1955–56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball team

1955–56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball
1955–56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions; CBA regular season champions
National Championship Game, ; W 83–71 vs. Iowa
Conference	California Basketball Association
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	29–0 (14–0 CBA)
Head coach	Phil Woolpert (6th season);
Assistant coach	Ross Giudice
Home arena	Kezar Pavilion

1955–56 California Basketball Association men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
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 (Calif.)	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^[1]

The 1955–56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball team represented the University of San Francisco as a member of the California Basketball Association during the 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season. The Dons ended the season undefeated, becoming the first NCAA tournament champion to record a perfect season and the first team to go wire-to-wire as No. 1 in the AP and UP polls. San Francisco finished the season with a 29–0 record (14–0 CBA) and had won 55 consecutive games.

Season summary

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 a much 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.

Roster

1955–56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
	3	Hal Payne	—	—
G	4	K. C. Jones	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Sr	San Francisco, California
C	6	Bill Russell	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Oakland, California
	7	John Koljian	—	—
	8	Bill Bush	—	—
	10	Steve Balchios	—	—
	11	Warren Baxter	—	—
	12	Bill Mallen	—	—
	14	Vince Boyle	—	—
G	15	Gene Brown	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	So	San Francisco, California
	16	Tom Nelson	—	—
F	17	Mike Farmer	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Richmond, California
F	18	Mike Preaseau	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	So	Redding, California
F	19	Carl Boldt	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Jr	Tujunga, California
	21	Jack King	—	—
G	23	Hal Perry	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	—	Sr	Ukiah, California

Head coach

Phil Woolpert (Loyola Marymount)

Assistant coach(es)

Ross Giudice (San Francisco)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site city, state
Regular Season
Dec 2, 1955*	No. 1	Cal State-Chico	W 70–39	1–0	–	–	–	Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California
Dec 3, 1955*	No. 1	Southern California	W 58–42	2–0	–	–	–	Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California
Dec 6, 1955*	No. 1	San Francisco State	W 72–47	3–0	–	–	–	Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California
Dec 16, 1955*	No. 1	vs. Marquette DePaul Tournament	W 65–58	4–0	–	–	–	University Auditorium Chicago, Illinois
Dec 17, 1955*	No. 1	at DePaul DePaul Tournament	W 82–59	5–0	–	–	–	University Auditorium Chicago, Illinois
Dec 20, 1955*	No. 1	at Wichita State	W 75–65	6–0	–	–	–	University of Wichita Field House Wichita, Kansas
Dec 23, 1955*	No. 1	at Loyola (LA)	W 61–43	7–0	–	–	–	Loyola Field House New Orleans, Louisiana
Dec 26, 1955*	No. 1	vs. La Salle ECAC Holiday Festival	W 79–62	8–0	–	–	–	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Dec 28, 1955*	No. 1	vs. No. 14 Holy Cross ECAC Holiday Festival	W 67–51	9–0	–	–	–	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Dec 30, 1955*	No. 1	vs. UCLA ECAC Holiday Festival	W 70–53	10–0	–	–	–	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Jan 6, 1956	No. 1	Pepperdine	W 62–51	11–0 (1–0)	–	–	–	Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California
Jan 10, 1956	No. 1	Santa Clara	W 74–56	12–0 (2–0)	–	–	–	Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California
Jan 13, 1956	No. 1	at Fresno State	W 69–50	13–0 (3–0)	–	–	–	College Gym Fresno, California
Jan 28, 1956*	No. 1	at California	W 33–24	14–0	–	–	–	Cow Palace Daly City, California
Jan 31, 1956	No. 1	San Jose State	W 67–40	15–0 (4–0)	–	–	–	Cow Palace Daly City, California
Feb 3, 1956	No. 1	Loyola (Los Angeles)	W 68–46	16–0 (5–0)	–	–	–	Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California
Feb 7, 1956	No. 1	at Pacific	W 77–60	17–0 (6–0)	–	–	–	Pacific Pavilion Stockton, California
Feb 10, 1956	No. 1	Fresno State	W 79–46	18–0 (7–0)	–	–	–	Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California
Feb 14, 1956	No. 1	at San Jose State	W 76–52	19–0 (8–0)	–	–	–	Spartan Gym San Jose, California
Feb 17, 1956	No. 1	at Saint Mary's	W 74–63	20–0 (9–0)	28 – Russell	–	–	Madigan Gymnasium Moraga, California
Feb 24, 1956	No. 1	at Santa Clara	W 80–44	21–0 (10–0)	29 – Russell	–	–	San Jose Civic Auditorium San Jose, California
Feb 28, 1956	No. 1	Pacific	W 87–49	22–0 (11–0)	28 – Russell	–	–	Kezar Pavilion San Francisco, California
Mar 2, 1956	No. 1	at Pepperdine	W 68–40	23–0 (12–0)	–	–	–	LBCC Main Gym Long Beach, California
Mar 3, 1956	No. 1	at Loyola (Los Angeles)	W 65–48	24–0 (13–0)	–	–	–	LBCC Main Gym Long Beach, California
Mar 6, 1956	No. 1	Saint Mary's	W 82–49	25–0 (14–0)	–	–	–	Cow Palace Daly City, California
NCAA Tournament
Mar 16, 1956*	No. 1	vs. No. 8 UCLA Far West Regional semifinal	W 72–61	26–0	23 – Brown	23 – Russell	–	Oregon State Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon
Mar 17, 1956*	No. 1	vs. No. 18 Utah Far West Regional Final	W 92–77	27–0	27 – Russell	22 – Russell	–	Oregon State Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon
Mar 22, 1956*	No. 1	vs. No. 7 SMU National semifinal – Final Four	W 86–68^[3]	28–0	26 – Farmer	23 – Russell	–	McGaw Hall Evanston, Illinois
Mar 23, 1956*	No. 1	vs. No. 4 Iowa National Championship Game	W 83–71^[4]	29–0	26 – Russell	27 – Russell	–	McGaw Hall Evanston, Illinois
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. FW=Far West. All times are in Pacific Time.

^[5]

Rankings

Ranking movements
	Week
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

^[6]^[7]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	2	Bill Russell	Boston Celtics
2	1	KC Jones	Boston Celtics
7	50	Carl Boldt	Detroit Pistons

^[8]

References

^ 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. 643–644. 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.

[1] sports-reference.com 1955-56 California Basketball Association Season Summary

[2] "usfdons.com Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine." Retrieved on July 27, 2009.

[ncaa-smu-3] "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.

[4] "San Francisco Wins 55th Straight, Second NCAA Championship, 83-71". The Southern Illinoisan via newspapers.com. March 25, 1956. Retrieved June 20, 2020.

[5] "Men's Basketball Yearly Results (1950-60) - University of San Francisco Athletics". University of San Francisco Athletics. Retrieved June 20, 2020.

[ESPN-6] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 643–644. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[7] "1955-56 College Basketball Polls". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 20, 2020.

[8] "1956 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved June 20, 2020.

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San Francisco Dons men's basketball
Venues	Kezar Pavilion (1924–1958) St. Ignatius Gym (1924–1958) Sobrato Center (1958–present) Chase Center (alternate; 2019–present)
Culture & lore	The Don KTCT
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 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 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 1982–85 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 2024–25 2025–26
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics