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

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in the

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. 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, 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

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, 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, 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 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 Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the a ...

.) 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 Sy ...

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

* In the Loyola vs. Mississippi State game at

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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 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.

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 University Division basketball tournament