1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
ACC Tournament Champions ACC Regular season champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Champions
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#1
AP	#1
1956–57 record	32–0 (14–0 ACC)
Head coach	Frank McGuire
Assistant coach	Buck Freeman
Home arena	Woollen Gymnasium

The 1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented University of North Carolina. 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.

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.

Roster

Name	#	Position	Height	Year	Home Town
Pete Brennan	35	Forward	6–6	Junior	Brooklyn, NY
Bob Cunningham	20	Guard	6–4	Junior	New York, NY
Stan Groll	43	Guard	6–0	Junior	Brooklyn, NY
Bill Hathaway	30	Center	6–11	Sophomore	Long Beach, NY
Gehrmann Holland	31	Forward	6–3	Sophomore	Beaufort, NC
Tommy Kearns	40	Guard	5–11	Junior	Bergenfield, NJ
Danny Lotz	33	Forward	6–7	Sophomore	Northport, NY
Joe Quigg	41	Center	6–9	Junior	Brooklyn, NY
Tony Radovich	44	Guard	6–2	Senior	Hoboken, NJ
Ken Rosemond	11	Guard	5–10	Junior	Hillsboro, NC
Lennie Rosenbluth	10	Forward	6–5	Senior	Bronx, NY
Ron Searcy	22	Forward	6–4	Junior	Draper, NC
Bob Young	20	Center	6–6	Senior	Queens, NY

Schedule

^[1]

Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Site
1956/12/04*	Furman	W 94–66	1–0	Woollen Gymnasium
1956/12/08	vs. Clemson	W 94–75	2–0
1956/12/12*	vs. George Washington	W 82–55	3–0
1956/12/15	at South Carolina	W 90–86^OT	4–0	Carolina Fieldhouse
1956/12/17	Maryland	W 70–61	5–0	Woollen Gymnasium
1956/12/20*	vs. NYU	W 64–59	6–0	Madison Square Garden
1956/12/21*	vs. Dartmouth	W 89–61	7–0	Boston Garden
1956/12/22*	vs. Holy Cross	W 83–70	8–0	Boston Garden
1956/12/27*	vs. Utah (Dixie Classic)	W 97–76	9–0	Reynolds Coliseum
1956/12/28*	vs. Duke (Dixie Classic)	W 87–71	10–0	Reynolds Coliseum
1956/12/29*	vs. Wake Forest (Dixie Classic)	W 63–55	11–0	Reynolds Coliseum
1957/01/08*	at William & Mary	W 71–61	12–0	Blow Gymnasium
1957/01/11	Clemson	W 86–54	13–0	Woollen Gymnasium
1957/01/12	Virginia	W 102–90	14–0	Woollen Gymnasium
1957/01/15	at NC State	W 83–57	15–0	Reynolds Coliseum
1957/01/30*	at Western Carolina	W 77–59	16–0	Breese Gymnasium
1957/02/05	at Maryland	W 65–61^2OT	17–0	Cole Field House
1957/02/09	Duke	W 75–73	18–0	Woollen Gymnasium
1957/02/11	at Virginia	W 68–59	19–0	Memorial Gymnasium
1957/02/13	Wake Forest	W 72–69	20–0	Woollen Gymnasium
1957/02/19	NC State	W 86–57	21–0	Woollen Gymnasium
1957/02/22	South Carolina	W 75–62	22–0	Woollen Gymnasium
1957/02/26	at Wake Forest	W 69–64	23–0	Memorial Coliseum
1957/03/01	at Duke	W 86–72	24–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium
ACC Tournament
1957/03/07	vs. Clemson (ACC Men's Basketball Tournament)	W 81–61	25–0	Reynolds Coliseum
1957/03/08	vs. Wake Forest (ACC Men's Basketball Tournament)	W 61–59	26–0	Reynolds Coliseum
1957/03/09	vs. South Carolina (ACC Men's Basketball Tournament)	W 95–75	27–0	Reynolds Coliseum
NCAA Tournament
1957/03/12	vs. Yale (NCAA East Regional Quarterfinal)	W 90–74	28–0	Madison Square Garden
1957/03/15	vs. Canisius (NCAA East Regional Semifinal)	W 87–75	29–0	Palestra
1957/03/16	vs. Syracuse (NCAA East Regional Final)	W 67–58	30–0	Palestra
1957/03/22	vs. Michigan State (NCAA National Semifinal)	W 74–70^3OT	31–0	Municipal Auditorium
1957/03/23	vs. Kansas (NCAA National Final)	W 54–53^3OT	32–0	Municipal Auditorium
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Standard Time.

NCAA basketball tournament

Main article: 1957 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

East
- North Carolina 90, Yale 74
- North Carolina 87, Canisius 75
- North Carolina 67, Syracuse 58
Final Four
- North Carolina 74, Michigan State 70 (3OT)
- North Carolina 54, Kansas 53 (3OT)

^[2]

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

↑ 2009–10 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball media guide, University of North Carolina, retrieved 2009-12-31
↑ http://www.databasesports.com/ncaab/tourney.htm?yr=1957

North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball

Venues	Bynum Gymnasium (1920–1924) Tin Can (1924–1938) Woollen Gymnasium (1938–1965) Carmichael Auditorium (1965–1986) Dean Smith Center (1986–present)

Rivalries	Duke (Carlyle Cup) Kentucky NC State

Culture & lore	Rameses The Marching Tar Heels Records Junior varsity team Inside Carolina Four corners offense Dixie Classic Tobacco Road Scandal

People	Head coaches Honorees Honored players NBA draftees

Seasons	1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

Helms and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

North Carolina Tar Heels Men's Basketball 1956–57 NCAA Champions

10 Lennie Rosenbluth 11 Ken Rosemond 32 Bob Cunningham 35 Pete Brennan 40 Tommy Kearns 41 Joe Quigg Head Coach Frank McGuire

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball champions

1939: Oregon
1940: Indiana
1941: Wisconsin
1942: Stanford
1943: Wyoming
1944: Utah
1945: Oklahoma A&M
1946: Oklahoma A&M
1947: Holy Cross
1948: Kentucky
1949: Kentucky
1950: CCNY
1951: Kentucky
1952: Kansas
1953: Indiana
1954: La Salle
1955: San Francisco
1956: San Francisco
1957: North Carolina
1958: Kentucky
1959: California
1960: Ohio State
1961: Cincinnati
1962: Cincinnati
1963: Loyola (IL)
1964: UCLA
1965: UCLA
1966: Texas Western
1967: UCLA
1968: UCLA
1969: UCLA
1970: UCLA
1971: UCLA
1972: UCLA
1973: UCLA
1974: NC State
1975: UCLA
1976: Indiana
1977: Marquette
1978: Kentucky
1979: Michigan State
1980: Louisville
1981: Indiana
1982: North Carolina
1983: NC State
1984: Georgetown
1985: Villanova
1986: Louisville
1987: Indiana
1988: Kansas
1989: Michigan
1990: UNLV
1991: Duke
1992: Duke
1993: North Carolina
1994: Arkansas
1995: UCLA
1996: Kentucky
1997: Arizona
1998: Kentucky
1999: Connecticut
2000: Michigan State
2001: Duke
2002: Maryland
2003: Syracuse
2004: Connecticut
2005: North Carolina
2006: Florida
2007: Florida
2008: Kansas
2009: North Carolina
2010: Duke
2011: Connecticut
2012: Kentucky
2013: Louisville
2014: Connecticut
2015: Duke