Wilton Norman Chamberlain was an American professional basketball player. Standing 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall, he played center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Chamberlain was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978 and elected to the NBA's 35th, 50th, and 75th anniversary teams. Following his professional basketball career, Chamberlain played volleyball in the short-lived International Volleyball Association (IVA). He served one term as league president and is enshrined in the IVA Hall of Fame. Renowned for his strength, he played the antagonist in the 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Conan the Destroyer.
The center (C), or the centre, also known as the five, the big or the pivot, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is almost always the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well. In the NBA, the center is typically close to 7 feet (2.13 m) tall; centers in the WNBA are typically above 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m). Centers traditionally play close to the basket in the low post. The two tallest players in NBA history, Manute Bol and Gheorghe Mureșan, were both centers, each standing 7 feet 7 inches (2.31 m) tall.
Frank Joseph McGuire was an American basketball coach. At the collegiate level, he was head coach for three major programs: St. John's, North Carolina, and South Carolina, winning over a hundred games at each program.
Alfred James McGuire was an American college basketball coach and broadcaster, the head coach at Marquette University from 1964 to 1977. He won a national championship in his final season at Marquette, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. He was also well known as a longtime national television basketball broadcaster and for his colorful personality.
Hubert Ira Davis Jr. is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching career, Davis played for North Carolina from 1988–1992 and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, and New Jersey Nets from 1992 to 2004. He holds the franchise single-season and career three-point field goal shooting percentage records for both the Knicks and the Mavericks. He is the nephew of Walter Davis, another former Tar Heel and NBA player.
The Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball program of the University of Kansas. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference. Kansas is considered one of the most prestigious college basketball programs in the country with six overall national championships, as well being runner-up six times and having the most conference titles in the nation. The Jayhawks also own the NCAA record for most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with 34 consecutive appearances. Since the 1984 tournament, the Jayhawks have only missed the tournament once due to disciplinary action from the NCAA; they were ruled ineligible for the 1989 tournament. They have not missed the tournament strictly due to on the court performance since the 1983 tournament. They were also, along with Dartmouth, the first team to appear in multiple NCAA Tournaments after making their second appearance in the 1942 tournament. The Jayhawks had been ranked in the AP poll for 231 consecutive polls, a streak that had stretched from the poll released on February 2, 2009, poll through the poll released on February 8, 2021, which is the longest streak in AP poll history. Of the 28 seasons the Big 12 conference has been in existence, Kansas has won at least a share of 21 regular-season conference titles.
The 1957 NCAA University Division basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament involving 23 teams to determine the national champion of men's college basketball in the NCAA University Division, which was replaced in 1973 by NCAA Division I. The 1956–57 school year was the first in which NCAA members were formally divided into separate competitive levels, with larger and more competitive athletic programs placed in the University Division and smaller programs placed in the College Division.
Leonard Robert Rosenbluth was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), but he is remembered, first and foremost, for his college basketball player days. He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels, where he was Helms Foundation Player of the Year (1957), consensus first-team All-American (1957), second-team All-American – AP, UPI, INS (1956), third-team All-American – NEA, Collier's (1956), ACC Player of the Year (1957), and 3× first-team All-ACC (1955–1957).
The North Carolina Tar Heels Men's basketball program is a college basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won six NCAA championships in addition to a 1924 Helms Athletic Foundation title (retroactive). North Carolina has won a record 133 NCAA tournament matchups while advancing to 31 Sweet Sixteen berths, a record 21 Final Fours, and 12 title games. It is the only school to have an active streak of reaching the National Championship game for nine straight decades and at least two Final Fours for six straight decades, all while averaging more wins per season played (20.7) than any other program in college basketball. In 2012, ESPN ranked North Carolina No. 1 on its list of the 50 most successful programs of the past fifty years.
Thomas Francis Kearns Jr. is an American former professional basketball player.
The 1961–62 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team was Dean Smith's first as the head coach at North Carolina. The 1961–62 team finished with an 8–9 overall record, despite a young and inexperienced roster. They tied for fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 7–7 record. Their season ended with a first round loss in the ACC Tournament to South Carolina. This was Dean Smith's only losing season as a head coach at North Carolina.
The 1957 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game took place on March 23, 1957, between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Kansas Jayhawks at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The matchup was the final one of the nineteenth edition of the single-elimination tournament now known as the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament—commonly referred to as the NCAA Tournament—organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It was used to crown a national men's basketball champion in the NCAA's University Division, known since 1973 as the NCAA Division I.
The 1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team was the varsity college basketball team that represented the University of North Carolina. The head coach was Frank McGuire. The team played its home games at Woollen Gymnasium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team was the second undefeated national champion in NCAA basketball history and was the first ACC team to win a title. The team notably won its last two games in triple overtime. The Tar Heels leading scorer was player of the year, small forward Lennie Rosenbluth.
The 1956–57 NCAA men's University Division basketball season began in December 1956. It progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1957 NCAA University Division basketball tournament championship game on March 23, 1957, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The North Carolina Tar Heels won their first NCAA national championship with a 54–53 triple-overtime victory over the Kansas Jayhawks.
The 1956–57 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team was a Division I college basketball team that represented the University of Kansas. Coached by Dick Harp, the Jayhawks posted a 24–3 win–loss record, winning the then-Big Seven Conference and qualifying for the 1957 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Kansas won three games in the NCAA tournament to reach the championship game, where the Jayhawks lost to North Carolina in triple overtime.
The championship game of the 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was contested on April 4, 2022, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game featured the Kansas Jayhawks of the Big 12 Conference and the North Carolina Tar Heels of the Atlantic Coast Conference. This was a rematch of the 1957 national championship game, in which undefeated North Carolina defeated Kansas by a 54–53 score in triple-overtime to win their first-ever national championship.
Robert Cunningham was an American college basketball player. He was one of the five starters on the 1957 national champion North Carolina Tar Heels who was brought by coach Frank McGuire from New York. Cunningham was considered the team's best defensive player.
Daniel Milton Lotz was an American basketball player who was a member of the undefeated 1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team. He was the son-in-law of evangelist Billy Graham.
Harry Gotkin was an American basketball scout who recruited for the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team during the tenure of head coach Frank McGuire. He helped put together the team that won the 1957 NCAA University Division basketball tournament.
