The 1953 NCAA basketball tournament involved 22 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of NCAA college basketball. The 15th edition of the tournament 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.

1953 NCAA basketball tournament
Season1952–53
Teams22
Finals siteMunicipal Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
ChampionsIndiana Hoosiers (2nd title, 2nd title game,
2nd Final Four)
Runner-upKansas Jayhawks (3rd title game,
3rd Final Four)
Semifinalists
Winning coachBranch McCracken (2nd title)
MOPB. H. Born (Kansas)
Attendance127,149
Top scorerBob Houbregs (Washington)
(139 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments
«1952 1954»

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. The Hoosiers became the third team, after Oklahoma A&M in 1945–46 and Kentucky in 1948–49, to win two titles and the second of three teams to win titles in their first two tournament appearances (after Oklahoma A&M); however, unlike Oklahoma A&M before them and San Francisco after, their first two tournament appearances were 13 years apart.

Locations

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

East-1 Region

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First round (March 10)
The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hosts: University of Pennsylvania, Ivy League)
East-1 Regional (March 13 and 14)
Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)

East-2 Region

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First round (March 10)
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana (Host: Big Ten Conference)
East-2 Regional (March 12 and 13)
Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (Hosts: Loyola University Chicago, DePaul University)

West-1 Region

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West-1 Regional (March 12 and 13)
Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, Kansas (Host: Kansas State University)

West-2 Region

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First round (March 10)
Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington)
Stanford Pavilion, Palo Alto, California (Host: Stanford University)
West-2 Regional (March 13 and 14)
Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon (Host: Oregon State University)

Final Four

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March 17 and 18
Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Teams

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Region Team Coach Conference Finished Final Opponent Score
East
East DePaul Ray Meyer Independent Regional Fourth Place Penn L 90–70
East Eastern Kentucky Paul McBrayer Ohio Valley First round Notre Dame L 72–57
East Fordham Johnny Bach Metro NY First round Lebanon Valley L 80–67
East Holy Cross Buster Sheary Independent Elite Eight LSU L 81–73
East Indiana Branch McCracken Big Ten Champion Kansas W 69–68
East Lebanon Valley Rinso Marquette Independent Regional Fourth Place Wake Forest L 91–71
East LSU Harry Rabenhorst Southeastern Fourth Place Washington L 88–69
East Miami (OH) Bill Rohr Mid-American First round DePaul L 74–72
East Navy Ben Carnevale Independent First round Holy Cross L 87–74
East Notre Dame John Jordan Independent Elite Eight Indiana L 79–66
East Penn Howie Dallmar Ivy League Regional third place DePaul W 90–70
East Wake Forest Murray Greason Southern Regional third place Lebanon Valley W 91–71
West
West Hardin–Simmons Bill Scott Border First round Santa Clara L 81–56
West Idaho State Steve Belko Independent First round Seattle L 88–77
West Kansas Phog Allen Big 7 Runner Up Indiana L 69–68
West Oklahoma City Doyle Parrack Independent Regional Fourth Place TCU L 58–56
West Oklahoma A&M Henry Iba Missouri Valley Elite Eight Kansas L 61–55
West Santa Clara Bob Feerick CBA Elite Eight Washington L 74–62
West Seattle Al Brightman Independent Regional third place Wyoming W 80–64
West TCU Buster Brannon Southwest Regional third place Oklahoma City W 58–56
West Washington Tippy Dye Pacific Coast Third Place LSU W 88–69
West Wyoming Everett Shelton Mountain States Regional Fourth Place Seattle L 80–64

Bracket

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East-1 Region

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First Round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals
LSU 89
Lebanon Valley 80 Lebanon Valley 76
Fordham 67 LSU 81
Holy Cross 73
Wake Forest 71
Holy Cross 87 Holy Cross 79
Navy 74 Third place
Lebanon Valley 71
Wake Forest 91

East-2 Region

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First Round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals
Penn 57
Notre Dame 72 Notre Dame 69
Eastern Kentucky 57 Notre Dame 66
Indiana 79
Indiana 82
DePaul 74 DePaul 80
Miami (OH) 72 Third place
Penn 90
DePaul 70

West-1 Region

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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

West-2 Region

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First Round Regional Semifinals Regional Final
Washington 92
Seattle 88 Seattle 70
Idaho State 77 Washington 74
Santa Clara 62
Wyoming 52
Santa Clara 81 Santa Clara 67
Hardin–Simmons 56 Third place
Seattle 80
Wyoming 64

Final Four

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

[1]

See also

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Notes

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  • As would be expected with the expanded field, a then-record ten teams - Eastern Kentucky, Fordham, Hardin-Simmons, Idaho State, Lebanon Valley, LSU, Miami University, Notre Dame, Penn and Seattle - made their tournament debut. The record would be broken in 1955 with eleven new teams, and again in 1981 with twelve newcomers.
  • Lebanon Valley College, at 425 students, would become by far the smallest school to ever field a team, as well as win a game, in the NCAA tournament. Following the 1956 split of the NCAA into University and College divisions, as well as the subsequent split into the current three division format, it is most likely that this record will never be broken. This would be LVC's only appearance in the tournament; they are also the only team from the tournament to not play in the tournament again.

References

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  1. ^ "1953 NCAA basketball tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 5, 2018.