1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season

1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season
1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	None; San Francisco (UP)
NCAA Tournament	1956
Tournament dates	March 12, 1956 – ; March 24, 1956
National Championship	McGaw Hall; Evanston, Illinois
NCAA Champions	San Francisco
Helms National Champions	San Francisco
Other champions	Louisville (NIT)
Player of the Year; (Helms)	Bill Russell, San Francisco
NCAA Division I basketball seasons
«1954–55	1956–57»

The 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1955, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1956 NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship Game on March 24, 1956, at McGaw Hall in Evanston, Illinois. The San Francisco Dons won their second NCAA national championship with an 83–71 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Rule changes[]

The two-shot free-throw penalty for a foul committed in the last three minutes of a game was eliminated. The "one-and-one" free throw, in which a player shoots a second free throw only if he makes his first, went into effect for the entire game.^[1]

Season headlines[]

The Ivy League, which had been formally established as an athletic conference in 1954, played its first basketball season under that name. Previously, Ivy League schools had competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League; today's Ivy League considers the EIBL as part of its history.
The Philadelphia Big 5, an informal association of colleges and universities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, focused on college basketball, began play. The Big 5 teams played a regular-season round robin schedule with one another each year through the 1990–91 season with the results determining an informal Big 5 championship, and revived the round-robin schedule during the 1998–99 season.
The NCAA Tournament expanded from 24 to 25 teams.
For the first time, the four regional competitions of the NCAA Tournament receive names. In 1956, they are named the East, Midwest, West, and Far West Regions.
For the last time, the NCAA held only a single championship tournament. The following season, it divided teams into a University Division and a College Division and began holding a separate tournament for each division.
San Francisco won its second consecutive NCAA championship.

Major rule changes[]

Beginning in 1955–56, the following rules changes were implemented:

The free-throw lane was increased from 6 feet (1.8 m) to 12 feet (3.7 m).
The two-shot penalty in the last three minutes of the game was eliminated. The one-and-one went into effect for the entire game.^[2]

Season outlook[]

Pre-season polls[]

The top 20 from the AP Poll during the pre-season.^[3]

Associated Press
Ranking	Team
1	San Francisco
2	Kentucky
3	Utah
4	NC State
5	Iowa
6	Dayton
7	Illinois
7	UCLA
9	Duquesne
10	George Washington
11	Holy Cross
12	Marquette
13	Fordham
14	Washington
15	Alabama
16	Indiana
16	Saint Louis
18	Oregon State
18	SMU
20	Kansas

Conference membership changes[]

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Bradley Braves	Independent	Missouri Valley Conference
Brown Bears	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Ivy League
Columbia Lions	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Ivy League
Cornell Big Red	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Ivy League
Dartmouth Big Green	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Ivy League
Fresno Bulldogs	Non-major independent	California Basketball Association
Harvard Crimson	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Ivy League
Loyola (Calif.) Lions	Independent	California Basketball Association
Penn Quakers	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Ivy League
Pepperdine Waves	Non-major independent	California Basketball Association
Princeton Tigers	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Ivy League
Western Reserve Red Cats	Mid-American Conference	Presidents' Athletic Conference
Yale Bulldogs	Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Ivy League

Regular season[]

Conference winners and tournaments[]

Conference	Regular Season Winner^[4]	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	North Carolina & NC State	Ronnie Shavlik, NC State^[5]	1956 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament	Reynolds Coliseum (Raleigh, North Carolina)	NC State
Big Seven Conference	Kansas State	None Selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Iowa	None Selected	No Tournament
Border Conference	Texas Tech	None Selected	No Tournament
Ivy League	Dartmouth	None Selected	No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference	St. Francis (NY)	None Selected	No Tournament
Mid-American Conference	Marshall	None Selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Houston	None Selected	No Tournament
Ohio Valley Conference	Morehead State, Tennessee Tech & Western Kentucky State	None Selected	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference	Oregon State	None Selected	No Tournament
Skyline Conference	Utah	None Selected	No Tournament
Southeastern Conference	Alabama	None Selected	No Tournament
Southern Conference	George Washington & West Virginia	Darrell Floyd, Furman^[6]	1956 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Richmond Arena (Richmond, Virginia)	West Virginia^[7]
Southwest Conference	SMU	None Selected	No Tournament
West Coast Athletic Conference	San Francisco	Bill Russell, San Francisco^[8]	No Tournament
Western New York Little Three Conference	Canisius		No Tournament
Yankee Conference	Connecticut		No Tournament

Informal championships[]

Conference	Regular Season Winner	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Philadelphia Big 5	St. Joseph's	No Tournament

Statistical leaders[]

Player^[9]	School	PPG	Player	School	REB%	Player	School	FG%	Player	School	FT%
Points Per Game			Rebounds Percentage			Field Goal Percentage			Free Throw Percentage
Darrell Floyd	Furman	33.8	Joe Holup	G. Washington	.256	Joe Holup	G. Washington	64.7		Rhode Island	86.5
Robin Freeman	Ohio State	32.9	Charlie Tyra	Louisville	.235	Hal Greer	Marshall	60.1	Jackie Murdock	Wake Forest	85.7
Dan Swartz	Morehead St.	28.6	Jerry Harper	Alabama	.232		St. Mary's (CA)	56.3		NC State	85.2
Tom Heinsohn	Holy Cross	27.4	Bill Russell	San Francisco	.231	Raymond Downs	Texas	54.0		Miami (FL)	83.7
Julius McCoy	Michigan St.	27.3	Charlie Slack	Marshall	.215		Manhattan	53.4		Virginia	83.2

Post-Season Tournaments[]

NCAA Tournament[]

Coach Phil Woolpert and his star Bill Russell successfully guided San Francisco to its second consecutive championship, capping an undefeated season. The Dons became the first team in college basketball history to go undefeated and win the NCAA tournament. Temple's Hal Lear was named tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Final Four[]

Played at McGaw Hall in Evanston, Illinois

National Semifinals			National Championship Game

E	Temple	76

ME	Iowa	83
			ME	Iowa	71

			W	San Francisco	83
MW	SMU	68

W	San Francisco	86

Third Place – Temple 90, SMU 81

National Invitation Tournament[]

Louisville won its first NIT title, defeating Dayton 83–80. Louisville's Charlie Tyra won MVP honors

NIT Semifinals and Final[]

Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City

Semifinals		Final

Louisville	89

St. Joseph's	79
		Louisville	90

		Dayton	83
St. Francis (NY)	58

Dayton	89

Third Place – St. Joseph's 93, St. Francis (NY) 82

Award winners[]

Consensus All-American teams[]

**Consensus First Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Robin Freeman	G	Senior	Ohio State
Sihugo Green	G	Senior	Duquesne
Tom Heinsohn	F	Senior	Holy Cross
Bill Russell	C	Senior	San Francisco
Ronnie Shavlik	F/C	Senior	North Carolina State

**Consensus Second Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Bob Burrow	F	Senior	Kentucky
Darrell Floyd	G	Senior	Furman
Rod Hundley	G/F	Junior	West Virginia
K.C. Jones	G	Senior	San Francisco
Willie Naulls	F	Senior	UCLA
Bill Uhl	C	Senior	Dayton

Major player of the year awards[]

Helms Foundation Player of the Year: Bill Russell, San Francisco
UPI Player of the Year: Bill Russell, San Francisco

Major coach of the year awards[]

UPI Coach of the Year: Phil Woolpert, San Francisco

Other major awards[]

Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): Guy Rodgers, Temple
NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in NYC area): Bill Thieben, Hofstra

Coaching changes[]

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

Team	Former Coach	New Coach	Reason
Georgetown	Buddy Jeannette		After four seasons, Jeannette resigned.^[10]
Kansas	Phog Allen	Dick Harp	Allen retired following the season and was replaced by assistant Harp.
Yale	Howard Hobson	Joe Vancisin

References[]

^ orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
^ 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Records Book – Playing-Rules History section, NCAA, retrieved 2011-04-10
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. ISBN 0-345-51392-4.
^ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
^ 2008–09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Year by Year section, retrieved 2011-04-10
^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2010-08-14
^ 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2011-04-10
^ 2008–09 WCC Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, West Coast Conference, retrieved 2011-04-10
^ *Inside Sports College Basketball. Gale Research. 1998. ISBN 1-57859-009-4.
^ "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches". Archived from the original on 2017-05-27. Retrieved 2013-12-28.

[1] rangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes

[2] 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Records Book – Playing-Rules History section, NCAA, retrieved 2011-04-10

[3] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. ISBN 0-345-51392-4.

[4] "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.

[5] 2008–09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Year by Year section, retrieved 2011-04-10

[6] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2010-08-14

[7] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2011-04-10

[8] 2008–09 WCC Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, West Coast Conference, retrieved 2011-04-10

[9] *Inside Sports College Basketball. Gale Research. 1998. ISBN 1-57859-009-4.

[10] "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches". Archived from the original on 2017-05-27. Retrieved 2013-12-28.

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v t NCAA Division I men's basketball seasons
Pre-regulation	1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06
IAAUS / NCAA pre-Tournament era	1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38
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