Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball through the defender's hoop, while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (overtime) is mandated.
The Big Ten Conference is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates the founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA. It is based in the Chicago area in Rosemont, Illinois. For many decades the conference consisted of 10 prominent universities, which accounts for its name. As of 2014, it consists of 14 member institutions and 2 affiliate institutions, with 4 new member institutions scheduled to join in 2024. The conference competes in the NCAA Division I and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport.
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. It consists of 14 full-member universities in the states of Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of college football in the nation.
James Naismith was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United States, he wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program. Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Tournament (1939).
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, the Edwards Campus in Overland Park. There are also educational and research sites in Garden City, Hays, Leavenworth, Parsons, and Topeka, an agricultural education center in rural north Douglas County, and branches of the medical school in Salina and Wichita. The university is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). Each of these various organizations is subdivided into one to three divisions, based on the number and level of scholarships that may be provided to the athletes. Teams with more talent tend to win over teams with less talent.
Marvel Keith Harshman was a college basketball coach, a head coach for forty years in the state of Washington at Pacific Lutheran University, Washington State University, and the University of Washington.
George F. McGinnis was an American professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers, earning third-team All-American honors in 1971, before starting his pro career in the ABA with the Indiana Pacers. A three-time ABA All-Star with the Pacers, McGinnis was named the ABA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1975 and won two ABA championships with the team. He was a three-time NBA All-Star with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was named to the ABA All-Time Team and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, women's basketball, and wrestling teams. It also doubles as a performance and event center, and is one of the largest venues between Chicago and St. Louis. It opened in 1963 and was known until 2013 as Assembly Hall until State Farm Insurance acquired naming rights as part of a major renovation project.
The Marriott Center is a multi-purpose arena in the western United States, located on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. It is home to the BYU Cougars men's and women's basketball teams. The seating capacity for basketball games at the Marriott Center is officially 17,978. It is the largest basketball arena in the Big 12 Conference and it is among the largest on-campus basketball arenas in the nation.
The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a member of the Big 12 Conference. KU athletic teams have won twelve NCAA Division I championships: four in men's basketball, one in men's cross country, three in men's indoor track and field, three in men's outdoor track and field, and one in women's outdoor track and field. KU basketball also has two Helms Foundation National Titles.
Charles Thomas Scott, also known as Shaheed Abdul-Aleem, is an American former professional basketball player. He played two seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Scott was an Olympic Gold Medalist and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
The USC Trojans men's basketball program is a college basketball team that competes in the Pac-12 Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, representing the University of Southern California.
The Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team represents Vanderbilt University in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Commodores have won three SEC regular-season titles and two SEC Tournament championships. They have competed in 15 NCAA Tournaments, making it to the Elite Eight once (1965) and the Sweet Sixteen six times. Vanderbilt has played in 14 National Invitation Tournaments, winning it in 1990 and finishing runners-up in 1994.
The Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team is the men's college basketball program representing the University of Louisville in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I. The Cardinals have officially won two NCAA championships in 1980 and 1986 ; and have officially been to 8 Final Fours in 39 official NCAA tournament appearances while compiling 61 tournament wins.
USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Its chairman of the board is retired General Martin Dempsey and its CEO is Jim Tooley.
The Long Beach State Beach men's basketball team represents California State University, Long Beach in Long Beach, California. The school's team competes in the Big West Conference. The team last played in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 2012. The Beach is currently coached by Dan Monson. Long Beach State officially changed their nickname with the NCAA to "Beach" from "49ers" prior to the 2019–20 season.
The Maine Black Bears men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents University of Maine in Orono, Maine, United States. The school's team currently competes in the America East Conference, which they joined upon its founding in 1979. Their current head coach is Chris Markwood, who took over in March 2022.
The Pac-12 Network (P12N), sometimes referred to as Pac-12 Networks, is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Pac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities are headquartered in San Ramon, California.
