1955 NCAA basketball tournament

1955 NCAA basketball tournament

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	Colorado Buffaloes (2nd Final Four) Iowa Hawkeyes (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Phil Woolpert (1st title)
MOP	Bill Russell (San Francisco)
Attendance	116,983
Top scorer	Bill 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.

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 (Hosts: Fordham University, Columbia University)

East-1 Regional (March 11 and 12)

The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Host: University of Pennsylvania)

East-2 Region

First round (March 9)

Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)

East-2 Regional (March 11 and 12)

McGaw Memorial Hall, Evanston, Illinois (Host: Northwestern University)

West-1 Region

First round (March 8)

Thunderbird Coliseum, El Reno, Oklahoma (Host: Oklahoma City University)

West Regional (March 11 and 12)

Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, Kansas (Host: Kansas State University)

West-2 Region

First round (March 8)

Cow Palace, San Francisco, California (Hosts: University of San Francisco, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley)

West-2 Regional (March 11 and 12)

Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon (Host: Oregon State University)

Final Four

March 18 and 19

Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Teams

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

Bracket

East-1 Region

	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

East-2 Region

	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

West-1 Region

	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

West-2 Region

	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

Final Four

	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

See also

• 1955 National Invitation Tournament
• 1955 NAIA Basketball Tournament

Notes

• The 1955 tournament saw a record eleven teams - Canisius, Duke, Iowa, Marquette, Memphis State, San Francisco, Southern Methodist, Tulsa, West Texas State, West Virginia and Williams College - make the tournament for the first time. This beat the record of ten teams set in 1953 (the first year which the tournament expanded to include a regional quarterfinal round), and would be beat in 1981 when 12 teams made the tournament.
• Two teams in the field, West Texas State College (now known as West Texas A&M University) and Williams College of Williamstown, Massachusetts, are no longer in Division I. Neither team would make the tournament again; West Texas is now in Division II and Williams is in Division III. The NCAA would split into University and College Divisions in 1956, thus ending the chances for smaller teams such as these to make the tournament.