Couple of BU Trivia Questions

[tornado]

Just for fun, see who can remember.......

--Who was the 1992-1993 MVC Freshman of the Year?
--The next year, 1993-1994, the award was changed to the Newcomer of the Year. Who won it, and who came in 2nd?
--Name one of the two teams who played in the very first NATIONALLY TELEVISED NCAA Championship game.
--Was Bradley in the MVC in 1954?
--Who was BU's coach in 1953-1954, and who took over in 1954-1955?

Answers -- mouse over to read
--Deon Jackson
--Anthony Parker came in 2nd behind Tulsa's Shea Seals
--3/20/54 BU loses 92-76 to LaSalle
--Nope, Bradley withdrew from the Missouri Valley from 1951-1955 over the controversy and how it was handled with the racial incident in a football game between Drake and Oklahoma A&M (Oklahoma State).
--Forddy Anderson stepped down in 1954 and Bob Vanatta took over for the 1954-1955 season.


How'd everyone do?
I might have gotten a couple but some of those old facts tend to slip away!

[PTownHawkeye]

I knew the first question immediately, because that is the era when I was in middle school and started following Bradley basketball. I figured out the 2nd question, but I had to think for a minute. I had no idea on the 3rd and 4th, that was very interesting to know! I knew Forddy Anderson was the coach of the runner-up '54 team, but didn't realize he left after that season.

Great questions T! Nothing like a little refresher on BU history...

[tornado]

Here's one more for the real old timers.........
Arguably, the two most significant rules in all of basketball, the rules that MOST changed the way the game is played, are the elimination of the center jump rule and the introduction of a shot clock.

What was the very first college basketball season in which the center jump rule after every made basket was done away with?

If you have some of the BU press guides it is not hard to just guess on this one, as in the years when a center jump was required after every made basket, the scores were 22-19, 34-15, and even scoring 50 points in a game was an extreme oddity.

The following year, the game's pace changed only a little, as most teams simply didn't have much of a chance to alter their game play and worked the ball endlessly at times for shots once they had possession, but by the following couple seasons BU put up several single game scores in the 60's and 70's.

Also when was the first shot clock used?


Answer.......
1936-1937 was the first season that the teams simply took the ball out of bounds after an opponent's made basket. Before that, just like in ice hockey a center jump would take place. But the rule didn't take effect until January of that season.
The other major rule change in the 117 years of basketball since Dr. James Naismith invented the game, the shot clock, was first introduced by the NBA in 1954, although colleges and some state high school associations added his rule much later.

[tornado]

PS-- one more note I found........

Backboards, a very integral part of the game, were added shortly after the invention of the game, in 1896. But not for the purpose of helping a player score....
instead backboards were added since most gyms had upper bowl seats and the backboards were attached to the balconies, and the fans would reach down and interfere with the ball.
thus the backboards were actually added only to keep fans from reaching in and interfering. This explains the fan-shaped backboard, as it provided an equidistant protection from fan interference no matter which direction the fan was reaching from.