1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team
The 1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team (variously "North Carolina", "Carolina" or "Tar Heels") was the varsity college basketball team to represent the University of North Carolina as a part of the Southern Conference for the NCAA season.[N 1] The head coach was Frank McGuire. The team played its home games at Woollen Gymnasium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team was the second undefeated national champion in NCAA basketball history and was the first ACC team to win a title.
1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball | |
---|---|
Conference | Atlantic Coast Conference |
Ranking | |
Coaches | No. 1 |
AP | No. 1 |
1956–57 record | 32–0 (14–0 ACC) |
Head coach | |
Assistant coach | Buck Freeman |
Home arena | Woollen Gymnasium |
1956–57 ACC men's basketball standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 1 North Carolina † | 14 | – | 0 | 1.000 | 32 | – | 0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maryland | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 16 | – | 10 | .615 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Duke | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 13 | – | 11 | .542 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 18 Wake Forest | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 19 | – | 9 | .679 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NC State | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 15 | – | 11 | .577 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
South Carolina | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 17 | – | 12 | .586 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Virginia | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 6 | – | 19 | .240 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Clemson | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 7 | – | 17 | .292 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
† 1957 ACC Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll[1] |
Roster
No. | Name | Position | Height | Weight | Class | Hometown |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 | Lennie Rosenbluth | F | 6–5 | 180 | Senior | Bronx, New York |
11 | Ken Rosemond | G | 5–10 | 155 | Junior | Hillsborough, North Carolina |
20 | Bob Young | C | 6–6 | 220 | Senior | Queens, New York |
22 | Roy Searcy | F | 6–4 | 185 | Junior | Draper, North Carolina |
31 | Gehrmann Holland | F | 6–3 | 200 | Sophomore | Beaufort, North Carolina |
32 | Bob Cunningham | G | 6–4 | 190 | Junior | New York City, New York |
33 | Danny Lotz | F | 6–7 | 198 | Sophomore | Northport, New York |
35 | Pete Brennan | F | 6–6 | 190 | Junior | Brooklyn, New York |
40 | Tommy Kearns | G | 5–11 | 191 | Junior | Bergenfield, New Jersey |
41 | Joe Quigg | C | 6–9 | 210 | Junior | Brooklyn, New York |
Reference:[3][4] |
Schedule
Date time, TV |
Opponent | Result | Record | Site city, state | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular season | |||||||||||
1956/12/04* no, no |
Furman | W 94–66 | 1–0 |
Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, NC | |||||||
1956/12/08 no, no |
vs. Clemson | W 94–75 | 2–0 |
Charlotte, NC | |||||||
1956/12/12* no, no |
vs. George Washington | W 82–55 | 3–0 |
Norfolk, VA | |||||||
1956/12/15 no, no |
at South Carolina | W 90–86OT | 4–0 |
Carolina Fieldhouse Columbia, SC | |||||||
1956/12/17 no, no |
Maryland | W 70–61 | 5–0 |
Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, NC | |||||||
1956/12/20* no, no |
vs. NYU | W 64–59 | 6–0 |
Madison Square Garden New York City | |||||||
1956/12/21* no, no |
vs. Dartmouth | W 89–61 | 7–0 |
Boston Garden Boston | |||||||
1956/12/22* no, no |
vs. Holy Cross | W 83–70 | 8–0 |
Boston Garden Boston | |||||||
1956/12/27* no, no |
vs. Utah Dixie Classic |
W 97–76 | 9–0 |
Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC | |||||||
1956/12/28* no, no |
vs. Duke Dixie Classic |
W 87–71 | 10–0 |
Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC | |||||||
1956/12/29* no, no |
vs. Wake Forest Dixie Classic |
W 63–55 | 11–0 |
Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC | |||||||
1957/01/08* no, no |
at William & Mary | W 71–61 | 12–0 |
Blow Gymnasium Williamsburg, VA | |||||||
1957/01/11 no, no |
Clemson | W 86–54 | 13–0 |
Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, NC | |||||||
1957/01/12 no, no |
Virginia | W 102–90 | 14–0 |
Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, NC | |||||||
1957/01/15 no, no |
at NC State | W 83–57 | 15–0 |
Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC | |||||||
1957/01/30* no, no |
at Western Carolina | W 77–59 | 16–0 |
Breese Gymnasium Cullowhee, NC | |||||||
1957/02/05 no, no |
at Maryland | W 65–612OT | 17–0 |
Cole Field House College Park, MD | |||||||
1957/02/09 no, no |
Duke | W 75–73 | 18–0 |
Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, NC | |||||||
1957/02/11 no, no |
at Virginia | W 68–59 | 19–0 |
Memorial Gymnasium Charlottesville, VA | |||||||
1957/02/13 no, no |
Wake Forest | W 72–69 | 20–0 |
Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, NC | |||||||
1957/02/19 no, no |
NC State | W 86–57 | 21–0 |
Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, NC | |||||||
1957/02/22 no, no |
South Carolina | W 75–62 | 22–0 |
Woollen Gymnasium Chapel Hill, NC | |||||||
1957/02/26 no, no |
at Wake Forest | W 69–64 | 23–0 |
Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC | |||||||
1957/03/01 no, no |
at Duke | W 86–72 | 24–0 |
Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC | |||||||
ACC Tournament | |||||||||||
1957/03/07 no, no |
vs. Clemson ACC Men's Basketball Tournament |
W 81–61 | 25–0 |
Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC | |||||||
1957/03/08 no, no |
vs. Wake Forest ACC Men's Basketball Tournament |
W 61–59 | 26–0 |
Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC | |||||||
1957/03/09 no, no |
vs. South Carolina ACC Men's Basketball Tournament |
W 95–75 | 27–0 |
Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC | |||||||
NCAA Tournament | |||||||||||
1957/03/12 no, no |
vs. Yale NCAA East Regional Quarterfinal |
W 90–74 | 28–0 |
Madison Square Garden New York City | |||||||
1957/03/15 no, no |
vs. Canisius NCAA East Regional Semifinal |
W 87–75 | 29–0 |
Palestra Philadelphia, PA | |||||||
1957/03/16 no, no |
vs. Syracuse NCAA East Regional Final |
W 67–58 | 30–0 |
Palestra Philadelphia, PA | |||||||
1957/03/22 no, no |
vs. Michigan State NCAA National Semifinal |
W 74–703OT | 31–0 |
Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, MO | |||||||
1957/03/23 no, no |
vs. Kansas NCAA National Final |
W 54–533OT | 32–0 |
Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, MO | |||||||
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Standard Time. |
Season Summary
Hired away from St. John’s in 1952 to make North Carolina basketball competitive with rival NC State, legendary coach Frank McGuire mined his native New York for talent and put together a team that won the national championship by slowing down dominating Kansas center Wilt Chamberlain. A veteran lineup led by star forward Lennie Rosenbluth, who averaged 28 points, finished the season a perfect 32-0.
Rankings
Awards and honors
- Lennie Rosenbluth, Helms Foundation Player of the Year
- Lennie Rosenbluth, ACC Player of the Year
- Lennie Rosenbluth, 1st Team All-ACC
- Frank McGuire, UPI National Coach of the Year
- Frank McGuire, ACC Coach of the Year
- Tommy Kearns, 1st Team All-ACC
- Pete Brennan, 2nd Team All-ACC
References
Footnotes
- The school was known as the University of North Carolina until February 1963.[2]
Citations
- sports-reference.com 1956-57 Atlantic Coast Conference Season Summary
- Vance Barron (February 6, 1963). "Pearsall Group Recommends 5-Part Plan For University". The Daily Tar Heel. p. 1. Retrieved October 27, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "National Collegiate Basketball Championship" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 13–14. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 18, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
- Morris 1988, p. 281.
- 2009–10 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball media guide, University of North Carolina, retrieved 2009-12-31
- Wade 1957, p. 8.
- Wade & Merritt Jr. 1956, p. 1.
Bibliography
- Lucas, Adam (2006). The Best Game Ever: How Frank McGuire's '57 Tar Heels Beat Wilt and Revolutionized College Basketball. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press. ISBN 978-1-59228-982-0.
- Lucas, Adam (2010). Carolina Basketball: A Century of Excellence. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-3410-7.
- Morris, Ron (1988). ACC Basketball: An Illustrated History. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Four Corners Press. ISBN 978-0-9609548-9-6.
- Wade, Jack; Merritt Jr., Davis, eds. (1956). University of North Carolina 1956–57 Basketball Blue Book. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
- Wade, Jack; Carmichael III, Billy; Campbell, Orville; Thompson, Wayne; Myers, Bob, eds. (1957). University of North Carolina 1957–58 Basketball Blue Book. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
- Wade, Jack, ed. (1957). University of North Carolina 1956–57 Post–Season Basketball Blue Book. Retrieved June 17, 2014.