Background

James Naismith created basketball in 1891 after being asked by Luther Gulick to invent a new indoor game that the people could play during the winter months. Origins of the game came from a game called “Duck on a Rock” in which a guy would guard his “duck” from other players’ stones. The first official basketball game was played on December 29, 1891.

Fun Facts

Shortly after basketball was invented, colleges quickly formed teams and challenge nearby schools to games. Ivy League schools like Yale, Harvard, Cornell and Princeton were among the first to form college leagues. In 1937, a group of basketball writers in New York decided to stage a tournament and name a national collegiate basketball champion. The first National Invitation Tournament was held in Madison Square Garden in 1938 with Temple winning that first national championship.

In 1939 a group of coaches, who wanted to centralize the national tournament, started their own tournament, which was taken over by the NCAA shortly after. This “coaches’ tournament” grew into what we know today as March Madness—one of the major U.S. collegiate sporting events.

Basic Rules

There must be 2 teams, each with 5 players and each team tries to score by shooting a basketball into the hoop.

The court is divided up into 2 halves, indicated by the midcourt line. Each team is assigned a side. Team must shoot in the opposing hoop to score points. At half-time, teams swap sides.

Teams are either referred to as offense or defense. The team with the ball is called the offense. The team without the ball is called the defense.

If the offensive team puts the ball into play behind the mid-court line, it has ten seconds to get the ball over the mid-court line. If it doesn’t, then the defense gets the ball. Once the offensive team gets the ball over the mid-court line, it can no longer have possession of the ball in the area in back of the line. If it does, the defense is awarded the ball.

When a team makes a basked, it is referred to as a field goal, which earns the team 2 points. When a field goal is made outside of the 3 point arc, then the team gets 3 points.

Free throws are worth 1 point. The number of fouls in the half or the type of foul leads to a free throw shot for the team. Fouling a shooter always results in two or three free throws being awarded the shooter, depending upon where he was when he shot. If he was beyond the three-point line, then he gets three shots. Other types of fouls do not result in free throws being awarded until a certain number have accumulated during a half. Once that number is reached, then the player who was fouled is awarded a ’1-and-1′ opportunity. If he makes his first free throw, he gets to attempt a second. If he misses the first shot, the ball is live on the rebound.

There are 2 halves to a game. Professional basketball has 4 quarters, divided up into 12 minutes each. College basketball has 2 halves, 20 minutes each. There is always a few minutes between the halves in any game, referred to as half time.

A player from each team comes to the center at the beginning of a game. The referee throws the ball in the air. The player that touches the ball first, throws it to a player on their team on the court. This is referred to as a tip-off.

The opposing team can get the ball through fouls or a violation.