# 1901–02 collegiate men's basketball season in the United States

The 1901–02 collegiate men's basketball season in the United States began in December 1901, progressed through the regular season, and concluded in March 1902.

## Rule changes

* An early form of dribbling became legal; previously, players were not allowed to bounce the ball at all and could advance it only by passing. The new dribbling rule did not permit continuous dribbling in the modern sense; instead, a player could bounce a ball only once and then recover it, and the bounce had to be higher than his head. A player was allowed to bounce and recover the ball in this way as many times in a row as he wanted or pass the ball to another player after any single-bounce dribble, but he was not allowed to shoot the ball after a dribble. The rule limited dribbling to a defensive tactic in which a player in effect passed the ball to himself. Continuous dribbling — dribbling in its modern sense — was not permitted until the 1909–10 season.

## Season headlines

* The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League began play, with five original members. It played the first college conference basketball season.
* Minnesota went undefeated (15–0).
* In February 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected Minnesota as its national champion for the 1901–02 season.
* In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively selected Minnesota as its national champion for the 1901–02 season.

## Conference membership changes

| School | Former Conference | New Conference |
| Columbia Lions | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League |
| Cornell Big Red | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League |
| Harvard Crimson | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League |
| Iowa Hawkeyes | No major basketball program | Western Conference |
| Penn Quakers | No major basketball program | Independent |
| Princeton Tigers | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League |
| Yale Bulldogs | Independent | Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League |

## Regular season
### Conferences

| Conference | Regular Season Winner | Conference Player of the Year | Conference Tournament | Tournament Venue (City) | Tournament Winner |
| Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League | Yale | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
| Western Conference | None (see note) | None selected | No Tournament | No Tournament | No Tournament |
NOTE: The Western Conference (the future Big Ten Conference) did not sponsor an official conference season or recognize a regular-season champion until the 1905–06 season, although a few intermural games took place within the conference during the 1901–02 season. Minnesota (15–0), Iowa (10–2), and Purdue (10–3) won 10 or more games.
1901–02 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings :
| 1901–02 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Yale5–3 .62513–8  .619 Harvard4–4 .5009–5  .643 Columbia3–3 .5005–3  .625 Princeton4–4 .50010–10  .500 Cornell2–4 .3335–5  .500 | 1901–02 Western Conference men's basketball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Minnesota†*2–0 1.00015–0  1.000 Iowa– –10–2  .833 Purdue2–0 1.00010–3  .769 Wisconsin0–1 .0007–3  .700 Indiana0–2 .0004–4  .500 † Intramural play only, the conference did not have an official championship *Minnesota was named Premo-Porretta and Helms Foundation National Champions winner |

### Independents

A total of 50 college teams played as major independents. Among them, St. Francis (NY) (13–1), Allegheny (13–1), Bucknell (12–2), Grove City (13–3), Mount Union (11–3), and Dartmouth (11–5) won more than 10 games.
1901–02 collegiate men's basketball independents standings :
* 1901–02 collegiate men's basketball independents standings
* vteConfOverall
* TeamW L PCTW L PCT
* Amherst– –8–0
* 1.000
* Colorado Agricultural– –2–0
* 1.000
* Michigan State– –5–0
* 1.000
* New Mexico– –2–0
* 1.000
* Ripon– –4–0
* 1.000
* Washington– –7–0
* 1.000
* Wisc.–Stevens Point– –4–0
* 1.000
* St. Francis (NY)– –13–1
* .929
* Allegheny– –12–1
* .923
* Bucknell– –12–2
* .857
* St. Lawrence– –6–1
* .857
* Penn State– –9–2
* .818
* Grove City– –13–3
* .813
* Mount Union– –11–3
* .786
* Colgate– –7–2
* .778
* Penn– –7–2
* .778
* Williams– –13–4
* .765
* Colorado– –3–1
* .750
* Illinois State– –3–1
* .750
* Temple– –8–3
* .727
* Vanderbilt– –5–2
* .714
* Wheaton (Ill.)– –5–2
* .714
* Dartmouth– –11–5
* .688
* Lehigh– –9–5
* .643
* Geneva– –7–4
* .636
* Hiram– –7–4
* .636
* Nebraska– –5–3
* .625
* North Dakota Agricultural– –5–3
* .625
* Bloomsburg– –4–3
* .571
* Cincinnati– –5–4
* .556
* Akron– –2–2
* .500
* Connecticut– –5–5
* .500
* Grinnell– –2–2
* .500
* Lafayette– –5–5
* .500
* Syracuse– –3–3
* .500
* Wooster– –2–2
* .500
* Muhlenberg– –5–6
* .455
* Holy Cross– –4–5
* .444
* Wabash– –4–5
* .444
* Rensselaer– –3–4
* .429
* Kansas– –5–7
* .417
* Westminster (Pa.)– –3–5
* .375
* Augustana (Ill.)– –1–2
* .333
* Oregon Agricultural– –1–2
* .333
* Brown– –5–15
* .250
* Butler– –1–3
* .250
* Montana State– –1–4
* .200
* Indiana State– –1–6
* .143
* Washington State– –0–2
* .000
* Wesleyan (Conn.)– –0–4
* .000