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An abbreviated
The first NCAA basketball committee was headed by a soccer conglomerate from Europe and south America, none of whom spoke English as a native langauge. So they really couldn't read the rulebook that well anyway and thought all games should be in two halves.
In 1951, Pete Rozelle took over NCAA basketball, saying "Americans play real football, the kind that rarely involves the foot actually contacting the ball (but that really isn't important to our story)." He divided the game into quarters like real men play. In 1954, Pete realized that basketball wasn't football and began working his way back into pro football, leaving the way open for the soccer conglomerate to come in and re-write the basketball rulebook once again.
As an aside, during the time Rozelle was in charge, he instituted a parity system whereby the school with the worst record got to offer the first free convertible to prospective recruits. He also developed the concept of Big Monday, but it failed because cable TV hadn't been invented yet, let alone ESPN or Dick Vitale.
Thanks for tuning in to this joint endeavor of the History Channel and ESPN Classic.
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