The 1963 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 25 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
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 ...
Division I 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
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It began on March 9, 1963, 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
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. A total of 29 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game.
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...
, coached by
George Ireland
George Ireland (June 15, 1913 – September 14, 2001) was an American basketball coach who led the Loyola Ramblers to the 1963 NCAA championship.
Background
Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Ireland was an All-American basketball player at the Univer ...
, won the national title with a 60–58 overtime victory in the final game, over the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
, coached by
Ed Jucker
Edwin Louis Jucker (July 8, 1916 – February 2, 2002) was an American basketball and baseball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head basketball coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy from 1945 to 1948, Renss ...
.
Art Heyman
Arthur Bruce Heyman (June 24, 1941 – August 27, 2012) was an American professional basketball player. Playing for Duke University in college, in 1963 he was USBWA Player of the Year, AP Player of the Year, UPI Player of the Year, ''Sporting ...
, of
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, was named the tournament's
Most Outstanding Player. This tournament marked the last time that a city was host to two straight
Final Fours.
Locations
For the fourth time, Louisville and Freedom Hall hosted the Final Four, the last time a host repeated in back-to-back years. Like the preceding year, all nine venues were either on-campus arenas or the primary off-campus arena for college teams. The tournament saw three new venues being used. For the first time, the tournament came to the state of Michigan, when Jenison Fieldhouse on the campus of
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
hosted games for the first and only time. (All other games held in the state have been in the
Detroit metropolitan area
The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. State of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the ...
.) Texas saw its third host city become Lubbock, when the Municipal Coliseum at
Texas Technological College
Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
hosted games for the first time. And for the first time, the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
hosted the tournament at historic McArthur Court, something it would do twice more. Of the nine venues used, only Jenison Fieldhouse would not be used again.
Teams
Bracket
* – Denotes overtime period
East region
Mideast region
Midwest region
West region
Final Four
National Third Place Game
Regional third place games
Notes
![1963 Loyola Ramblers at O'Hare Airport](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/1963_Loyola_Ramblers_at_O%27Hare_Airport.png)
* In the Loyola vs. Mississippi State game at
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
in a Mideast regional semifinal, Mississippi State, an all-white team, played despite protests from the governor and state police of Mississippi. Mississippi State overcame a state prohibition against playing integrated teams. Loyola beat Mississippi State and went on to the Mideast Region Championship game. The Loyola–Mississippi State has since been dubbed the "
Game of Change
The Game of Change was a college basketball game played between the Loyola Ramblers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs on March 15, 1963, during the second round of the 1963 NCAA University Division basketball tournament, at Jenison Fieldh ...
".
* In the
National Championship game, Loyola started four African-Americans and Cincinnati started three, marking the first time that a majority of African-Americans participated in the championship game.
* Loyola was the tenth and, as of 2022, most recent team to win the tournament in their first appearance, joining Oregon (1939), Indiana (1940), Wisconsin (1941), Stanford (1942), Utah (1944), Oklahoma State (1945), Holy Cross (1947), La Salle (1954) and San Francisco (1955).
* Loyola's first-round regional victory over Tennessee Tech, 111–42, continues to be a record margin of victory for an NCAA men's basketball tournament game. That game also remains Tennessee Tech's most recent tournament game, as the Golden Eagles have not been back since. Tennessee Tech's 59 year drought is the second longest active drought after Dartmouth, who has not made the tournament since 1959, and third all-time behind Dartmouth and Harvard, who went 66 years (1946-2012) between tournament appearances.
*In addition to Loyola, two other teams - Mississippi State and Texas Western - both made their tournament debuts. The Bulldogs had been eligible three times before (in 1959, 1961 and 1962, the last year being tied with Kentucky), but all three times had been prohibited by the state due to its prohibition against playing integrated teams. Texas Western, who were an independent team following the disbandment of the
Border Conference
The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 season. ...
the year prior, lost their first tournament game to in-state rival Texas, whom they had beaten 45-40 on December 29 at home. They would also make history three years later when they won the
1966 tournament with an all-black starting five.
See also
*
1963 NCAA College Division basketball tournament
The 1963 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 1962–63 ...
*
1963 National Invitation Tournament
The 1963 National Invitation Tournament was the 1963 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.
Selected teams
Below is a list of the 12 teams selected for the tournament.
*
1963 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
The 1963 NAIA men's basketball tournament was held March 11–16 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 26th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. This tournament did not feat ...
*
Black participation in college basketball Blacks have been participating in American college basketball for over a century.
Introduction at Howard
Thirteen years after basketball was invented, and after being exposed to the game over the summer at Harvard University, Coach Edwin Henders ...
References
{{1963 Loyola Ramblers men's basketball navbox
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
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 ...
Sports competitions in Louisville, Kentucky
Basketball in Lubbock, Texas
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 ...
NCAA University Division basketball tournament