1953 NCAA basketball tournament

1953 NCAA basketball tournament

Season	1952–53
Teams	22
Finals site	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Indiana Hoosiers (2nd title, 2nd title game, 2nd Final Four)
Runner-up	Kansas Jayhawks (3rd title game, 3rd Final Four)
Semifinalists	LSU Tigers (1st Final Four) Washington Huskies (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Branch McCracken (2nd title)
MOP	B. H. Born (Kansas)
Attendance	127,149
Top scorer	Bob Houbregs (Washington) (139 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1952 1954»

The 1953 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 22 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of NCAA college basketball. It began on March 10, 1953, and ended with the championship game on March 18 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 26 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.

Indiana, coached by Branch McCracken, won the tournament title with a 69–68 victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Phog Allen. B. H. Born of Kansas was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Locations

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1953 tournament:

East-1 Region

First Round (March 10)

The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

East-1 Regional (March 13 and 14)

Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina

East-2 Region

First Round (March 10)

Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana

East-2 Regional (March 12 and 13)

Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois

West-1 Region

West-1 Regional (March 12 and 13)

Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, Kansas

West-2 Region

First Round (March 10)

Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle, Washington

Stanford Pavilion, Palo Alto, California

West-2 Regional (March 13 and 14)

Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon

Final Four

March 17 and 18

Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri

For the fourth time, Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium was the host of the National Championship, its first as a full-fledged Final Four site. With the expansion of the field, the number of host venues also expanded, with three of the nine venues being new to the tournament. Both venues in the East-1 region were repeat venues, with Reynolds Coliseum hosting for the third straight year and the Palestra returning to the tournament for the first time since the inaugural year of 1939. In the East-2 region, Chicago Stadium once again hosted the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. For the first time, the city of Fort Wayne hosted tournament games, at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, home to the Fort Wayne Pistons of the NBA. The West-1 regional had no first-round games, with the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight held at then-Kansas State College and Ahearn Field House. In the West-2 region, Oregon State Coliseum again hosted, with first-round games held at both Hec Edmundson Pavilion and, for the first time, at the Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University, the first games held in California since the 1939 tournament.

This would be the only tournament ever hosted on the Stanford campus, and the last time Chicago Stadium would be used as a venue, with various other sites used around the area since.

Teams

Region	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	DePaul	Ray Meyer	Regional Fourth Place	Penn	L 90–70
East	Eastern Kentucky	Paul McBrayer	First round	Notre Dame	L 72–57
East	Fordham	Johnny Bach	First round	Lebanon Valley	L 80–67
East	Holy Cross	Buster Sheary	Elite Eight	LSU	L 81–73
East	Indiana	Branch McCracken	Champion	Kansas	W 69–68
East	Lebanon Valley	Rinso Marquette	Regional Fourth Place	Wake Forest	L 91–71
East	LSU	Harry Rabenhorst	Fourth Place	Washington	L 88–69
East	Miami (OH)	Bill Rohr	First round	DePaul	L 74–72
East	Navy	Ben Carnevale	First round	Holy Cross	L 87–74
East	Notre Dame	John Jordan	Elite Eight	Indiana	L 79–66
East	Penn	Howie Dallmar	Regional Third Place	DePaul	W 90–70
East	Wake Forest	Murray Greason	Regional Third Place	Lebanon Valley	W 91–71
West
West	Hardin–Simmons	Bill Scott	First round	Santa Clara	L 81–56
West	Idaho State	Steve Belko	First round	Seattle	L 88–77
West	Kansas	Phog Allen	Runner Up	Indiana	L 69–68
West	Oklahoma City	Doyle Parrack	Regional Fourth Place	TCU	L 58–56
West	Oklahoma A&M	Henry Iba	Elite Eight	Kansas	L 61–55
West	Santa Clara	Bob Feerick	Elite Eight	Washington	L 74–62
West	Seattle	Al Brightman	Regional Third Place	Wyoming	W 80–64
West	TCU	Buster Brannon	Regional Third Place	Oklahoma City	W 58-56
West	Washington	Tippy Dye	Third Place	LSU	W 88–69
West	Wyoming	Everett Shelton	Regional Fourth Place	Seattle	L 80–64

Bracket

West-1 Region

	Regional Semifinals					Regional Final
	Oklahoma A&M		71
	TCU		54
						Oklahoma A&M		55
						Kansas		61
	Kansas		73
	Oklahoma City		65			Third place
						TCU		58
						Oklahoma City		56

Final Four

	National Semifinal					National Championship
	LSU		67
	Indiana		80
						Indiana		69
						Kansas		68
	Kansas		79
	Washington		53			National Third Place
						LSU		69
						Washington		88

See also

• 1953 National Invitation Tournament
• 1953 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament