1954–55 NCAA men's basketball season

1954–55 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
1954–55 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	None
NCAA Tournament	1955
Tournament dates	March 8 – 19, 1955
National Championship	Municipal Auditorium; Kansas City, Missouri
NCAA Champions	San Francisco
Helms National Champions	San Francisco
Other champions	Duquesne (NIT)
Player of the Year; (Helms)	Bill Russell, San Francisco

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 championship game on March 19, 1955, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The San Francisco Dons won their first NCAA national championship with a 77–63 victory over the La Salle Explorers.

Rule changes

The "one-and-one" free throw 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.[1]
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.[1]

Season headlines

The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League was disbanded at the end of the season. Its teams, history, and heritage were absorbed into the Ivy League the following season.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The Top 20 from the AP Poll and the UP Coaches Poll during the pre-season.[2][3]

Associated Press
Ranking	Team
1	La Salle
2	Kentucky
3	Duquesne
4	Iowa
5	Holy Cross
6	Indiana
7	Dayton
8	Niagara
9	Notre Dame
10	NC State
11	Oklahoma A&M
12	Saint Louis
13	UCLA
14	Illinois
15	Wichita
16	Utah
17 (tie)	Duke
17 (tie)	Wake Forest
19	Penn State
20	Western Kentucky State

UP Coaches
Ranking	Team
1	La Salle
2	Iowa
3	Duquesne
4	Kentucky
5	Indiana
6	Illinois
7	NC State
8	Holy Cross
9	UCLA
10	Niagara
11	Notre Dame
12	Dayton
13 (tie)	Saint Louis
13 (tie)	Utah
15	USC
16	DePaul
17 (tie)	Oklahoma A&M
17 (tie)	Oregon State
19	Cincinnati
20	Wichita

Arenas

Kansas began playing at Allen Fieldhouse late in the season on March 1. The arena was named for their coach at the time Phog Allen. Allen Fieldhouse would eventually become one of the top college basketball home court advantages in the country.[4]

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference	Regular season winner[5]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	NC State	Dickie Hemric, Wake Forest[6]	1955 ACC men's basketball tournament	Reynolds Coliseum (Raleigh, North Carolina)	NC State
Big Seven Conference	Colorado	None selected	No Tournament
Big Ten Conference	Iowa	None selected	No Tournament
Border Conference	Texas Tech & West Texas A&M		No Tournament
California Basketball Association	San Francisco	Ken Sears, Santa Clara	No Tournament
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League	Princeton	None selected	No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference	Manhattan		No Tournament
Mid-American Conference	Miami (OH)	None selected	No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference	Saint Louis & Tulsa	None selected	No Tournament
Ohio Valley Conference	Western Kentucky State	None selected	1955 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	Jefferson County Armory (Louisville, Kentucky)	Eastern Kentucky State
Pacific Coast Conference	Oregon State (North); UCLA (South)		No Tournament; Oregon State defeated UCLA in best-of-three conference playoff series
Skyline Conference	Utah		No Tournament
Southeastern Conference	Kentucky	None selected	No Tournament
Southern Conference	West Virginia	Darrell Floyd, Furman[7]	1955 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Richmond Arena (Richmond, Virginia)	West Virginia[8]
Southwest Conference	SMU	None selected	No Tournament
Western New York Little Three Conference	Niagara		No Tournament
Yankee Conference	Connecticut	None selected	No Tournament

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Final Four

National semifinals		National finals

Iowa	73

La Salle	76
		La Salle	63

		San Francisco	77
Colorado	50

San Francisco	62

Third Place – Colorado 75, Iowa 54

National Invitation tournament

Semifinals & finals

Semifinals			Finals

	Duquesne	65

	Cincinnati	61
				Duquesne	70

				Dayton	58
	St. Francis (Pa.)	73

	Dayton	79

Third Place – Cincinnati 96, St. Francis (Pa.) 91

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

**Consensus First Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Dick Garmaker	G	Senior	Minnesota
Tom Gola	F	Senior	La Salle
Sihugo Green	G	Junior	Duquesne
Dick Ricketts	F/C	Senior	Duquesne
Bill Russell	C	Junior	San Francisco

**Consensus Second Team**
Player	Position	Class	Team
Darrell Floyd	G	Junior	Furman
Robin Freeman	G	Junior	Ohio State
Dickie Hemric	C	Senior	Wake Forest
Don Schlundt	C	Senior	Indiana
Ronnie Shavlik	F/C	Junior	North Carolina State

Coaching changes

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

Team	Former Coach	New Coach
La Salle	Ken Loeffler	Jim Pollard
Oklahoma	Bruce Drake	Doyle Parrack
Oklahoma City	Doyle Parrack	Abe Lemons
Texas A&M	John Floyd	Ken Loeffler

References

orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. p. 836. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
"1977 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
"King's Court: Home sweet home". ESPN.com. January 16, 2013.
"2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
2008–09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Year by Year section Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2009-02-14
2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09
2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

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

[ESPN-2] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. p. 836. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[3] "1977 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved August 8, 2020.

[4] "King's Court: Home sweet home". ESPN.com. January 16, 2013.

[5] "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.

[6] 2008–09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Year by Year section Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2009-02-14

[7] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

[8] 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Postseason Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2009-02-09

NCAA Division I men's basketball seasons
Pre-regulation	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898-99 1899–1900 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
NCAA Tournament era	1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24