1927–28 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team

1927–28 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
1927–28 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia national champions; Helms Foundation national champions; Premo-Porretta national champions
Conference	Independent
Record	21–0
Head coach	Doc Carlson (6th season);
Captain	Sykes Reed
Home arena	Pitt Pavilion
	Seasons ← 1926–27 1928–29 →

The 1927–28 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team represented the University of Pittsburgh during the 1927–28 NCAA men's basketball season in the United States. The head coach was Doc Carlson, coaching in his sixth season with the Panthers. The team finished the season with a 21–0 record.^[1]

The 1929 edition of The Owl yearbook notes that the team was "universally recognized as national champions, having hung up the best collegiate record in the country."^[2] The team was awarded the 'U. S. Senator Boies Penrose Memorial Trophy' for the national championship by the Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia.^[3]

It is the only undefeated team in Pitt's history, and that season they were one of only two teams to finish with an unblemished record.^[4] Chuck Hyatt and Sykes Reed were named consensus All-Americans at the end of the season.

The team was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation in 1943 and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll in 1995 (the Panthers received retroactive recognition as the Helms national champion for the 1929–30 season as well).^[5]^[6]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
12/15/1927*	at Michigan	W 49–39	1–0	Yost Field House Ann Arbor, MI
12/16/1927*	at Chicago	W 36–26	2–0	Chicago, IL
12/17/1927*	at Northwestern	W 39–34	3–0	Old Patten Gymnasium Evanston, IL
12/19/1927*	at Iowa	W 44–40 ^OT	4–0	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
12/23/1927*	Dartmouth	W 64–33	5–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
12/31/1927*	Ohio State	W 50–32	6–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
1/6/1928*	Syracuse	W 45–24	7–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
1/13/1928*	Carnegie Tech	W 67–38	8–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
1/18/1928*	West Virginia	W 51–26	9–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
2/3/1928*	at Colgate	W 48–37	10–0	Hamilton, NY
2/4/1928*	at Army	W 42–36	11–0	West Point, NY
2/8/1928*	at Carnegie Tech	W 50–28	12–0	Pittsburgh, PA
2/10/1928*	Penn State	W 48–25	13–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
2/15/1928*	Allegheny	W 56–32	14–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
2/18/1928*	Notre Dame	W 24–22	15–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
2/22/1928*	at Carnegie Tech	W 59–38	16–0	Pittsburgh, PA
2/25/1928*	Washington & Jefferson	W 44–33	17–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
2/28/1928*	Grove City	W 54–27	18–0	Pitt Pavilion Pittsburgh, PA
3/2/1928*	at West Virginia	W 45–42	19–0	Morgantown, WV
3/5/1928*	at Washington & Jefferson	W 33–32	20–0	Washington, PA
3/10/1928*	at Penn State	W 45–28	21–0	PSU Armory University Park, PA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source^[4]

References

^ "Pittsburgh Panthers season-by-season results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
^ Anderson, WM. Niles, ed. (1929). "Athletics — Varsity Basketball — National Champions". The 1929 Owl. Vol. XXIII. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Junior Class of the University of Pittsburgh. p. 126. Retrieved January 23, 2023. They were universally recognized as national champions, having hung up the best collegiate record in the country.
^ Written at Philadelphia. "Pittsburgh Gets National Title — Sport Trophies Are Awarded at Annual Meeting of Veteran Athletes". The Wichita Eagle. Wichita, Kansas. Associated Press. February 5, 1929. The Pittsburgh basketball team, fresh from a victory over Temple, was there to receive the [U. S. Senator Boies Penrose Memorial Trophy], emblematic of the 1927-28 American basketball championship.
^ ^a ^b "2013–14 Pittsburgh Panthers Men's Basketball Media Guide". All-Time Scores (p. 171). University of Pittsburgh. 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
^ "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball – NCAA Division I Champions". Rauzulu's Street. 2004. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 539. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[SR-1] "Pittsburgh Panthers season-by-season results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2014.

[2] Anderson, WM. Niles, ed. (1929). "Athletics — Varsity Basketball — National Champions". The 1929 Owl. Vol. XXIII. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Junior Class of the University of Pittsburgh. p. 126. Retrieved January 23, 2023. They were universally recognized as national champions, having hung up the best collegiate record in the country.

[AP1929-3] Written at Philadelphia. "Pittsburgh Gets National Title — Sport Trophies Are Awarded at Annual Meeting of Veteran Athletes". The Wichita Eagle. Wichita, Kansas. Associated Press. February 5, 1929. The Pittsburgh basketball team, fresh from a victory over Temple, was there to receive the [U. S. Senator Boies Penrose Memorial Trophy], emblematic of the 1927-28 American basketball championship.

[MGUIDE-4] "2013–14 Pittsburgh Panthers Men's Basketball Media Guide". All-Time Scores (p. 171). University of Pittsburgh. 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2014.

[HELMS-5] "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball – NCAA Division I Champions". Rauzulu's Street. 2004. Retrieved June 3, 2014.

[6] ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 539. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

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v t e Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
Venues	Motor Square Garden (1905–1912) Duquesne Gardens (1905–1912) Trees Gym (1912–1925) Pitt Pavilion (1925–1951) Fitzgerald Field House (1951–2002) Civic Arena (alternate; 1984–2002) Petersen Events Center (2002–present)
Rivalries	Duquesne West Virginia
Culture & lore	Oakland Zoo "Hail to Pitt" "Pitt Victory Song" Gambling scandal
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics