We played the first ever college basketball game???

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Sparlimb

Sparlimb

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I'm assuming the Minnesota School of Agriculture was still U of MN. I had absolutely no idea of this fact. Granted that might not be us, and Hamline can claim it but we can't.

Source: http://www.collegesportsscholarships.com/history-ncaa-basketball.htm

The 1st intercollegiate basketball game was played on February 9, 1895, between Hamline College and the Minnesota School of Agriculture with Minnesota taking the game out nine to three.
 

Kind of. The Minnesota School of Agriculture was not at the time part of the University of Minnesota (according to Wikipedia), but it was later absorbed by the U. So, it wasn't the Gophers, but the U can claim credit for it. Hamline could have remained a basketball power had they taken a different path.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_men's_basketball
In the early years of the program, the Gophers had several rivalries that have not extended into the modern era. Among them was a rivalry with Hamline University, now a Division III school in St. Paul. Hamline had one of the earliest college basketball programs in the country and it was several years before Minnesota competed on equal footing with them; they played as late as 1935.[68] The greatest rival of the early years of the program was the Minnesota Aggies, representing the Minnesota School of Agriculture and Mining, which has since been incorporated into the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as the St. Paul campus.[69] Minnesota A&M dominated the Gophers, winning ten consecutive games; Minnesota did not get its first win against the Aggies until 1899.[16] This rivalry expired especially early, and the two teams did not meet after 1901. The University of Minnesota is currently the only Division I basketball school in the state of Minnesota, so there are no intense intra-border rivalries as there are in most states.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/MNAM/
 

This is no secret, it's been widely acknowledged for 100 years as the 1st intercollegiate game. The Aggies are now the St. Paul campus but had a separate basketball team as late as 1947.

You may know that James Naismith invented basketball in Springfield, MA, in 1891. The 1st game ever played in December 1891 featured 9 men on a side. 2 of them were Max Exner, who became Carleton's AD the following fall and Ray Kaighn, who became Hamline's athletic director another year later.

Dr. Louis Cooke had worked with Naismith in Springfield earlier yet. He became physical director of the Minneapolis Y in 1896 but moved across the river to the U as basketball coach in 1897. Many Big Ten schools didn't have a permanent basketball coach until 10-20 years later. So the Gophers won the national championships in 1902 and 1903, and again in 1919, under Cooke. But it's true, the Aggies were the 1st collegiate power in the state.
 

RodentRampage said:
Kind of. The Minnesota School of Agriculture was not at the time part of the University of Minnesota (according to Wikipedia), but it was later absorbed by the U. So, it wasn't the Gophers, but the U can claim credit for it. Hamline could have remained a basketball power had they taken a different path.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_men's_basketball
In the early years of the program, the Gophers had several rivalries that have not extended into the modern era. Among them was a rivalry with Hamline University, now a Division III school in St. Paul. Hamline had one of the earliest college basketball programs in the country and it was several years before Minnesota competed on equal footing with them; they played as late as 1935.[68] The greatest rival of the early years of the program was the Minnesota Aggies, representing the Minnesota School of Agriculture and Mining, which has since been incorporated into the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as the St. Paul campus.[69] Minnesota A&M dominated the Gophers, winning ten consecutive games; Minnesota did not get its first win against the Aggies until 1899.[16] This rivalry expired especially early, and the two teams did not meet after 1901. The University of Minnesota is currently the only Division I basketball school in the state of Minnesota, so there are no intense intra-border rivalries as there are in most states.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/MNAM/
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This also serves as a pretty good explanation as to why there is no "Minnesota State" or Minnesota A & M, especially when the semi-weekly posting of "I wish we had another DI school in state." The most natural and likely second school would have been the old A & M. Look at our neighbors (except Sconnie): Iowa, the traditional liberal arts school, and State, the A & M type school. Same in the Dakotas. Perhaps if early education in MN had not been so Twin Cities-centric, there would be a U - A & M rivalry today.
 

What was the Minnesota School of Agriculture? I haven't been able to find much on it. Was it a separate institution from the University of Minnesota, or was more a separate campus like Crookston or Duluth? Most people don't make a big distinction between the Minneapolis and Saint Paul campuses in the same way they would make a distinction between the Twin Cities campuses and the Duluth and Crookston campuses.

It would be pretty cool to have the Gophers vs. the Minnesota A&M Aggies, that would have been a cool rivalry.
 


is there a record of "Great Grandmother of Art Vandelay" ripping the players and coaches on Feb 10, 1895?
 

There is still a Minnesota Ag school to this day, there has always been an Ag school. Right now it happens to be called the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences. It is on the St. Paul campus, which is still widely referred to as the "farm campus." And like I said, the Minnesota Aggies had a basketball team as late as 1947
 


For the 100th anniversary Hamline held a celebration and recreation of the game. If memory serves me correctly Wooden, Dean Smith and a number of other luminaries were there.
 




Get the Aggies started up again on the Saint Paul campus, and have them join the Big 12 when they want to go back to 12 teams again. Then we can have the annual rivalry game between the Gophers and the Aggies. It would be fun, but odd, you might have rival players in the same classes. Technically, it would be no different from UMC and UMD, it's just that the Saint Paul and Minneapolis campuses are so close.

I want some revenge on the Aggies. I've always hated those guys. :D
 

Swede said:
This also serves as a pretty good explanation as to why there is no "Minnesota State" or Minnesota A & M, especially when the semi-weekly posting of "I wish we had another DI school in state." The most natural and likely second school would have been the old A & M. Look at our neighbors (except Sconnie): Iowa, the traditional liberal arts school, and State, the A & M type school. Same in the Dakotas. Perhaps if early education in MN had not been so Twin Cities-centric, there would be a U - A & M rivalry today.
Click to expand...

There is a Minnesota State University actually.
 

GopherFan75 said:
There is a Minnesota State University actually.
Click to expand...

Actually there is a Minnesota State-Mankato, a Minnesota State Moorhead and a Southwest Minnesota State University, but no "Minnesota State University." Actually.
 



It gets a little fuzzy. Technically, all the campuses of the University of Minnesota make up one university, although that's not how people think of it. MnSCU is a much looser association. If Mankato moves to D-I, they would have a more solid claim to being "Minnesota State". The other state universities could have changed their names to MSU-(Insert name here), it's just that the others preferred their older names.

A lot of times the "State" is the ag school, but we have the ag school combines the main university. Our state universities are a bunch of former teachers colleges.
 

UMD was one of the teachers colleges, too. They moved it over to the U of M system after WWII. For several years they belonged to the MIAC and were known as the Duluth Branch. But before that they were a member of the Northern Teachers Conference along with Bemidji, Mankato, Moorhead, St. Cloud, Winona.... SW State was founded later on, in the 1960s, I think.
 

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