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1955–56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball team

American college basketball season

Field	Value
year	1955–56
team	San Francisco Dons
sport	Basketball
image	1955–56 San Francisco Dons team photo (1963 NCAA Basketball Championship program).jpg
image_size	300
conference	California Basketball Association
short_conf	CBA
CoachRank	1
APRank	1
record	29–0
conf_record	14–0
head_coach	Phil Woolpert
hc_year	6th
asst_coach1	Ross Giudice
stadium	Kezar Pavilion
champion	[NCAA tournament](1956-ncaa-basketball-tournament) National champions
CBA regular season champions
tourney	[National Championship Game](1956-ncaa-basketball-championship-game)
tourney_result
W 83–71 vs. [Iowa](1955-56-iowa-hawkeyes-men-s-basketball-team)

CBA regular season champions W 83–71 vs. Iowa

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

Phil Woolpert ()
Ross Giudice ()

Name	Number
Hal Payne	3
K. C. Jones	4
Bill Russell	6
John Koljian	7
Bill Bush	8
Steve Balchios	10
Warren Baxter	11
Bill Mallen	12
Vince Boyle	14
Gene Brown	15
Tom Nelson	16
Mike Farmer	17
Mike Preaseau	18
Carl Boldt	19
Jack King	21
Hal Perry	23

Schedule and results

|- !colspan=9 style=| Regular Season |- !colspan=9 style=| NCAA Tournament

NCAA basketball tournament

Far West
- San Francisco 72, UCLA 61
- San Francisco 92, Utah 77
Final Four
- San Francisco 86, Southern Methodist 68
- San Francisco 83, Iowa 71 http://www.databasesports.com/ncaab/tourney.htm?yr=1956 --

Rankings

Main article: 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

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 NBA

Main article: 1956 NBA draft

References

"[http://www.usfdons.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031406aab.html usfdons.com] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-07-17 ." Retrieved on July 27, 2009.)
"[http://www.usfdons.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031406aab.html usfdons.com] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-07-17 ." Retrieved on July 27, 2009.)
(March 23, 1956). "54TH IN ROW WON BY SAN FRANCISCO; Dons Beat S.M.U., 86 to 68". [[The New York Times]].
(March 25, 1956). "San Francisco Wins 55th Straight, Second NCAA Championship, 83-71". [[The Southern Illinoisan]] via newspapers.com.
"Men's Basketball Yearly Results (1950-60) - University of San Francisco Athletics". [[San Francisco Dons.
(2009). "ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game". [[Random House]].
"1955-56 College Basketball Polls". [[Sports Reference]].
"1956 NBA Draft". [[Sports Reference.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1955–56-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

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