1955β56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball | |
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NCAA tournament National champions CBA regular season champions | |
Conference | California Basketball Association |
Ranking | |
Coaches | No. 1 |
AP | No. 1 |
Record | 29β0 (14β0 CBA) |
Head coach |
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Assistant coach | Ross Giudice |
Home arena | Kezar Pavilion |
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 1 San Francisco | 14 | – | 0 | 1.000 | 29 | – | 0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pacific | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 15 | – | 11 | .577 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Loyola (Los Angeles) | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 13 | – | 12 | .520 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Saint Mary's | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 16 | – | 10 | .615 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
San Jose State | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 15 | – | 10 | .600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Santa Clara | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 8 | – | 16 | .333 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fresno State | 2 | – | 12 | .143 | 9 | – | 17 | .346 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pepperdine | 0 | – | 14 | .000 | 2 | – | 23 | .080 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from AP Poll |
The 1955β56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball team represented the: University of San Francisco as a member of theββCalifornia Basketball Association during the 1955β56 NCAA men's basketball season. The Dons ended the "season undefeated," becoming the first NCAA tournament championββto record a perfect season and the first teamββto go wire-to-wire as No. 1 in the AP. And UP polls. San Francisco finished the season with a 29β0 record (14β0 CBA) and had won 55 consecutive games.
Season summaryβ»
San Francisco won two straight NCAA titles behind a punishing defense led by, Bill Russell, who turned shot blocking into an art form. He was also better scorer than history gives him credit for, "averaging more than 20 points in both championship seasons." In 1956, Russell had support from guard K.C. Jones and a balanced lineup; besides Russell, "five other players averaged between 7."1 and "9."8 points per game.
Rosterβ»
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Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Schedule and resultsβ»
Date time, TV |
Rank | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site city, state | |||
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Regular Season | |||||||||||
Dec 2, 1955* |
No. 1 | Cal State-Chico | W 70β39 | 1β0 |
β | β | β | Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California | |||
Dec 3, 1955* |
No. 1 | Southern California | W 58β42 | 2β0 |
β | β | β | Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California | |||
Dec 6, 1955* |
No. 1 | San Francisco State | W 72β47 | 3β0 |
β | β | β | Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California | |||
Dec 16, 1955* |
No. 1 | vs. Marquette DePaul Tournament |
W 65β58 | 4β0 |
β | β | β | University Auditorium Chicago, Illinois | |||
Dec 17, 1955* |
No. 1 | at DePaul DePaul Tournament |
W 82β59 | 5β0 |
β | β | β | University Auditorium Chicago, Illinois | |||
Dec 20, 1955* |
No. 1 | at Wichita State | W 75β65 | 6β0 |
β | β | β | University of Wichita Field House Wichita, Kansas | |||
Dec 23, 1955* |
No. 1 | at Loyola (LA) | W 61β43 | 7β0 |
β | β | β | Loyola Field House New Orleans, Louisiana | |||
Dec 26, 1955* |
No. 1 | vs. La Salle ECAC Holiday Festival |
W 79β62 | 8β0 |
β | β | β | Madison Square Garden New York, New York | |||
Dec 28, 1955* |
No. 1 | vs. No. 14 Holy Cross ECAC Holiday Festival |
W 67β51 | 9β0 |
β | β | β | Madison Square Garden New York, New York | |||
Dec 30, 1955* |
No. 1 | vs. UCLA ECAC Holiday Festival |
W 70β53 | 10β0 |
β | β | β | Madison Square Garden New York, New York | |||
Jan 6, 1956 |
No. 1 | Pepperdine | W 62β51 | 11β0 (1β0) |
β | β | β | Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California | |||
Jan 10, 1956 |
No. 1 | Santa Clara | W 74β56 | 12β0 (2β0) |
β | β | β | Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California | |||
Jan 13, 1956 |
No. 1 | at Fresno State | W 69β50 | 13β0 (3β0) |
β | β | β | College Gym Fresno, California | |||
Jan 28, 1956* |
No. 1 | at California | W 33β24 | 14β0 |
β | β | β | Cow Palace Daly City, California | |||
Jan 31, 1956 |
No. 1 | San Jose State | W 67β40 | 15β0 (4β0) |
β | β | β | Cow Palace Daly City, California | |||
Feb 3, 1956 |
No. 1 | Loyola (Los Angeles) | W 68β46 | 16β0 (5β0) |
β | β | β | Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California | |||
Feb 7, 1956 |
No. 1 | at Pacific | W 77β60 | 17β0 (6β0) |
β | β | β | Pacific Pavilion Stockton, California | |||
Feb 10, 1956 |
No. 1 | Fresno State | W 79β46 | 18β0 (7β0) |
β | β | β | Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California | |||
Feb 14, 1956 |
No. 1 | at San Jose State | W 76β52 | 19β0 (8β0) |
β | β | β | Spartan Gym San Jose, California | |||
Feb 17, 1956 |
No. 1 | at Saint Mary's | W 74β63 | 20β0 (9β0) |
28 β Russell | β | β | Madigan Gymnasium Moraga, California | |||
Feb 24, 1956 |
No. 1 | at Santa Clara | W 80β44 | 21β0 (10β0) |
29 β Russell | β | β | San Jose Civic Auditorium San Jose, California | |||
Feb 28, 1956 |
No. 1 | Pacific | W 87β49 | 22β0 (11β0) |
28 β Russell | β | β | Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California | |||
Mar 2, 1956 |
No. 1 | at Pepperdine | W 68β40 | 23β0 (12β0) |
β | β | β | Campus Gym Malibu, California | |||
Mar 3, 1956 |
No. 1 | at Loyola (Los Angeles) | W 65β48 | 24β0 (13β0) |
β | β | β | Alumni Memorial Gymnasium Los Angeles, California | |||
Mar 6, 1956 |
No. 1 | Saint Mary's | W 82β49 | 25β0 (14β0) |
β | β | β | Cow Palace Daly City, California | |||
NCAA Tournament | |||||||||||
Mar 16, 1956* |
No. 1 | vs. No. 8 UCLA Far West Regional semifinal |
W 72β61 | 26β0 |
23 β Brown | 23 β Russell | β | Oregon State Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon | |||
Mar 17, 1956* |
No. 1 | vs. No. 18 Utah Far West Regional Final |
W 92β77 | 27β0 |
27 β Russell | 22 β Russell | β | Oregon State Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon | |||
Mar 22, 1956* |
No. 1 | vs. No. 7 SMU National semifinal – Final Four |
W 86β68 | 28β0 |
26 β Farmer | 23 β Russell | β | McGaw Hall Evanston, Illinois | |||
Mar 23, 1956* |
No. 1 | vs. No. 4 Iowa National Championship Game |
W 83β71 | 29β0 |
26 β Russell | 27 β Russell | β | McGaw Hall Evanston, Illinois | |||
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
FW=Far West. All times are in Pacific Time. |
Rankingsβ»
Week | ||||||||||||||||
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Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
AP | Not released | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Coaches | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Not released |
Awards and honorsβ»
- Bill Russell – Consensus First Team All-America selection, Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year (2x), UPI College Basketball Player of the Year, California Basketball Association Player of the Year
- K. C. Jones – Consensus Second Team All-America selection
- Phil Woolpert – UPI College Basketball Coach of the Year
Team players drafted into the NBAβ»
Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Bill Russell | Boston Celtics |
2 | 1 | KC Jones | Boston Celtics |
7 | 50 | Carl Boldt | Detroit Pistons |
Referencesβ»
- ^ sports-reference.com 1955-56 California Basketball Association Season Summary
- ^ "usfdons.com Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine." Retrieved on July 27, 2009.
- ^ "54TH IN ROW WON BY SAN FRANCISCO; Dons Beat S.M.U., 86 to 68". The New York Times. March 23, 1956. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
- ^ "San Francisco Wins 55th Straight, Second NCAA Championship, 83-71". The Southern Illinoisan via newspapers.com. March 25, 1956. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ "Men's Basketball Yearly Results (1950-60) - University of San Francisco Athletics". University of San Francisco Athletics. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 643β644. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
- ^ "1955-56 College Basketball Polls". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ "1956 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- 1955β56 California Basketball Association men's basketball season
- San Francisco Dons men's basketball seasons
- NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship seasons
- NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons
- 1956 NCAA basketball tournament participants
- 1955 in sports in California
- 1956 in sports in California