# 1953 NCAA basketball tournament

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.
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

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 (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
#### 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
#### West-1 Regional (March 12 and 13)

    Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, Kansas (Host: Kansas State University)

### West-2 Region
#### 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
#### March 17 and 18

    Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

## Teams

| 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
### East-1 Region—Raleigh

| First Round March 10 | First Round March 10 | Regional Semifinals March 13 | Regional Semifinals March 13 | Regional Finals March 14 | Regional Finals March 14 |
| Philadelphia | Philadelphia | LSU | 89 | | |
| Lebanon Valley | 80 | Lebanon Valley | 76 | | |
| Fordham | 67 | | | LSU | 81 |
| | | | | Holy Cross | 73 |
| Philadelphia | Philadelphia | Wake Forest | 71 | | |
| Holy Cross | 87 | Holy Cross | 79 | Third place | Third place |
| Navy | 74 | | | | |
| | | | | Lebanon Valley | 71 |
| | | | | Wake Forest | 91 |

### East-2 Region—Chicago

| First Round March 10 | First Round March 10 | Regional Semifinals March 13 | Regional Semifinals March 13 | Regional Finals March 14 | Regional Finals March 14 |
| Fort Wayne, IN | Fort Wayne, IN | Penn | 57 | | |
| Notre Dame | 72 | Notre Dame | 69 | | |
| Eastern Kentucky | 57 | | | Notre Dame | 66 |
| | | | | Indiana | 79 |
| Fort Wayne, IN | Fort Wayne, IN | Indiana | 82 | | |
| DePaul | 74 | DePaul | 80 | Third place | Third place |
| Miami (OH) | 72 | | | | |
| | | | | Penn | 90 |
| | | | | DePaul | 70 |

### West-1 Region—Manhattan, Kansas

| Regional Semifinals March 13 | Regional Semifinals March 13 | Regional Finals March 14 | Regional Finals March 14 |
| Oklahoma A&M | 71 | | |
| TCU | 54 | | |
| TCU | 54 | Oklahoma A&M | 55 |
| | | Kansas | 61 |
| Kansas | 73 | Kansas | 61 |
| Oklahoma City | 65 | | |
| Oklahoma City | 65 | Third place | Third place |
| | | TCU | 58 |
| | | Oklahoma City | 56 |

### West-2 Region—Corvallis, Oregon

| First Round March 10 | First Round March 10 | Regional Semifinals March 13 | Regional Semifinals March 13 | Regional Finals March 14 | Regional Finals March 14 |
| Seattle | Seattle | Washington | 92 | | |
| Seattle | 88 | Seattle | 70 | | |
| Idaho State | 77 | | | Washington | 74 |
| | | | | Santa Clara | 62 |
| Palo Alto, CA | Palo Alto, CA | Wyoming | 52 | | |
| Santa Clara | 81 | Santa Clara | 67 | Third place | Third place |
| Hardin–Simmons | 56 | | | | |
| | | | | Seattle | 80 |
| | | | | Wyoming | 64 |

### Final Four—Kansas City

| National Semifinals March 17 | National Semifinals March 17 | National Championship March 18 | National Championship March 18 |
| LSU | 67 | | |
| Indiana | 80 | | |
| Indiana | 80 | Indiana | 69 |
| | | Kansas | 68 |
| Kansas | 79 | Kansas | 68 |
| Washington | 53 | | |
| Washington | 53 | National Third Place | National Third Place |
| | | LSU | 69 |
| | | Washington | 88 |