A labor dispute in late 1998 delayed and shortened the 1999 season.

College Basketball

Basketball is a major sport in U.S. colleges. Postseason tournaments, first the National Invitation Tournament (begun 1938) and then the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships (begun 1939), soon attracted enough attention to fill large arenas like New York's Madison Square Garden. Point-shaving and game-fixing scandals unsettled college basketball in both 1950-51 and 1961, but did not diminish fan loyalty for extended periods.

The NCAA championship tournament, once secondary to the NIT, grew enormously from the 1960s into the 1990s. Large live audiences, national television coverage, and competitive parity have helped to make the NCAA's "March Madness" and Final Four (the semifinal and final rounds of the tournament) one of the most popular of all U.S. sporting events.

Olympic Basketball

An exhibition match was played at the 1904 Olympics, but basketball did not become an official part of the games until 1936. International rules and court dimensions differ slightly from U.S. standards. Still, the United States outclassed the rest of the world until 1972, when the Soviet Union defeated the U.S. team for the gold medal (despite American protests that the Soviets had been allowed to score a basket after the game had ended). In the 1980s, many nations achieved parity with the United States, which was still fielding a team of collegians. The U.S. Olympic Committee therefore assembled for the 1992 games a "Dream Team" composed of one collegian and the finest professional players, who handily won the gold medal.

Women's Basketball

Women's basketball has grown rapidly since the 1970s. Until then, women and girls had been allowed to play only a six-player game in which offensive and defensive players were rooted to one half of the court. Today full court action in women's college competition and in the Women's National Basketball Association (since 1997) exhibits advanced skills and fast-paced play, and has attained wider popularity than many other women's sports.

Bibliography

See P. Axthelm, The City Game (1971); D. Smith, Basketball—Multiple Offense and Defense (1982); A. Wolff, 100 Years of Hoops (1991); The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia (2d ed. 1994).

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Basketball

The Oxford Companion to United States History | 2001 | | © The Oxford Companion to United States History 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Basketball. James Naismith, an instructor at the YMCA Training School at Springfield College in Massachusetts, invented basketball in 1891 as an indoor winter game. The object was to throw a soccer ball into an elevated peach basket (the “goal”). Players could not run with the ball (which led to dribbling) and received a “foul” for rule violations. Play resumed after each goal with a “jump ball.” By 1895, field goals were two points and foul shots one, and backboards were added to prevent fans from interfering with shots. Two years later the number of players on a team was fixed at five. They wore knee pads because play was rough, with frequent fights over balls that went out of bounds. Cages were built around the court to keep the ball in play and prevent fan interference.

Basketball quickly gained popularity across the nation. At YMCAs, settlement houses, and school yards social workers believed that it improved morals, promoted teamwork, reduced juvenile delinquency, and Americanized recent immigrants. By the 1920s, it had become a cornerstone of interscholastic sports in the small towns of Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, where high school basketball symbolized hometown pride.

Basketball was well liked by women college students. In 1892, the Smith College gymnasium director, Senda Berenson, modified the rules to make it more appropriate for young ladies. She curtailed physical play by forbidding grabbing of the ball and promoted teamwork by permitting no one to hold it more than three seconds or dribble more than three times. Berenson redesigned the court, placing three women in the offensive zone, three in the defensive, and two in midcourt to reduce fatigue (reflecting contemporary views of women's limited physical capacity) and encourage team play. In 1895, Stanford University defeated the University of California–Berkeley, 2–1, in the first women's intercollegiate contest. However, the game was soon deemphasized by women's physical educators who opposed female competitive sports. In the 1930s and 1940s industrial league teams dominated women's play. Not until the era of Title IX in the 1970s did the game regain its popularity on campus. Renewed interest led to the rise of two women's pro leagues in 1996: the Women's National Basketball League and the defunct American Basketball League.

In the first male college game, also in 1895, Minnesota State topped Hamline University 9–3. However, basketball did not become a major sport until the 1930s. In 1938, New York sports writers organized the National Invitational Tournament at New York's Madison Square Garden. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament followed in 1939. A major college‐basketball scandal, involving gambling, point shaving, and thrown games, occurred in 1951, causing Madison Square Garden to drop big‐time basketball, ruining New York City's college programs, and harming New York's status as the game's mecca. College basketball regained its luster in the 1960s, abetted by UCLA's ten championships between 1964 and 1975. By the end of the century, NCAA tournament had become a premier American sporting event.

Professional men's basketball began in 1898 with metropolitan Philadelphia's short‐lived National Basketball League. In the 1920s, the touring New York Original Celtics and the black New York Rens were the dominant clubs. Top white teams also played in regional semipro leagues like the American Basketball League (1933–1946) and the National Basketball League (1937–1948). In 1946, owners of major urban sports arenas formed the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to augment use of their facilities. In 1949 it merged with the NBL to form the National Basketball Association (NBA), which became racially integrated in 1950. Several franchises failed, and smaller cities' teams relocated to larger metropolises. The Boston Celtics dominated the NBA for several years, with eleven championships between 1957 and 1969. Rule innovations, talented performers, flashy play, and television helped build attendance from under two million in 1960 to ten million in 1980. Such NBA superstars as Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls became multimillionaires through their salaries and product endorsements and enjoyed widespread celebrity.
See also Sports; YMCA and YWCA.

Bibliography

Neil D. Isaacs , All the Moves: A History of College Basketball, 1975.
Robert Peterson , Cages to Jumpshots: Pro Basketball's Early Years, 1990.

Steven A. Riess

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