The1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1955, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the1956 NCAA basketball tournamentchampionship game on March 24, 1956, atMcGaw Hall inEvanston, Illinois. TheSan Francisco Dons won their second NCAA national championship with an 83–71 victory over theIowa Hawkeyes.

• TheIvy League, which had been formally established as an athletic conference in 1954, played its first basketball season under that name. Previously, Ivy League schools had competed in theEastern Intercollegiate Basketball League; today's Ivy League considers the EIBL part of its history.
• ThePhiladelphia Big 5, an informal association of colleges and universities inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, focused oncollege basketball, began play. The Big 5 teams played a regular-season round robin schedule with one another each year through the1990–91 season with the results determining an informal Big 5 championship, and revived the round-robin schedule during the1999–2000 season.
• TheNCAA tournament expanded from 24 to 25 teams.
• For the first time, the four regional competitions of the NCAA Tournament received names. In 1956, they were named the East, Midwest, West, and Far West Regions.
• For the last time, the NCAA held only a single championship tournament.The following season, it divided teams into aUniversity Division and aCollege Division and began holding a separate tournament for each division.
• San Francisco won its second consecutive NCAA championship. With a record of 29–0, it became the first undefeated team to win the NCAA championship.^[1]
• Bill Russell of San Francisco completed his career (1954–1956) averaging 20.7 points and 20.3 rebounds per game. He was the first player to average more than 20 points and 20 rebounds per game during his career.^[2]

Beginning in 1955–56, the following rules changes were implemented:

• The free-throw lane was increased in width from 6 feet (1.8 m) to 12 feet (3.7 m).
• The two-shot penalty in the last three minutes of the game was eliminated. The "one-and-one" free throw, in which a player shoots a second free throw only if he makes his first, went into effect for the entire game.^[3][4]

The top 20 from the AP Poll during the pre-season.^[5]

A total of 43 college teams played asmajor independents. Among them,Louisville (26–3) had the bestwinning percentage (.897) andTemple (27–4) finished with the most wins.^[17]

Saint Joseph's finished with a 4–0 record in head-to-head competition among the Philadelphia Big 5.

CoachPhil Woolpert and his starBill Russell successfully guided San Francisco to its second consecutive championship, capping an undefeated season. The Dons became the first team in college basketball history to go undefeated and win theNCAA tournament.Temple'sHal Lear was named tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Played atMcGaw Hall inEvanston, Illinois

Louisville won its first NIT title, defeatingDayton 83–80. Louisville'sCharlie Tyra won MVP honors

Played atMadison Square Garden inNew York City

• Helms Foundation Player of the Year:Bill Russell,San Francisco
• UPI Player of the Year: Bill Russell, San Francisco

• UPI Coach of the Year:Phil Woolpert,San Francisco

• Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player inPhiladelphia Big 5):Guy Rodgers,Temple
• NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in NYC area):Bill Thieben,Hofstra

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A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

• 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season

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