| Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League (EIBL) |
|
|---|---|
| Association | NCAA |
| Division | Division I |
| Members | 5–8 |
| Region | Northeast |
| Locations | |
The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League is a defunct athletic conference comprising the predecessor institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States that subsequently formed the Ivy League. Its membership ranged between five and eight institutions. The eight institutions are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. The league was founded by Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Ralph Morgan.[1] The Ivy League considers the league its forerunner.[2]
The Ivy League basketball record book recognizes EIBL league champions from 1902 until Ivy League play began with the 1955-56 season.[3] Member schools played an eight-game (five-team) round robin home and home conference schedule during the 1901–02 and 1902–03 collegiate men's basketball seasons. This expanded to a ten-game (six-team) schedule for one season in 1903–04 before returning to an eight-game schedule for one season in 1904–05. Participants again played ten-game schedules in 1905–06 and 1906–07 before returning to an eight-game schedule in 1907–08. The team would play a ten-game schedule in 1911–12 and then regularly from 1913–14 until 1933–34 when it expanded to a twelve-game (seven-team) format, except 1918–19. Teams regularly played twelve-game schedules until 1942–43 NCAA men's basketball season. During the World War II seasons from 1943–44 until 1945–46 only eight game schedules were played. From 1946–47 until 1952–53 members played twelve-game schedules again. Then, the conference played fourteen-game (eight-team) schedules in 1953–54 and 1954–55. Subsequently the member schools participated in Ivy League college basketball competition.[4]