1922-23
OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL Missouri Valley CONFERENCE PLACE CONF. TOURNEY POST-SEASON
17-1 8-0 9-1 0-0
16-0 1st    

ROSTER:

No. Player Pos Ht Wt Cl
7 Tusten Ackerman C
8 Charlie (T.) Black * G
Waldo Bowman * F
12 Paul Endacott ** Cpt. G
3 Paul Frederick ** C
16 Ward Hitt % F
12 John Lonborg * G
Andrew McDonald ** F
2 Bob Mosby G
Adolph Rupp C-G
Armin Woestemeyer ** F
Vern Wilkin C
John Wulf ** C
* Varsity letters
% Non letterman
Cpt. Captain

NO. POS. NAME CLASS HGT. WGT. Hometown (Previous School)
    RETURNEES:        
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             

          * Varsity letter     Cpt. = Captain    # = Walk-on     % = Nonletterman

COACHES:

 

 

LOSSES FROM LAST YEAR (' stats):

PLAYER LOSSES Class Hgt. POS. G/GS PTS PPG RBS RPG PPts STATUS
                     
                     
                     
                     

 

PRESEASON OUTLOOK:
 

 

 

 

 

SEASON SUMMARY:
 

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Early Kansas greats Tus Ackerman, Charlie Black and Paul Endacott led Kansas to a 23-20 win over visiting Missouri, giving the Jayhawks their second national title in as many years.

Helms Foundation national champions and national championship games were not awarded until 1936, when champions were selected retroactively.
Kansas went 16-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference and finished 17-1 overall.

KANSAS (23)

FG

FT

PF

TP

Ackerman, f 0 7 2 7
Bowman, f 2 0 3 4
Wulf, c 3 0 0 6
Black, g 1 0 1 4
Endacott, g 2 0 2 4
TOTALS 8 7 8 23

MISSOURI (20)

FG

FT

PF

TP

Browning, f 1 6 2 8
Wheat, f 5 0 2 10
Bunker, c 1 0 0 2
Faurot, g 0 0 1 0
Vanice, g 0 0 1 0
Hays, g 0 0 3 0
TOTALS 7 6 9 20
Referee -- E.C. Quigley, St. Mary's
Umpire -- Leslie Edmonds, Ottawa

The Jayhawks became the first team to complete an undefeated season in the Valley.  Not exactly “ever-victorious” as they were dubbed, the Jayhawks lost one non-conference game 27-23 to the Kansas City Athletic Club.  The Jayhawks, 17-1 overall and 16-0 in the Valley, were later designated the 1923 national champions by the Helms Foundation.  Endacott and Charlie Black were All-Americans on the team, and John Wulf joined them on the all-conference team.  Tusten Ackerman, who also played on the 1923 squad, went on to All-American honors in 1924 and 1925.

Three-thousand fans packed Robinson Gymnasium on Feb. 28, 1923, to watch KU clinch the title and an unbeaten record with a 23-20 victory against Missouri.

Paul Endacott was captain of the 1923 team and was later named Player of the Year by the Helms Foundation.  Allen called him “the greatest player I have ever coached,” and was fond of telling about Endacott’s heroics during KU’s game at Missouri on Jan. 16, 1923, which the Jayhawks won 21-19.  Endacott had grabbed 16 straight jump balls in the closing minutes to preserve the win.  He later collapsed in the locker room from exhaustion.  But Allen always said he was most proud of his players’ accomplishments later in life and often mentioned Endacott, who became president of Phillips Petroleum Company.

Source:  The Crimson & Blue Handbook, pages 27-28.

The play was on again, and breathlessly the crowd followed every move of the ball.  Bang!  The crack of the pistol split the air.  For a moment everyone sat silent, unable to realize that it was all over – that Kansas had defeated Missouri again, and that KU had an all-victorious basketball team – the first in the history of the Valley.  Suddenly they realized the great climax, and rising to their feet roared forth the “Crimson and the Blue,” with the hearts full of joy and minds teeming with memory of a great basketball battle and victory.

Source: University Daily Kansas, March 1, 1923.

For its size and talent, the 1923 team did more than any other team I ever had.  Paul Endacott was only about 6 feet tall, but he was a basketball player deluxe.  We old-timers naturally think the old-time teams were better.  I think we played more clever basketball.  In the pro game now, it’s just shoot, score and run, shoot,  score and run, over and over.”  Phog Allen in the Kansas City Star Magazine, March 26, 1972.

KANSAS COURTSTERS BEAT AGGIE QUINTET IN BITTER CONTEST.  Bedlam broke loose again as the Kansans took their allotted two minutes for a tete-a-tete.  A cow over in the experiment station on the campus swallowed her cud in the excitement.  Aggie rooters threw eight-dollar derbies into the air and hugged their neighbors.  The stands rocked.

Source: Daily Kansan, Feb 21, 1923.

1923
Win Over MU Kept Allen From Stepping Down
Kansas beat Missouri, 23-19, on Jan. 13, 1923, paving the way for an unblemished conference record and perhaps preventing Phog Allen from stepping down as the Jayhawk basketball coach.
All-American Paul Endacott forced several jump balls down the stretch, protecting KU's lead.
Allen's wife, Bessie, later confided to Endacott that her husband would have stepped down as basketball coach, but remain as athletics director, if Kansas didn't win the league title outright. The win over Missouri helped seal that title.
The Jayhawks almost didn't make it to Columbia, Mo., for the game. A truck that was supposed to take the team nine miles from the railroad yard to the arena broke down en route.

Source: A Century of Kansas Basketball

In 1922-23, KU was pronounced the national champion for the second straight year by the Helms Foundation, going undefeated (16-0) in the Missouri Valley Conference, and 17-1 overall. Their only loss was to the Kansas City Athletic Club, the US amateur champion, a team laden with former Jayhawks.

All-American guards, Paul Endacott, the Helms Foundation Player of the Year, and Charlie Black, led the team.  Pivot John Wulf was a devensive star and he usually obtained the tip-off (this was when every play started with the center jump).  Waldo Bowman and Tus Ackerman, who had the team high of 162 points, manned the forward spots.  A little-used dub that year was Adolph Rupp, who later became college basketball's all-time winningest coach at Kentucky.

In retrospect, this year was crucial to Coach Phog Allen's career.  After splitting games with Missouri the previous year, the Jayhawks earned a share of the 1922 Missouri Valley title.  Coach Allen wanted more for 1923.  Endacott wrote "Years later Mrs. Allen told me that Phog told her at the beginning of the 1923 season, 'Now we've tied Missouri and if I can't beat them both games in 1923, I'm going to quit coaching." I never understood why he attached so much importance to that game until I learned about 15 years after I got out of college that if we'd lost that game he was going to quit, he could just be the director of athletics."  Ken Johnson's Basketball Report, Vol. 92-93, No. 2.

 

1923  FINAL TEAM STATISTICS (Team highs in bold):

CATEGORY

KU

OPP

DIFF

           

Games Played/Started

                 

Points

                 

    Per Game

                 

Rebounds

                 

    Per Game

                 

FG -Attempts

                 

       Made

                 

       Percent

                 

FT-Attempts

                 

     Made

                 

     Percent

                 

Production Points/Game

                 
Production Points/Minute                  

Statistics, Cont'd

CATEGORY                  
Games Played/ Started                  
Points                  
   Per Game                  
Rebounds                  
   Per Game                  
FG - Attempts                  
         Made                  
         Percent                  
FT - Attempts                  
        Made                  
        Percent                  
Production Points/Game                  
Production Points/Minute                  

Source:   KU Basketball Media Guide

GAME-BY-GAME

Creighton W 29-7   Jan. 3 at Omaha, Neb.
Nebraska W 30-20   Jan. 5 at Lawrence
Iowa State W 22-12   Jan. 8 at Lawrence
Iowa State W 37-17   Jan. 11 at Ames, Iowa
Grinnell W 23-8   Jan. 12 at Grinnell, Iowa
Drake W 32-18   Jan. 13 at Des Moines, Iowa
Missouri W 21-19   Jan. 16 at Columbia, Mo.
Washington (Mo.) W 34-16   Jan. 17 at St. Louis, Mo.
Washington (Mo.) W 41-14   Jan. 22 at Lawrence
Kansas City AC L 23-27   Jan. 24 at Kansas City, Mo.
Oklahoma W 27-21   Jan. 29 at Norman, Okla.
Kansas State W 44-23   Feb. 7 at Lawrence
Nebraska W 36-15   Feb. 12 at Lincoln, Neb.
Drake W 41-11   Feb. 17 at Lawrence
Kansas State W 24-17   Feb. 21 at Manhattan, Kan.
Oklahoma W 42-18   Feb. 22 at Lawrence
Grinnell W 38-16   Feb. 24 at Lawrence
Missouri W 23-20   Feb. 28 at Lawrence
 

Link to National Statistics for

Link to Big  Conference for