1955 NCAA basketball tournament
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2022) |
| 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.
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 | ||||||||||
| Canisisus | 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 | ||||||
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.