# 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 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 | First round | Regional semifinals | Regional semifinals | Regional Finals | Regional Finals |
| | | Princeton | 46 | | |
| | | La Salle | 73 | | |
| La Salle | 95 | La Salle | 73 | | |
| West Virginia | 61 | | | | |
| West Virginia | 61 | | | La Salle | 99 |
| | | | | Canisius | 64 |
| Canisius | 73 | | | | | Canisius | 64 |
| Williams | 60 | | |
| Williams | 60 | Canisius | 73 | Third place | Third place |
| | | Villanova | 71 |
| Villanova | 74 | Villanova | 71 | Villanova | 64 |
| Duke | 73 | | | Princeton | 57 |

### East-2 Region

| First round | First round | Regional semifinals | Regional semifinals | Regional Finals | 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 | Third place |
| Memphis State | 55 | | | | |
| | | | | Kentucky | 84 |
| | | | | Penn St. | 59 |

### West-1 Region

| First round | First round | Regional semifinals | Regional semifinals | Regional Finals | Regional Finals |
| | | SMU | 79 | | |
| | | Bradley | 81 | | |
| Bradley | 69 | Bradley | 81 | | |
| Oklahoma City | 65 | | | | |
| Oklahoma City | 65 | | | Bradley | 81 |
| | | | | Colorado | 93 |
| | | Colorado | 69 | Third place | Third place |
| | | Tulsa | 59 |
| | | Tulsa | 59 | Tulsa | 68 |
| | | | | SMU | 67 |

### West-2 Region

| First round | First round | Regional semifinals | Regional semifinals | Regional Finals | 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 | Third place |
| West Texas State | 66 | | | | |
| | | | | Utah | 108 |
| | | | | Seattle | 85 |

### Final Four

| National semifinal | National semifinal | National Championship | National Championship |
| Iowa | 73 | | |
| La Salle | 76 | | |
| La Salle | 76 | La Salle | 63 |
| | | San Francisco | 77 |
| Colorado | 50 | San Francisco | 77 |
| San Francisco | 62 | National third-place game | National third-place game |
| | | Iowa | 54 |
| | | Colorado | 75 |