🏀 The 1954-55 men’s college basketball season

What the record holds for this season: the champion, the tournament bracket, the AP poll week by week, the conference tables, and the Elo ratings with the biggest upsets.

Source: Citizen of Nowhere college basketball database · 19 conferences · 24-team tournament

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1955season

← 1954 1956 →

1954-55 national champion

The NCAA tournament winner.

National champion

San Francisco

28-1Final AP #1

Title gameLa Salle 63, San Francisco 77 (Mar 19)

Final FourSan FranciscoLa SalleColoradoIowa

The 1955 NCAA tournament

24 teams. Winners in bold, seeds before each team.

24-team field · 2 regions

First Round

Bradley69

Seattle80

Second Round

Bradley81

SMU79

Colorado69

Tulsa59

Oregon State83

Seattle71

San Francisco78

Utah59

Regional Finals

Bradley81

Colorado93

Oregon State56

San Francisco57

West region

First Round

Bradley69

Seattle80

Second Round

Bradley81

SMU79

Colorado69

Tulsa59

Oregon State83

Seattle71

San Francisco78

Utah59

Regional Finals

Bradley81

Colorado93

Oregon State56

San Francisco57

East region

First Round

Duke73

Second Round

Iowa82

Regional Finals

Iowa86

Final Four and the title game

Final Four

Colorado50

San Francisco62

West · Mar 18

Iowa73

La Salle76

East · Mar 18

Championship game: San Francisco

La Salle63

San Francisco77

East vs West · Mar 19

Third-place games

Seattle85

Utah108

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 12

Kentucky84

Penn State59

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 12

SMU67

Tulsa68

Regional Third Place · West · Mar 12

Princeton57

Villanova64

Regional Third Place · East · Mar 12

Colorado75

Iowa54

Third Place Game · West vs East · Mar 19

Conference tournaments

The champion and the other finalist of each of the 3 conference tournaments held in 1954-55.

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Final
Atlantic Coast	North Carolina State 87-77, Mar 5	Duke	87-77, Mar 5
Ohio Valley	Eastern Kentucky	Murray State
Southern	West Virginia 58-48, Mar 5	George Washington	58-48, Mar 5

The 1954-55 AP poll, week by week

Each team's rank in every poll. Tap a rank to read it.

Team	Dec7	14	21	28	Jan4	11	18	25	Feb1	8	15	22	Mar1	8
San Francisco			17	5	5	5	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Kentucky	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2
La Salle	1	1	4	3	4	4	4	5	3	3	3	3	3	3
North Carolina State	10	4	5	2	3	2	2	3	6	7	7	6	5	4
Iowa	4	13	20	19	14	19	19	19		15	15	16	12	5
Duquesne	3	9	9	8	2	3	5	4	4	4	4	4	8	6
Utah	16	15	2	7	8	9	10	7	5	5	10	8	7	7
Marquette							15	11	9	9	6	5	4	8
Dayton	7	5	6	4	10	12	18	15	15	16	13	11	10	9
Oregon State									19	18	16		14	10
Minnesota				11	13	14	14		11	12	8	7	6	11
Alabama			19	12	20	16	12	14	13	13	17	12	11	12
UCLA	13	8	17	15	7	10	10	9	8	8	9	9	9	13
George Washington		11	8	9	6	8	9	6	7	6	5	10	13	14
Colorado														15
Tulsa											19	19	15	16
Vanderbilt							17	18	20	20	20	14	16	17
Illinois	14	3	3	6	12	7	7	10	10	10	14	13	17	18
West Virginia			12											19
Saint Louis	12													20
Maryland					11	11	6	8	12	11	11	17	18
Memphis State												15	19
Missouri		6	7		9	6	8	12	17	14		20	20
Cincinnati										17	12	17
Tennessee											18
Villanova					17				17	19
Holy Cross	5	19					16	13	14
Niagara	8	10	10	10	15	15	20	20	16
Northwestern								16
Richmond						13	13	17
TCU							20
Purdue						17
USC			13	14		18
Louisville		12	14	13	16	20
Auburn						20
Seton Hall						20
Duke	17			18	17
Pennsylvania			16	17	19
Notre Dame	9	20			20
Kansas			20	16
Ohio State		14	11	20
Wichita	15	17	14
Indiana	6	7
St. John's		16
Wake Forest	17	17
Oklahoma A&M	11
Penn State	19
Western Kentucky State	20

Tap a rank to read it.

1955 final AP Top 20

The last Associated Press ranking of the season, with each team's record.

1955 final AP Top 20AP

11Minnesota15-7
12Alabama19-5
13UCLA21-5
14George Washington24-6
15Colorado19-6
16Tulsa21-7
17Vanderbilt16-6
18Illinois17-5
19West Virginia19-11
20Saint Louis20-8

1955 standings by conference

Overall and conference record. A star marks the regular-season champion, a trophy the conference-tournament champion.

1955 standings by conference19 conferences

Atlantic Coast8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
North Carolina State	28-4	12-2	★ 🏆 AP 4
Duke	20-8	11-3	NCAA
Maryland	17-7	10-4
Wake Forest	17-10	8-6
North Carolina	10-11	8-6
Virginia	14-15	5-9
South Carolina	10-17	2-12
Clemson	2-21	0-14

Big Seven7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Colorado	19-6	11-1	★ NCAA AP 15
Missouri	16-5	9-3
Kansas State	11-10	6-6
Nebraska	9-12	6-6
Kansas	11-10	5-7
Iowa State	11-10	4-8
Oklahoma	3-18	1-11

Big Ten10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Iowa	19-7	11-3	★ NCAA AP 5
Illinois	17-5	10-4	AP 18
Minnesota	15-7	10-4	AP 11
Michigan State	13-9	8-6
Northwestern	12-10	7-7
Purdue	12-10	5-9
Michigan	11-11	5-9
Wisconsin	10-12	5-9
Indiana	8-14	5-9
Ohio State	10-12	4-10

Border7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Texas Tech	18-7	9-3	★
West Texas State	15-7	9-3	★ NCAA
Texas Western	13-8	8-4
Arizona State	10-14	8-4
Hardin-Simmons	9-15	4-8
Arizona	8-17	3-9
New Mexico A&M	6-13	1-11

Eastern Intercollegiate8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Pennsylvania	19-6	10-4
Columbia	17-8	10-4
Princeton	13-12	10-4	★ NCAA
Dartmouth	18-7	9-5
Cornell	10-13	8-6
Brown	7-18	3-11
Harvard	6-17	3-11
Yale	3-21	3-11

Metropolitan New York5 teams

School	W-L	Conf
Manhattan	18-5	6-0
St. John's	11-9	5-1
Fordham	18-9	3-2
St. Francis (NY)	21-8	2-3
NYU	7-13	1-3

Mid-American8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Miami (OH)	14-9	11-3	★ NCAA
Marshall	17-4	10-4
Ohio	16-5	9-5
Western Michigan	12-10	9-5
Kent State	8-14	5-9
Bowling Green	6-16	5-9
Toledo	5-17	4-10
Western Reserve	8-14	3-11

Missouri Valley6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Tulsa	21-7	8-2	★ NCAA AP 16
Saint Louis	20-8	8-2	★ AP 20
Oklahoma A&M	12-13	5-5
Wichita	17-9	4-6
Houston	15-10	3-7
Detroit	15-11	2-8

Mountain States8 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Utah	24-4	13-1	★ NCAA AP 7
BYU	13-13	10-4
Utah State	15-7	9-5
Wyoming	17-9	9-5
Colorado A&M	11-12	5-9
Montana	12-14	4-10
Denver	9-14	4-10
New Mexico	7-17	2-12

Ohio Valley6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Western Kentucky State	18-10	8-2	★
Eastern Kentucky	15-8	6-4	🏆
Murray State	11-15	6-4
Morehead State	14-10	5-5
Tennessee Tech	9-11	3-7
Middle Tennessee State	9-11	2-8

Pacific Coast9 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Oregon State	22-8	15-1	★ NCAA AP 10
UCLA	21-5	11-1	AP 13
Stanford	16-8	7-5
Oregon	13-13	8-8
Washington	13-12	7-9
USC	14-11	5-7
Washington State	11-15	5-11
Idaho	8-18	5-11
California	9-16	1-11

Rocky Mountain5 teams

School	W-L	Note
Idaho State	18-8	★ NCAA
Montana State	11-16
Colorado State College	8-13
Colorado Mines	2-18
Colorado College	0-14

Southeastern12 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Kentucky	23-3	12-2	★ NCAA AP 2
Alabama	19-5	11-3	AP 12
Vanderbilt	16-6	9-5	AP 17
Tulane	14-6	9-5
Tennessee	15-7	8-6
Georgia Tech	12-13	7-7
Georgia	9-16	7-7
Auburn	11-9	6-8
Florida	12-10	5-9
Mississippi	8-15	5-9
LSU	6-18	3-11
Mississippi State	6-17	2-12

Southern10 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
West Virginia	19-11	9-1	★ 🏆 NCAA AP 19
George Washington	24-6	8-2	AP 14
Richmond	19-9	10-4
Washington & Lee	16-13	8-5
Furman	17-10	6-4
William & Mary	11-14	7-5
Davidson	8-13	4-6
VMI	8-15	4-9
Virginia Tech	7-20	4-14
Citadel	0-17	0-10

Southwest7 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
SMU	15-10	9-3	★ NCAA
TCU	17-7	8-4
Arkansas	14-9	8-4
Baylor	13-11	7-5
Rice	10-12	6-6
Texas	4-20	3-9
Texas A&M	4-20	1-11

West Coast5 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
San Francisco	28-1	12-0	★ NCAA AP 1
San Jose State	16-9	7-5
Santa Clara	13-11	6-6
Pacific	11-15	4-8
St. Mary's	6-19	1-11

Western N.Y. Little 33 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Niagara	20-6	3-1	★
Canisius	18-7	2-2	NCAA
St. Bonaventure	13-10	1-3

Yankee6 teams

School	W-L	Conf	Note
Connecticut	20-5	7-0	★
Rhode Island	17-10	5-3
Massachusetts	10-14
Vermont	6-15
Maine	4-13
New Hampshire	4-14

Independent47 teams

School	W-L	Note
Williams	17-1	NCAA
Marquette	24-3	NCAA AP 8
Lafayette	23-3
Dayton	25-4	AP 9
Duquesne	22-4	AP 6
La Salle	26-5	NCAA AP 3
Memphis State	17-4	NCAA
Seattle	22-7	NCAA
Holy Cross	19-7
DePaul	16-6
Cincinnati	21-8
Louisville	19-8
St. Francis (PA)	21-9
Seton Hall	17-9
Penn State	18-10	NCAA
Villanova	18-10	NCAA
Loyola Marymount	16-9
John Carroll	14-9
Loyola (LA)	14-9
Notre Dame	14-10
Gonzaga	15-11
Muhlenberg	14-11
Colgate	11-9
Navy	11-9
Loyola-Chicago	13-11
Valparaiso	13-11
Temple	11-10
Army	9-9
Xavier	13-13
Georgetown	12-13
Iona	10-11
Lehigh	10-11
Syracuse	10-11
St. Joseph's	12-14
Miami (FL)	9-11
Drake	9-12
Butler	10-14
Portland	9-13
Pittsburgh	10-16
Washington University	8-14
Oklahoma City	9-18	NCAA
Bradley	9-20	NCAA
Boston College	8-18
Creighton	5-14
Siena	3-13
Bucknell	3-18
Rutgers	2-22

The regular-season game record for this season is missing, so there is no Elo section. Team records come from the season standings.

Where these numbers come from

Enough to disbelieve this page on purpose rather than by accident.

Champions, brackets, polls and standings are read from the Citizen of Nowhere college basketball database, one season at a time. A section appears only where the database holds its data: the NCAA tournament began in 1939 (earlier champions are retroactive selections), the AP poll in 1949, and game-by-game results, and so the Elo ratings and upsets, in 1950.

Elo ratings and upsets come from the site’s own men’s college basketball Elo, built from every game since 1950. An upset’s win chance is the winner’s pre-game probability from those ratings.