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 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 D ...

championship game on March 23, 1957, 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

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

won their first NCAA national championship with a 54–53 triple-

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

victory over the

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

Rule changes

* The width of the free throw lane (also known as the " key"), increased from .orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
/ref> * When teams lined up along the key for a free throw, it became mandatory that the two spaces adjacent to the end line be occupied by opponents of the player shooting the free throw. Previously, one player from each team occupied the spaces adjacent to the end line, with a player from the home team occupying a space marked "H" and a player from the visiting team occupying a space marked "V." * Grasping the rim of the basket was deemed a form of

unsportsmanlike conduct Unsportsmanlike conduct (also called untrustworthy behaviour, ungentlemanly fraudulent, bad sportsmanship, poor sportsmanship or anti fair-play) is a foul or offense in many sports that violates the sport's generally accepted rules of sportsmans ...

Season headlines

* This was the first season in which NCAA basketball was split into two levels of play – the

University Division The NCAA University Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at the highest level of college sports. The University Division was first established as a basis ...

for 156 schools competing at the highest level of play and the

College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

for 285 teams playing at lower levels with limited or no scholarships. It also was the first season in which the NCAA held more than one championship tournament — a 24-team tournament for the University Division and a 32-team tournament for the College Division. In

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, the University Division would be replaced by Division I and the College Division by Division II and

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

. * The California Basketball Association was renamed the West Coast Athletic Conference. It would be renamed the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. * In the

Forddy Anderson Forrest "Forddy" Anderson (March 17, 1919 – October 25, 1999) was an American basketball coach. He was the first coach in NCAA history to take two different teams to the Final Four; Bradley in 1950 and 1954 and Michigan State in 1957. Early l ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

and

Frank McGuire Frank Joseph McGuire (November 8, 1913 – October 11, 1994) 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 ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

became the first head coaches to take two different teams to the NCAA tournament

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

. Anderson had done it previously with

Bradley Bradley may refer to: People * Bradley (given name) * Bradley (surname) Places In the United Kingdom In England: * Bradley, Cheshire * Bradley, Derbyshire * Bradley (house), a manor in Kingsteignton, Devon * Bradley, Gloucestershire * ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

and McGuire with St. John's in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

. McGuire also became the first head coach to take two different teams to the national championship game, having also done that with St. John's in

. * In 1957, the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

retroactively selected its national champions for the seasons from 1900–01 through 1918–19.

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.

Conference membership changes

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference standings

University Division independents

A total of 44 college teams played as University Division independents. Among them, (22–3) 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 ...

(.880) and finished with the most wins. Although it played in the

NCAA College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

as a non-major team during the season, played as an independent and finished the season ranked No. 16 in the final AP Poll.

Informal championships

La Salle, Saint Joseph's, and Temple all finished with 3–1 records in head-to-head competition among the Philadelphia Big 5.

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

brought the ACC its first national championship as his undefeated

defeated

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...

and the Kansas Jayhawks in what is considered one of the best games in NCAA history – a 54–53 triple–overtime thriller. Chamberlain was named tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Final Four

Played at Municipal Auditorium in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

National Invitation tournament

Bradley won its first NIT title, defeating Memphis State in a one-point contest. Memphis State's Win Wilfong won the MVP in a losing cause as he poured in 89 points in the Tigers' four games, including 31 in the final.

NIT Semifinals and Final

Played at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

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 ...

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

Helms Foundation Player of the Year The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual men's college basketball award given to the most outstanding men's player in the United States. It was awarded by the Helms Athletic Foundation, an organization founded in 19 ...

Lennie Rosenbluth Leonard Robert Rosenbluth (January 22, 1933 – June 18, 2022) 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 play ...

* UPI Player of the Year:

Chet Forte Fulvio Chester Forte Jr. (August 7, 1935 – May 18, 1996) was an American television director and sports radio talk show host. He was also a standout college basketball player for Columbia and was the UPI Player of the Year in 1956–57. After ...

, Columbia

Major coach of the year awards

* UPI Coach of the Year:

Other major awards

* Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in

Philadelphia Big 5 The Philadelphia Big 5, known simply as the "Big 5", is an association of six college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’ ...

Guy Rodgers Guy William Rodgers (September 1, 1935 – February 19, 2001) was an American professional basketball player born in Philadelphia. He spent twelve years (1958–1970) in the NBA, and was one of the league's best playmakers in the early to mid-196 ...

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

* NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in NYC):

, Columbia

Coaching changes

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1956-57 NCAA University Division men's basketball season