1955 NCAA Basketball Tournament

Last updated
1955 NCAA Basketball Tournament
Season 195455
Teams24
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)
Attendance116,983
Top scorerBill Russell San Francisco
(118 points)
NCAA Division I Men's Tournaments
« 1954 1956 »

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.

Contents

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.

Locations

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1955 tournament:

East-1 Region

First Round (March 8)
Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
East-1 Regional (March 11 and 12)
The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

East-2 Region

First Round (March 9)
Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky
East-2 Regional (March 11 and 12)
McGaw Memorial Hall, Evanston, Illinois

West-1 Region

First Round (March 8)
Thunderbird Coliseum, El Reno, Oklahoma
West Regional (March 11 and 12)
Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, Kansas

West-2 Region

First Round (March 8)
Cow Palace, San Francisco, California
West-2 Regional (March 11 and 12)
Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon

Final Four

March 18 and 19
Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri

For the third straight year, and sixth overall, the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri was the site of the Final Four. There were four new sites used in the 1955 tournament. For the first time since the 1939 National Championship, the tournament returned to the campus of Northwestern University, with games played at McGaw Memorial Hall, the then-three-year-old home to the Wildcats basketball program. The tournament also returned to the San Francisco area for the first time since 1939, with the first round of the West-2 regional played at the Cow Palace in Daly City, the immediate southern suburb of San Francisco. Both the Cow Palace and McGaw Memorial Hall would host Final Fours within the next five years after this. The tournament also came to the state of Kentucky for the first time, with games at the Memorial Coliseum on the campus of the University of Kentucky. The Wildcats' home court would host the tournament ten times in twenty years before being replaced by Rupp Arena. The fourth new arena was, to date, one of the smallest venues in arguably the smallest town ever to host a tournament game. The Thunderbird Coliseum, located at the Canadian County fairgrounds along U.S. Route 66 in the distant Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno, hosted the West-1 regional first-round game between Bradley and the host school, Oklahoma City University. The Chiefs would host the tournament once more in their history, in 1957 at another high school gymnasium in Oklahoma City. This was the first of three high school gymnasiums in five years to host tournament games.

Teams

RegionTeamCoachConferenceFinishedFinal OpponentScore
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 IndependentRunner Up San Francisco L 77–63
East Marquette Jack Nagle IndependentRegional Runner-up Iowa L 86–81
East Memphis State Eugene Lambert IndependentFirst round Penn State L 59–55
East Miami (OH) Bill Rohr Mid-American First round Marquette L 90–79
East Penn State John Egli IndependentRegional Fourth Place Kentucky L 84–59
East Princeton Franklin Cappon Ivy League Regional Fourth Place Villanova L 64–57
East Villanova Alex Severance IndependentRegional third place Princeton W 64–57
East West Virginia Fred Schaus Southern First Round La Salle L 95–61
East Williams Alex Shaw IndependentFirst Round Canisius L 73–60
West
West Bradley Bob Vanatta IndependentRegional Runner-up Colorado L 93–81
West Colorado Bebe Lee Big 7 Third Place Iowa W 75–54
West Idaho State Steve Belko IndependentFirst round Seattle L 80–63
West Oklahoma City Doyle Parrack IndependentFirst 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 IndependentRegional 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

Bracket

East region

East-1 Region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
  Princeton 46
 La Salle73
  La Salle 95
  West Virginia 61
 La Salle99
 Canisius 64
  Canisisus 73
  Williams 60
 Canisius73
 Villanova 71
  Villanova 74
  Duke 73

East-2 Region

First Round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals
Kentucky 71
Marquette 90Marquette79
Miami (OH) 79 Marquette 81
Iowa86
Iowa 82
Penn State 59Penn State 53
Memphis State 55

West-1 Region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
  SMU 79
 Bradley81
  Bradley 69
  Oklahoma City 65
 Bradley 81
 Colorado93
  Colorado 69
  Tulsa 59

West-2 Region

First Round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals
Oregon State 83
Seattle 80Seattle 71
Idaho State 63 Oregon State 56
San Francisco57
Utah 59
San Francisco 89San Francisco78
West Texas State 66

Final Four

National Semifinal National Championship
      
Iowa 73
La Salle76
La Salle 63
San Francisco77
Colorado 50
San Francisco62

National Third Place Game

National Third Place Game [1]
   
 Iowa 54
 Colorado75

Regional third place games

Notes

See also

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References

  1. "1954 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket" . Retrieved October 14, 2011.