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1907–08 Chicago Maroons men's basketball team

1907–08 Chicago Maroons men's basketball
1907-08 UofC Men's Basketball Team.JPG
Western Conference Champions
Helms Foundation National Champions
Conference Big Ten Conference
1907–08 record 23–2 (7–1 Western)
Head coach Joseph Raycroft (2nd year)
Captain John Schommer
Home arena Bartlett Gymnasium
Seasons
← 1906–07
1908–09 →
1907–08 Western Conference men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
Chicago 7 1   .875     23 2   .920
Wisconsin 7 1   .875     10 2   .833
Illinois 6 5   .545     20 6   .769
Minnesota 2 6   .250     12 7   .632
Purdue 0 8   .000     5 9   .357
Iowa - -       10 6   .625
Indiana - -       9 6   .600
Northwestern - -       2 7   .222
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1907–08 Chicago Maroons men's basketball team represented the University of Chicago in intercollegiate basketball during the 1907–08 season. The team finished the season with a 23–2 record and were named national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation. This was the second straight year that Chicago claimed the Helms national championship. The team played their home games on campus at Frank Dickinson Bartlett Gymnasium.

Both Pat Page and John Schommer were named All-Americans. For Schommer, it was his third consecutive All-American honor; for Page, it was his second.

For the first time in college basketball's short history, a true national championship was awarded based on a "best-of-three" playoff series played by the presumptuous best two teams in the nation. In order to get to this series, however, the Maroons had to win the Western Conference. Based on the fact the Maroons and the Wisconsin Badgers had split the two games during the regular season, Coach Raycroft and Wisconsin physical education director Charles P. Hutchins agreed that a title game needed to be played. The game was played in Madison, however, the Maroons came out victorious and were not only awarded the conference title, this also determined who would meet the Quakers of Pennsylvania.

It would only take two games for the Maroons to win the series. The first game was played at Bartlett Gymnasium with a final score of 21 to 18. The second game was played in Philadelphia with a final score of 18 to 16. Besides the fact that a series of games were played to determine a national champion, the Maroons proved that they were worthy of the title by defeating 23 of the 25 opponents they faced during the season. Meanwhile, with a season that included over 20 games, Pennsylvania met and defeated all of the teams they faced in the east.


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