This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "1955 NCAA basketball tournament" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Season | 1954–55 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Teams | 24 | ||||
Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
Champions | San Francisco Dons (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | La Salle Explorers (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
| ||||
Winning coach | Phil Woolpert (1st title) | ||||
MOP | Bill Russell (San Francisco) | ||||
Attendance | 116,983 | ||||
Top scorer | Bill Russell (San Francisco) (118 points) | ||||
|
The 1955 NCAA basketball tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8, 1955, and ended with the championship game on March 19 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 28 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game.
San Francisco, coached by Phil Woolpert, won the national title with a 77–63 victory in the final game over La Salle, coached by Ken Loeffler. Bill Russell of San Francisco was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1955 tournament:
Region | Team | Coach | Conference | Finished | Final Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East | ||||||
East | Canisius | Joseph Curran | WNY3 | Regional Runner-up | La Salle | L 99–64 |
East | Duke | Harold Bradley | Atlantic Coast | First round | Villanova | L 74–73 |
East | Iowa | Bucky O'Connor | Big Ten | Fourth Place | Colorado | L 75–54 |
East | Kentucky | Adolph Rupp | Southeastern | Regional third place | Penn State | W 84–59 |
East | La Salle | Ken Loeffler | Independent | Runner Up | San Francisco | L 77–63 |
East | Marquette | Jack Nagle | Independent | Regional Runner-up | Iowa | L 86–81 |
East | Memphis State | Eugene Lambert | Independent | First round | Penn State | L 59–55 |
East | Miami (OH) | Bill Rohr | Mid-American | First round | Marquette | L 90–79 |
East | Penn State | John Egli | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | Kentucky | L 84–59 |
East | Princeton | Franklin Cappon | Ivy League | Regional Fourth Place | Villanova | L 64–57 |
East | Villanova | Alex Severance | Independent | Regional third place | Princeton | W 64–57 |
East | West Virginia | Fred Schaus | Southern | First round | La Salle | L 95–61 |
East | Williams | Alex Shaw | Independent | First round | Canisius | L 73–60 |
West | ||||||
West | Bradley | Bob Vanatta | Independent | Regional Runner-up | Colorado | L 93–81 |
West | Colorado | Bebe Lee | Big 7 | Third Place | Iowa | W 75–54 |
West | Idaho State | Steve Belko | Independent | First round | Seattle | L 80–63 |
West | Oklahoma City | Doyle Parrack | Independent | First round | Bradley | L 69–65 |
West | Oregon State | Slats Gill | Pacific Coast | Regional Runner-up | San Francisco | L 57–56 |
West | San Francisco | Phil Woolpert | CBA | Champion | La Salle | W 77–63 |
West | Seattle | Al Brightman | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | Utah | L 108–85 |
West | SMU | Doc Hayes | Southwest | Regional Fourth Place | Tulsa | L 68–67 |
West | Tulsa | Clarence Iba | Missouri Valley | Regional third place | SMU | W 68–67 |
West | Utah | Jack Gardner | Mountain States | Regional third place | Seattle | W 108–85 |
West | West Texas State | Gus Miller | Border | First round | San Francisco | L 89–66 |
First round | Regional semifinals | Regional Finals | |||||||||
Princeton | 46 | ||||||||||
La Salle | 73 | ||||||||||
La Salle | 95 | ||||||||||
West Virginia | 61 | ||||||||||
La Salle | 99 | ||||||||||
Canisius | 64 | ||||||||||
Canisius | 73 | ||||||||||
Williams | 60 | ||||||||||
Canisius | 73 | Third place | |||||||||
Villanova | 71 | ||||||||||
Villanova | 74 | Villanova | 64 | ||||||||
Duke | 73 | Princeton | 57 |
First round | Regional semifinals | Regional Finals | ||||||||
Kentucky | 71 | |||||||||
Marquette | 90 | Marquette | 79 | |||||||
Miami (OH) | 79 | Marquette | 81 | |||||||
Iowa | 86 | |||||||||
Iowa | 82 | |||||||||
Penn State | 59 | Penn State | 53 | Third place | ||||||
Memphis State | 55 | |||||||||
Kentucky | 84 | |||||||||
Penn St. | 59 | |||||||||
First round | Regional semifinals | Regional Finals | |||||||||
SMU | 79 | ||||||||||
Bradley | 81 | ||||||||||
Bradley | 69 | ||||||||||
Oklahoma City | 65 | ||||||||||
Bradley | 81 | ||||||||||
Colorado | 93 | ||||||||||
Colorado | 69 | Third place | |||||||||
Tulsa | 59 | ||||||||||
Tulsa | 68 | ||||||||||
SMU | 67 |
First round | Regional semifinals | Regional Finals | ||||||||
Oregon State | 83 | |||||||||
Seattle | 80 | Seattle | 71 | |||||||
Idaho State | 63 | Oregon State | 56 | |||||||
San Francisco | 57 | |||||||||
Utah | 59 | |||||||||
San Francisco | 89 | San Francisco | 78 | Third place | ||||||
West Texas State | 66 | |||||||||
Utah | 108 | |||||||||
Seattle | 85 | |||||||||
National semifinal | National Championship | ||||||
Iowa | 73 | ||||||
La Salle | 76 | ||||||
La Salle | 63 | ||||||
San Francisco | 77 | ||||||
Colorado | 50 | ||||||
San Francisco | 62 | National third-place game | |||||
Iowa | 54 | ||||||
Colorado | 75 |
| |
---|---|
Tournaments |
|
Structure |
|
Champions & awards |
|
Media & culture |
|
Records & statistics |
|
See also: Division I Women's Tournament, Division II Tournament, Division III Tournament |
| |
---|---|
|