The 1957 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 23 schools playing in
single-elimination
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
play to determine the national champion of men's
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
in the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
University Division, replaced in 1973 by
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...
. The 1956–57 school year was the first in which NCAA members were formally divided into separate competitive levels, with larger and more competitive athletic programs placed in the University Division and smaller programs placed in the
College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...
(which would be replaced by
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
and
NCAA Division III
NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...
in 1973).
The 19th edition of the
NCAA tournament began on March 11, 1957, and ended with the
championship game
In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match sy ...
on March 23 in
Kansas City,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. A total of 27 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game.
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, coached by
Frank McGuire
Frank Joseph McGuire (November 8, 1913 – October 11, 1994) was an American basketball coach. At the collegiate level, he was head coach for three major programs: St. John's, North Carolina, and South Carolina, winning over a hundred games at e ...
, won the national title with a 54–53 triple-overtime victory in the final game over
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, coached by
Dick Harp
Richard F. Harp (March 28, 1918 – March 18, 2000) was an American college basketball coach who spent the majority of his career at the University of Kansas. He became the Kansas Jayhawks' fourth men's basketball coach in 1956. He coached for e ...
.
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 years and is widely reg ...
of Kansas became the fourth player to be named the tournament's
Most Outstanding Player despite not playing for the championship team.
Tournament notes
North Carolina won two consecutive triple overtime games to win the championship. The North Carolina – Michigan State semi final game and North Carolina – Kansas final game both made ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
''s list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time at 11 and 6 respectively.
[Mike Douchant â€]
Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history
The Sports Xchange, published in ''USA Today'', March 25, 2002
Locations
For the seventh time, Kansas City and the Municipal Auditorium hosted the Final Four. This tied the record, with Madison Square Garden, of hosting the most Final Fours in a single arena all-time, a record it would break in 1961 and which it still holds today. Once again, four new sites were used for the tournament. In the Midwest Regional,
Southern Methodist University
, mottoeng = "The truth will make you free"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = SACS
, academic_affiliations =
, religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church
, president = R. Gerald Turner
, ...
and the city of Dallas hosted tournament games for the first time at the SMU Coliseum, in its first year of operation. This marked the first games ever in the state of Texas, and the first in the
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Three of the first round sites were also new. In Columbus, another new building, St. John Arena on the campus of
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
, hosted games for the first time, the first games held in the state of Ohio. The state of Idaho became the first of the western mountain states to host games, at Reed Gymnasium on the campus of
Idaho State College
, mottoeng = "The truth will set you free"
, established =
, former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...
in Pocatello. And for the second time in three years,
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...
hosted the first round at a high school gymnasium, this time at the Capitol Hill High School Gym, a 4,000 seat gym in the southern part of the city. The city would not host games again for twenty years, until the
Myriad Convention Center
Prairie Surf Studios (originally Myriad Convention Center and later Cox Convention Center) is a film production complex located in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was formerly a convention center and the home of several minor league teams.
...
began hosting tournament games. This would also be the only time Reed Gym would host games; subsequent games in Pocatello would be hosted at the
Minidome
Holt Arena is an indoor multi-purpose athletic stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of Idaho State University (ISU) in Pocatello, Idaho. It is the home field of the Idaho State Bengals football, Idaho State Bengals of the Bi ...
, its successor as home to the
Bengals men's basketball team.
Teams
Bracket
* – Denotes overtime period
East region
Mideast region
Midwest region
West region
Final Four
See also
*
1957 NCAA College Division basketball tournament
The 1957 NCAA College Division basketball tournament involved 32 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA College Division college basketball as a culmination of the 1956-57 NC ...
*
1957 National Invitation Tournament
The 1957 National Invitation Tournament was the 1957 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.
Selected teams
Below is a list of the 12 teams selected for the tournament.
*
1957 NAIA Basketball Tournament
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1957 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
Basketball in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
NCAA University Division basketball tournament
NCAA University Division basketball tournament