The 1956 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA college basketball. It began on March 12, 1956, and ended with the championship game on March 24 on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois. A total of 29 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game.
The 1955–56 season was the last in which only one NCAA Tournament was held. Effective in 1956–57, the NCAA divided its membership into two competitive levels. The larger and more competitive athletic programs were placed in the University Division, and smaller programs in the College Division. Accordingly, that season would see separate tournaments contested in the University and College Divisions. In 1973, the University Division would be renamed NCAA Division I, while the College Division would be split into today's Divisions II and III.
This was the first NCAA tournament in which the four regionals were given distinct names, although the concept of four regional winners advancing to a single site for the "Final Four" had been introduced in 1952.
San Francisco, coached by Phil Woolpert, won the national title with an 83–71 victory in the final game over Iowa, coached by Bucky O'Connor. Hal Lear of Temple was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Locations
For the second time, the city of Evanston, Illinois hosted the Final Four. For the first time, a repeat host city used a different venue, this time using McGaw Memorial Hall, the second replacement for the original Patten Gym, home of the 1939 final. The tournament saw two new venues, both in the state of Kansas, and both of which would join in rotation with Ahearn Field House as host of the Midwestern final for most of the next decade. In its first year of operation, Allen Field House on the campus of the University of Kansas hosted tournament games for the first time, acting as the West regional site. And also in the West region, the University of Wichita Field House, also in its first year of operation, hosted the first-round game. This tournament would also mark the final tournament to include the Allen County War Memorial Arena; neither the arena, which is still in operation, nor the city have hosted since.
Bracket
* – Denotes overtime period
East Region
| Quarterfinals
| | | Semifinals
| | | Finals
| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | |
| Connecticut
| 84
| |
|
| Manhattan
| 75
| |
| | Connecticut
| 59
| |
|
|
| | Temple
| 65
| |
| Temple
| 74
| |
| |
| Holy Cross
| 72
| |
| | Temple
| 60
| |
|
|
| | Canisius
| 58
| |
| Dartmouth
| 61
| | |
| |
| West Virginia
| 59*
| |
| | Dartmouth
| 58
| |
|
|
| | Canisius
| 66
| |
| Canisius
| 79
| |
| |
| NC State
| 78****
| |
|
|
Midwest Region
|
Quarterfinals |
|
Semifinals |
|
Finals |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
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Iowa |
97 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Morehead State |
83 |
|
|
Morehead State |
107 |
|
|
Marshall |
92 |
|
|
|
|
|
Iowa |
89 |
|
|
|
Kentucky |
77 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Kentucky |
84 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wayne State |
64 |
|
|
Wayne State |
72 |
|
|
DePaul |
63 |
|
West Region
|
Quarterfinals |
|
Semifinals |
|
Finals |
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Houston |
74 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SMU |
89 |
|
|
SMU |
68 |
|
|
Texas Tech |
67 |
|
|
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SMU |
84 |
|
|
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Oklahoma City |
63 |
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Kansas State |
93 |
|
|
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Oklahoma City |
97 |
|
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Oklahoma City |
97 |
|
|
Memphis State |
81 |
|
Far West Region
|
Quarterfinals |
|
Semifinals |
|
Finals |
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Utah |
81 |
|
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Seattle |
72 |
|
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Seattle |
68 |
|
|
Idaho State |
66 |
|
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Utah |
77 |
|
|
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San Francisco |
92 |
|
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San Francisco |
72 |
|
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UCLA |
61 |
|
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|
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|
Final Four
| National Semifinals
| | | National Championship Game
| |
| | | | | | | | | |
| |
| E
| Temple
| 76
| |
|
| MW
| Iowa
| 83
| |
| | MW
| Iowa
| 71
| |
|
|
| | FW
| San Francisco
| 83
| |
| W
| SMU
| 68
| |
| |
| FW
| San Francisco
| 86
| |
|
|
National Third Place Game
| National Third Place Game [1]
| |
| | | | |
|
| Temple
| 90
| |
|
| SMU
| 81
| |
|
|
Regional Third Place Games
| East Regional Third Place
| | | | | | | | | Dartmouth
| 85
| | | | Connecticut
| 64
| | | |
|
| Far West Regional Third Place
| | | | | | | | | UCLA
| 94
| | | | Seattle
| 70
| | | |
|
| Midwest Regional Third Place
| | | | | | | | | Morehead State
| 95
| | | | Wayne State
| 84
| | | |
|
| West Regional Third Place
| | | | | | | | | Kansas State
| 89
| | | | Houston
| 70
| | | |
|
Notes
- Canisius's first-round victory over the second-ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack, considered by many to be among the top ten upsets in tournament history,[2][3] set a record for most overtime periods in a Division I Men's tournament game with four, a record that still stands as of 2015 (tied once, in 1961).[4]
- Northwestern University previously hosted the first ever NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game on March 27, 1939, in the first Patten Gym.[5]
References
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Tournaments | |
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Structure | |
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Champions & awards | |
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Media & culture | |
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Records & statistics | |
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