The 1954–55 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1954, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the

1955 NCAA basketball tournament 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 Marc ...

championship game on March 19, 1955, at Municipal Auditorium in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. The

San Francisco Dons The San Francisco Dons is the nickname of the athletic teams at the University of San Francisco (USF). The Dons compete in NCAA Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the West Coast Conference (WCC), of ...

won their first NCAA national championship with a 77–63 victory over the

La Salle Explorers The La Salle Explorers are the varsity sports teams from La Salle University in Philadelphia. The Explorers compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The men's and women's basketball teams also participate in the Phi ...

Rule changes

* The "one-and-one"

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

was introduced, allowing a player to attempt a second free throw after a foul if he made the first free throw. Previously, a player shot only one free throw after a foul.orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
/ref> * Games once again are divided into two 20-minute halves, as had been the practice through the 1950–51 season. From the 1951–52 season though the 1953–54 season, games had been divided into four 10-minute quarters.

Season headlines

Tom Gola Thomas Joseph Gola (January 13, 1933 – January 26, 2014) was an American basketball player and politician. He is widely considered one of the greatest NCAA basketball players of all time. Gola was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball ...

of La Salle completed his collegiate career (1952–1955) with a total of 2,462 points and 2,201 rebounds, making him the first player to achieve 2,000 or more points and 2,000 or more rebounds in his career. * Gola was named the 1955 player of the year by United Press (later

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

), the first player to be recognized as the national player of the year. * Head coach

Phil Woolpert Philipp D. Woolpert (December 15, 1915 – May 5, 1987) was an American basketball coach, best known as the head coach of the University of San Francisco Dons in the 1950s. He led them to consecutive national championships in 1955 Biograph ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

was named coach of the year by United Press (the future United Press International), becoming the first person to be recognized as national coach of the year. * The

Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League was an athletic conference for men's college basketball, beginning with the 1901–02 season and ending with the 1954–55 season. Its membership ranged from four to eight members; all of these te ...

disbanded at the end of the season. Its teams, history, and heritage were absorbed into the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

the following season.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The Top 20 from the AP Poll and the UP

Coaches Poll In the United States, the Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has ...

during the pre-season.

Arenas

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

began playing at

Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas (KU) campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for th ...

late in the season, on March 1, 1955. The arena was named for Kansas's coach at the time,

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Regular season

Conference

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference standings

Major independents

A total of 44 college teams played as major independents. Among them, (24–3) had the best

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

(.889) and La Salle (26–5) finished with the most wins.

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Final Four

National Invitation tournament

Semifinals & finals

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

* Helms Player of the Year:

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played Center (basketball), center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was t ...

* UP Player of the Year:

, La Salle

Major coach of the year awards

* UP Coach of the Year:

Other major awards

* NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

metro area):

Ed Conlin Edward James Conlin (September 2, 1933 – September 21, 2012) was an American basketball player and coach. A 6'5" guard/ forward from Fordham University, Conlin played in the National Basketball Association from 1955 to 1962 as a member of the ...

, Fordham

Coaching changes

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1954-55 Ncaa Men's Basketball Season