1954–55 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1954–55 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball
Big 7 Conference champion
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Big 7 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 11
AP	No. 15
Record	19–6 (11–1 Big 7)
Head coach	Bebe Lee (5th season)
Home arena	Balch Fieldhouse
Seasons ← 1953–54 1955–56 →

1954–55 Big Seven Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 15 Colorado	11	–	1	.917	19	–	6	.760
Missouri	9	–	3	.750	16	–	5	.762
Kansas State	6	–	6	.500	11	–	10	.524
Nebraska	6	–	6	.500	9	–	12	.429
Kansas	5	–	7	.417	11	–	10	.524
Iowa State	4	–	8	.333	11	–	10	.524
Oklahoma	1	–	11	.083	3	–	18	.143

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1954–55 Colorado Buffaloes Men's basketball team represented the University of Colorado in the 1954–55 NCAA men's basketball season. Led by fifth-year head coach Bebe Lee, the Buffaloes were Big Seven Conference champions and made a run to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. In the National semifinals, Colorado lost to Bill Russell and San Francisco by a respectable 62–50 margin. The Buffaloes bounced back in the consolation game to defeat Iowa to finish the season with a 19–6 record (11–1 Big Seven).

Roster

1954–55 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
C	22	Burdette Haldorson	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Austin HS	Austin, Minnesota
F		Robert Jeangerard	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	New Trier HS	Winnetka, Illinois

Head coach

Bebe Lee

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Dec 4, 1954*		Brigham Young	W 88–66	1–0	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
Dec 5, 1954*		Brigham Young	W 65–46	2–0	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
Dec 11, 1954*		Colorado State	W 66–47	3–0	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
Dec 17, 1954*		at California	L 44–57	3–1	Men's Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 18, 1954*		at California	L 46–59	3–2	Men's Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 21, 1954*		at No. 17 UCLA	L 62–65	3–3	Men's Gym Los Angeles, California
Dec 27, 1954*		vs. Oklahoma Big Seven Holiday Tournament	L 71–73 ^OT	3–4	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Dec 29, 1954*		vs. Nebraska Big Seven Holiday Tournament	W 89–47	4–4	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Dec 30, 1954*		vs. California Big Seven Holiday Tournament	W 69–60	5–4	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Big 7 Regular season
Jan 8, 1955		at Oklahoma	W 61–55	6–4 (1–0)	McCasland Field House Norman, Oklahoma
Jan 10, 1955		at Kansas	W 65–54	7–4 (2–0)	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, Kansas
Jan 17, 1955		Oklahoma	W 91–82	8–4 (3–0)	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
Jan 24, 1955		Iowa State	W 78–71	9–4 (4–0)	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
Feb 5, 1955		at Iowa State	W 86–70	10–4 (5–0)	Iowa State Armory Ames, Iowa
Feb 7, 1955		at Nebraska	L 77–84	10–5 (5–1)	Nebraska Coliseum Lincoln, Nebraska
Feb 12, 1955		No. 14 Missouri	W 80–71	11–5 (6–1)	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
Feb 19, 1955		Kansas State	W 61–53	12–5 (7–1)	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
Feb 22, 1955		Kansas	W 80–69	13–5 (8–1)	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
Feb 26, 1955		at Kansas State	W 63–60	14–5 (9–1)	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Feb 28, 1955		at No. 20 Missouri	W 66–57	15–5 (10–1)	Brewer Fieldhouse Columbia, Missouri
Mar 5, 1955		Nebraska	W 77–66	16–5 (11–1)	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, Colorado
NCAA Tournament
Mar 11, 1955*	No. 15	vs. No. 16 Tulsa Midwest Regional semifinal	W 69–59	17–5	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Mar 12, 1955*	No. 15	vs. Bradley Midwest Regional final	W 93–81	18–5	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, Kansas
Mar 18, 1955*	No. 15	vs. No. 1 San Francisco National semifinal – Final Four	L 50–62	18–6	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 19, 1955*	No. 15	vs. No. 5 Iowa Consolation	W 75–54	19–6	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Mountain Time.

^[2]

Rankings

^[3]^[4]

NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
4	23	Burdette Haldorson	St. Louis Hawks

^[5]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1954-55 Big Seven Conference Season Summary
^ "1954-55 Colorado Buffaloes Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 634–635. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "1954-55 College Basketball Polls". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
^ "1955 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 30, 2021.

v t e Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball
Venues	Carlson Gymnasium (1924–1937) Balch Fieldhouse (1937–1979) CU Events Center (1979–present)
Culture & lore	"CU Fight Song" Ralphie the Buffalo CU Pep Band
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 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 1999–2000 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 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics