Throwback Thursday: The 1955 and 1956 San Francisco (USF) Dons

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Yale and Sacred Heart (along with today’s news and notes) – CLICK HERE

While we at HoopsHD normally do not look favorably on games against non-DI opponents, an exception needs to be made for USF earlier this week. They beat San Francisco State 91-59 in a game that was held at the ancient Kezar Pavilion at Golden Gate Park. Kezar Pavilion was home to the Dons until 1958 and was home to back-to-back national champions for the 1954-55 and 1955-56 seasons. The game against San Francisco State was the first time in 58 years that USF would play at Kezar!

Led by coach Phil Woolpert and future NBA Hall-of-Famers Bill Russell and KC Jones, the Dons were the class of what was the California Basketball Association at that time. This was a conference that included USF, Saint Mary’s, Pacific, Santa Clara and San Jose State. With only 5 teams in the conference, each school would play each other 3 times in the season, and USF swept through the regular season 12-0 in the 1954-55 season.

Their only blemish that year was at UCLA – they lost against the Bruins on December 11, 1954 but would avenge that game a week later. After sweeping 3 games in a round-robin event at Oklahoma City against Wichita State, Oklahoma City and George Washington, the Dons began their ascent in the polls and would be #1 in the country by February. When the NCAA Tournament came around in March, the Dons defeated West Texas A&M, Utah and Oregon State (in a close 1-point win) to advance to the Final Four in Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium. In the Final Four, USF defeated Colorado 62-50 and denied La Salle (77-63) a shot at their 2nd straight title in the championship game. Utah, Oregon State, Colorado and La Salle were all nationally ranked at the time the Dons defeated them in the tournament (as were UCLA, Wichita State and GW during the regular season).

While USF finished 28-1 in the 1954-55 season, they would finish a perfect 29-0 the following season. The California Basketball Association added Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and Fresno State to their conference, but none of the other 7 teams could challenge the Dons’ supremacy in the league. DePaul, UCLA, Holy Cross and Wichita State were also noteworthy teams that USF beat during the regular season. USF would begin the year ranked #1 in the polls and would finish the year ranked #1 from start to finish.

As for the 1956 NCAA Tournament, UCLA and Utah offered little resistance in what was called the “Far West” regional (played in Corvallis, Oregon) that year to USF – Temple advanced from the East, Iowa from the Midwest and SMU won the “West” regional (if you consider Lawrence, Kansas to be “West”). The Dons defeated SMU 86-68 and Iowa 83-71 in Evanston, Illinois for their 2nd straight title. In all, USF won 59 straight games (55 against D-I opponents) before finally losing a game in the 1956-57 season at Illinois. That season, the Dons finished 3rd in the Final 4 with a loss to eventual runner-up Kansas and a win against Michigan State.