1917–18 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team
| 1917–18 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball | |
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| Conference | Big Ten Conference |
| 1917–18 record | 6–12 (0–10 Big Ten) |
| Head coach | Elmer Mitchell |
| Captain | Alan W. Boyd |
| Home arena | Waterman Gymnasium |
| 1917–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin | 9 | – | 3 | .750 | 14 | – | 3 | .824 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota | 7 | – | 3 | .700 | 13 | – | 3 | .813 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northwestern | 5 | – | 3 | .625 | 7 | – | 4 | .636 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Illinois | 6 | – | 6 | .500 | 9 | – | 6 | .600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chicago | 6 | – | 6 | .500 | 14 | – | 10 | .583 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purdue | 5 | – | 5 | .500 | 11 | – | 5 | .688 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ohio State | 5 | – | 5 | .500 | 12 | – | 7 | .632 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana | 3 | – | 3 | .500 | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iowa | 4 | – | 6 | .400 | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan | 0 | – | 10 | .000 | 6 | – | 12 | .333 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1917–18 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan in intercollegiate basketball during the 1917–18 season. The team was Michigan's second varsity basketball team and the first after an eight-year hiatus following the 1908–09 season. With no experienced collegiate players to draw from, the squad started from scratch and compiled a record of 6–12. They finished last in the Big Ten Conference with a record of 0–10 against conference opponents, the only winless conference season in Michigan history.
Elmer Mitchell, a 28-year-old graduate of the University of Michigan, served as the coach. He returned to Michigan in 1917 after having held positions as the athletic director at Grand Rapids Union High School from 1912 to 1915 and at Michigan State Normal College (now known as Eastern Michigan University) from 1915 to 1917. After a difficult start in the 1917–18 season, Mitchell led the team to a 12-game turnaround with a 16–8 record in the 1918–19 season. In 1919, Mitchell established the intramural sports program at Michigan and served as its director.
Alan W. Boyd was the team captain. James McClintock was the team's leading scorer with 108 points on 43 field goals and 22 free throws in 16 games. Timothy Hewlett led in scoring average with 7.0 points per game (22 field goals and 12 free throws in eight games).
In early December 1917, the Detroit Free Press wrote that basketball "receives its inception as a major league sport at Michigan this year." The Free Press noted that the game had never been played "on a big scale" in Ann Arbor, and Coach Mitchell had been unable to find experienced players for the team. As a result, the paper opined that Mitchell "will have his hands full putting any sort of a team on the floor."
Coach Mitchell was also the coach of Michigan's freshman football team and was unable to turn his attention to the basketball team until football season had ended. With his ties to the football team, Mitchell recruited several football players to try out for the basketball team, including Alan Boyd, Abe Cohn, Elton Wieman, Richard Weske, Oscar Cartright, William Cruse, and Angus Goetz. Boyd became the team captain, and Cohn was a reserve on Mitchell's team. During late November and early December, Mitchell held scrimmages to identify the best players. Searching for players with some level of experience, Mitchell looked to the class and fraternity teams. James McClintock, who had played center on the sophomore class team, stood out in the early practices. So, too, did Ralph Rychener who had played forward on the championship team of the fraternity-boarding house league.
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