Word of the new league's success spread quickly through the college world and in 1910 nine more schools decided to field teams bringing the number of members to 165. They included a whole new conference as the 6 schools based in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi that had played an ad hoc schedule for the better part of a decade decided en mass to join the AIAA. The schools that would form the Panhandle Conference were the Alabama Baptist Panthers, Mobile Maritime Middies, Reuben College Raiders, Miami State Gulls, Western Florida Wolves and the American Atlantic Pelicans. In addition the Golden Gate University Grizzlies joined as an independet while the Keystone Conference welcomed Philadelphia's St Gordius College and the Norhtern Minnesota Miskies joined the Plains Confernce.

On the court, Henry Hudson was favoured to repeat as National Champion despite losing a pair of All-American guards to graduation. One of those guards, Eddie Champ, would move on to the coaching ranks as he was signed by the Explorers Academia Alliance rival George Fox as an assistant coach. We will read much more about Eddie Champ as the year's progress and coaches play an ever increasing role in shaping the AIAA basketball landscape. As for Henry Hudson, they did not disappoint during the regular season as they led the Alliance with an 11-3 record and were 26-6 entering the championship tournament.

While Eastern teams dominated in this era the balance of power was beginning to shift with the emergence of a dominant school in California. City College of Los Angeles, which turned down an invitation to join the Pacific States Conference in order to play as an independent, entered the National tournament with a AIAA best 26-3 record including a very impressive 38-34 victory over highly ranked Georgia Baptist in December. Despite the impressive season, CCLA failed to earn a number one seed in the West Region for the tournament. That honour instead went to PSC champion Coastal California, a team CCLA had beaten early in the season. The Coyotes cried foul, claiming there was an unfair bias towards teams that alligned in a conference as opposed to those choosing to play an independent schedule. In the end it did not matter as both CCLA and Coastal California lost to the 3 seed Opelika State of the Great South Conference in the Western Regional bracket.

Joining the Opelika State Wildcats in the final four were a pair of Academia Alliance teams in Brunswick and Pierpont. However, Henry Hudson - the one everyone expected - failed to reach the semi-finals after suffering a 17-15 upst loss to underdog Georgia Baptist in the quarterfinals. The Gators won with a stifling defense that held the Explorers to just 5 for 28 in field goal attempts and on offense the southern school employed a 4 corners type offense that slowed the game to a crawl. The strategy paid off against Henry Hudson but could not contain Brunswick in the semi-finals as the two second team All-American guards in Porter Burks and Cloyd Jones did a fantastic job distributing the ball to open men against the Gators pressing defense.

The other semi-final featured a dramatic finish that was decided by a terrible gaffe from Harry Thies of Opelika State. With time expiring and the game appearing destined for overtime, Pierpont's Kenny Yetter threw up a desperation shot that was well off the mark. However, Thies had fouled Yetter on his attempt sending the Pierpont senior to the line for a pair of free throws. Yetter made them both and the game ended 35-33 to give the Academia Alliance both teams in the National Title game.

Brunswick, which won 2 of it's 3 previous meetings with Pierpont during the season, dominated the game behind Porter Burks' 11 point performance and won by a 36-21 count to claim the National Title. The title was redemption for a very disappointing conference schedule for the Knights. Brunswick went just 5-9 in conference play to finish 7th in the 8 team league but were 25-12 overall on the year - yet another sign as to just how deep and dominant the Academia 8 were.

ALL-AMERICA FIRST TEAM
C Thornton Bradford SR North Carolina Tech
F Grant Vincent SR Coastal California
F Kenny Yetter SR Pierpont
G Sheldon Brock SR Brooklyn State
G Jack Morrison SR New Jersey

ALL-AMERICA SECOND TEAM
C Joe Marchetti SR Cumberland
F Marc Braquaval SR New Jersey
F Pete Shaw SR Coastal California
G Porter Burks SR Brunswick
G Cloyd Jones SR Brunswick

PLAYER OF THE YEAR Grant Vincent Coastal California
COACH OF THE YEAR Willard Speer Brooklyn State

1910-11 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
ACADEMIA ALLIANCE: Henry Hudson 26-5 (11-3)
GREAT LAKES: North Shore 14-15 (8-2)
GREAT SOUTH: North Carolina Tech 24-5 (14-2)
KEYSTONE: Meade 19-10 (13-3)
LONE STAR: Travis College 16-14 (8-4)
MIDWEST 10: Central Ohio 23-6 (15-3)
NORTHEAST: Brooklyn State 25-4 (12-2)
PACIFIC STATES: Lane State 20-9 (8-4)
PANHANDLE Miami State 14-15 (7-3)
PLAINS: Minnesota Tech 23-6 (13-3)
ROCKY MOUNTAIN: Mile High State 18-11 (11-5)

NATIONAL TITLE PLAYOFF
SEMI-FINALS: Pierpont 35 Opelika State 33
Brunswick 39 Georgia Baptist 22

TITLE GAME: Burnswick 36 Piepont 21