1955 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1955 NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Tournament

Teams	24
Finals site	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	San Francisco (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Runner-up	La Salle (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Colorado (2nd Final Four) Iowa (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 Men's Division I Tournaments «1954 1956»

The 1955 NCAA Men's Division I 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

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 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)

Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon

Final Four

March 18 and 19

Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	n/a	Canisius	Joseph Curran	Regional Runner-up	La Salle	L 99-64
East	n/a	Duke	Harold Bradley	First round	Villanova	L 74-73
East	n/a	Iowa	Bucky O'Connor	Fourth Place	Colorado	L 75-54
East	n/a	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	Regional Third Place	Penn State	W 84-59
East	n/a	La Salle	Ken Loeffler	Runner Up	San Francisco	L 77-63
East	n/a	Marquette	Jack Nagle	Regional Runner-up	Iowa	L 86-81
East	n/a	Memphis State	Eugene Lambert	First round	Penn State	L 59-55
East	n/a	Miami (OH)	Bill Rohr	First round	Marquette	L 90-79
East	n/a	Penn State	John Egli	Regional Fourth Place	Kentucky	L 84-59
East	n/a	Princeton	Franklin Cappon	Regional Fourth Place	Villanova	L 64-57
East	n/a	Villanova	Alex Severance	Regional Third Place	Princeton	W 64-57
East	n/a	West Virginia	Fred Schaus	First Round	La Salle	L 95-61
East	n/a	Williams	Alex Shaw	First Round	Canisius	L 73-60
West
West	n/a	Bradley	Bob Vanatta	Regional Runner-up	Colorado	L 93-81
West	n/a	Colorado	Bebe Lee	Third Place	Iowa	W 75-54
West	n/a	Idaho State	Steve Belko	First round	Seattle	L 80-63
West	n/a	Oklahoma City	Doyle Parrack	First round	Bradley	L 69-65
West	n/a	Oregon State	Slats Gill	Regional Runner-up	San Francisco	L 57-56
West	n/a	San Francisco	Phil Woolpert	Champion	La Salle	W 77-63
West	n/a	Seattle	Al Brightman	Regional Fourth Place	Utah	L 108-85
West	n/a	SMU	Doc Hayes	Regional Fourth Place	Tulsa	L 68-67
West	n/a	Tulsa	Clarence Iba	Regional Third Place	SMU	W 68-67
West	n/a	Utah	Jack Gardner	Regional Third Place	Seattle	W 108-85
West	n/a	West Texas State	Gus Miller	First round	San Francisco	L 89-66

Bracket

East-1 Region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Princeton	46
							La Salle	73
		La Salle	95
		West Virginia	61
												La Salle	99
												Canisius	64
		Canisius	73
		Williams	60
							Canisius	73
							Villanova	71
		Villanova	74
		Duke	73

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 St.	59				Penn St.	53
		Memphis St.	55

West-1 Region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							SMU	79
							Bradley	81
		Bradley	69
		Oklahoma City	65
												Bradley	81
												Colorado	93
							Colorado	69
							Tulsa	59

West-2 Region

	First Round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
							Oregon St.	83
		Seattle	80				Seattle	71
		Idaho St.	63									Oregon St.	56
												San Francisco	57
							Utah	59
		San Francisco	89				San Francisco	78
		West Texas St.	66

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

	National Third Place Game
		Iowa	54
		Colorado	75

Regional Third Place Games

	East-1 Regional Third Place
	Kentucky		84
	Penn St.		59

	East-2 Regional Third Place
	Villanova		64
	Princeton		57

	West-1 Regional Third Place
	Tulsa		68
	SMU		67

	West-2 Regional Third Place
	Utah		108
	Seattle		85

See also

• 1955 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament