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1928–29 Montana State Bobcats men's basketball team

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1928–29 Montana State Bobcats men's basketball
RMAC Champions
Helms Foundation National Champions
Premo-Porretta National Champions
ConferenceRocky Mountain Athletic Conference
DivisionWestern
Record36–2 (11–1 RMAC)
Head coach
Seasons
1928–29 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Eastern
Colorado 10 2   .833 10 2   .833
Wyoming 11 3   .786 15 4   .789
Northern Colorado 8 6   .571 8 6   .571
Denver 7 7   .500 12 8   .600
Colorado Agricultural 6 6   .500 6 6   .500
Colorado College 6 6   .500 8 9   .471
Western State 1 9   .100 1 9   .100
Colorado School of Mines 1 11   .083 1 11   .083
Western
Montana State 11 1   .917 36 2   .947
BYU 6 6   .500 20 10   .667
Utah State 4 8   .333 8 10   .444
Utah 3 9   .250 5 12   .294

The 1928–29 Montana State Bobcats men's basketball team represented Montana State University during the 1928–29 NCAA men's basketball season in the United States. The head coach was Schubert R. Dyche, coaching in his first season with the Bobcats. The team finished the season with a 36–2 record[1] and was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.[2][3] They defeated Amateur Athletic Union champion Cook's Painters in a best-of-three series.[4] This team was later nicknamed the "Golden Bobcats" and is now a prominent part of the lore for the men's basketball program at Montana State University.[5]

This Montana State squad is considered one of the best college teams in the first half of the 20th century.[6] The 1928–29 season was a culmination of the entire decade in which the school revolutionized a fast break offense coupled with high-pressure defense, something that no other teams had ever done.[6] Players John "Cat" Thompson and Frank Ward were named consensus All-Americans at the end of the season, and Thompson was later inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Montana State season-by-season results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  2. ^ "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball – NCAA Division I Champions". Rauzulu's Street. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  3. ^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 540. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
  4. ^ "Bobcats Athletic Traditions". The Golden Bobcats. Montana State University. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  5. ^ "Last of 'Golden Bobcats' dies". Billings Gazette. TheBillingsGazette.com. April 25, 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c "Golden Bobcat National Championship Team". Hall of Fame. Montana State University. Retrieved May 27, 2014.