The game `Basketball` is one of the most famous sports of the world. The game has been invented near about more than a hundred and thirty years ago. A Canadian, Dr. James Naismith is known worldwide as the inventor of basketball and hence called as "The Father of Basketball". He was born in 1861 in Ramsay Township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. The concept of basketball was there in his mind when he was in school. As a child, he used to play a game named `duck-on-a-rock` outside his one-room schoolhouse. The game was about attempting to knock a "duck" off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. This very game can be called as the parent game of Basketball. Naismith went on to attend McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

After he completed his college education, Naismith served as McGill`s Athletic Director and then he moved on to the YMCA Training School in Springfield. This is the place in Massachusetts, USA where the sport of basketball was born in 1891. In Springfield, he was trying to find a sport that was suitable for play inside during the Massachusetts winter. Naismith wanted to create such a game for the students that will need skill instead of only strength. He also needed the game to be played indoors in a quite small space. After he invented the game of Basketball, his students played the game with a soccer ball and using two peach baskets as goals. The first Basketball game was played on January 20, 1892. The name "Basket ball" was suggested by one of his students and was very much popular from the beginning. Though, the Basketballgame was fun to play, there were some problems for the players that they had to solve in the early days of the game. The main problem was that, as they were using two peach baskets as goals, whenever the ball was thrown into the basket, the players couldn`t get it down without climbing up a ladder. So, they decided primarily to cut holes in the bottom of the baskets in order to play faster, as the ball will fall through the hole easily. This process was followed by the players till the year of 1906. In that year, the metal hoops with backboards replaced the peach baskets. The sport was introduced in a number of nations by the YMCA movement during the year of 1893.

When the Basketball game was spread in some of the countries nearby America, the 1st inter-collegiate match took place in America in the year of 1895. After that in 1896, the first collegiate Basketball match was played where there were 5 players in each team. When the Basketball became an official game in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, the popularity of the sport started to increase in a very high speed. The Men`s College Basketball Championship was held for the first time in the year of 1939. Basketball got its first television coverage in 1940 when the college games were being held. At first, basketball was only played in the high schools and colleges. But by the year of 1949, the National Basketball Association (NBA) was formed in America with eight teams as its members. After that, the American Basketball Association (ABA) also began its functions in 1967. However, as there were a lot of money problems, the Association only lasted about nine years.

In the beginning, the games of Basketball were telecasted in the United States television only. The highest-rated college basketball game seen on this television was the 1979 National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament championship game that was held between the Michigan State and Indiana State. This was one of the best-rated Basketball tournaments in the games history. In the present scenario, Basketball has been spread all across the world and also has become one of the most popular games that the people watch and play.