1954 NCAA Basketball Tournament

Last updated
1954 NCAA Basketball Tournament
Season 195354
Teams24
Finals site Municipal Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Champions La Salle Explorers (1st title, 1st title game,
1st Final Four)
Runner-up Bradley Braves (2nd title game,
2nd Final Four)
Semifinalists
Winning coach Ken Loeffler (1st title)
MOP Tom Gola (La Salle)
Attendance115,391
Top scorerTom Gola La Salle
(114 points)
NCAA Division I Men's Tournaments
« 1953 1955 »

The 1954 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8 and ended with the championship game on March 20 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 28 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.

Contents

La Salle, coached by Ken Loeffler, won the national title with a 92–76 victory in the final game over Bradley, coached by Forddy Anderson. Tom Gola of La Salle was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Of note, Kentucky, the top-ranked team in the nation (with a record of 25–0) did not participate in any post-season tournament. Since several key players had technically graduated the year before (when Kentucky was banned from playing a competitive schedule due to the point-shaving scandal a few years earlier), those players were ruled ineligible for the NCAA tournament. Despite the wishes of the players, Adolph Rupp ultimately decided his team would not play.

LSU represented the Southeastern Conference in the tournament, its last appearance until 1979, well after the graduation of NCAA all-time leading scorer Pete Maravich. LSU made only one postseason appearance over the next 24 seasons, the 1970 National Invitation Tournament, during Maravich's senior season.

Locations

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1954 tournament:

East-1 Region

First Round (March 8)
Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York
Duke Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina
East-1 Regional (March 12 and 13)
The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

East-2 Region

First Round (March 9)
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana
East-2 Regional (March 12 and 13)
Iowa Field House, Iowa City, Iowa

West-1 Region

First Round (March 8)
Robertson Memorial Field House, Peoria, Illinois
West-1 Regional (March 12 and 13)
Gallagher Hall, Stillwater, Oklahoma

West-2 Region

First Round (March 9) and West-2 Regional (March 12 and 13)
Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon

Final Four

March 19 and 20
Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri

For the second straight year, and the fifth overall, Kansas City and the Municipal Auditorium hosted the Final Four. The tournament included five new venues. The city of Buffalo hosted games for the only time at the Aud; the tournament would not return to Western New York until 2000 when its replacement, HSBC Arena, would host. Also serving for the only time was Duke Indoor Stadium, the venerable home of the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, the second of the Tobacco Road schools to host games. For the first time, the tournament came to the state of Iowa, playing at the University of Iowa's Field House. The tournament also came to the city of Peoria for the only time to date, playing at Robertson Memorial Field House on the campus of Bradley University. And for the first time, the tournament came to the state of Oklahoma, playing at Gallagher Hall, home to the powerhouse teams of Hank Iba and Oklahoma A&M College.

Teams

RegionTeamCoachConferenceFinishedFinal OpponentScore
East
East Connecticut Hugh Greer Yankee First round Navy L 85–80
East Cornell Royner Greene Ivy League Regional Fourth Place NC State L 65–54
East Fordham Johnny Bach Metro NY First round La Salle L 76–74
East George Washington William Reinhart Southern First round NC State L 75–73
East Indiana Branch McCracken Big Ten Regional third place LSU W 73–62
East La Salle Ken Loeffler IndependentChampion Bradley W 92–76
East LSU Harry Rabenhorst Southeastern Regional Fourth Place Indiana L 73–62
East Loyola (LA) Jim McCafferty IndependentFirst round Notre Dame L 80–70
East Navy Ben Carnevale IndependentElite Eight La Salle L 64–48
East NC State Everett Case Atlantic Coast Regional third place Cornell W 65–54
East Notre Dame John Jordan IndependentElite Eight Penn State L 71–63
East Penn State Elmer Gross IndependentNational Third Place USC W 70–61
East Toledo Jerry Bush Mid-American First round Penn State L 62–50
West
West Bradley Forddy Anderson IndependentRunner Up La Salle L 92–76
West Colorado Bebe Lee Big 7 Regional Fourth Place Rice L 78–55
West Colorado A&M Bill Strannigan Mountain States Regional Fourth Place Idaho State L 62–57
West Idaho State Steve Belko IndependentRegional third place Colorado A&M W 62–57
West Oklahoma City Doyle Parrack IndependentFirst round Bradley L 61–55
West Oklahoma A&M Henry Iba Missouri Valley Elite Eight Bradley L 71–57
West Rice Don Suman Southwest Regional third place Colorado W 78–55
West Santa Clara Bob Feerick CBA Elite Eight USC L 66–65
West Seattle Al Brightman IndependentFirst round Idaho State L 77–75
West USC Forrest Twogood Pacific Coast National Fourth Place Penn State L 70–61
West Texas Tech Polk Robison Border First round Santa Clara L 73–64

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East-1 Region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
Cornell 67
Navy69
  Navy 85
Connecticut 80
Navy 48
La Salle64
NC State 75
George Washington 73
NC State 81
La Salle88
La Salle 76
Fordham 74*

East-2 Region

First Round Regional Semifinals Regional Finals
LSU 70
Penn State 62Penn State78
Toledo 50 Penn State71
Notre Dame 63
Indiana 64
Notre Dame 80Notre Dame65
Loyola (LA) 70

West-1 Region

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
Colorado 64
Bradley76
  Bradley 61
Oklahoma City 55
Bradley71
Oklahoma A&M 57
Oklahoma A&M 51
Rice 45

West-2 Region

First Round Regional Semifinals Regional Final
USC 73
Idaho State 77Idaho State 59
Seattle 75* USC66
Santa Clara 65**
Colorado A&M 50
Santa Clara 73Santa Clara73
Texas Tech 64

Final Four

National Semifinal National Championship
      
Penn State 54
La Salle69
La Salle92
Bradley 76
Bradley74
USC 72

National Third Place Game

National Third Place Game [1]
   
USC 61
Penn State70

Regional third place games

See also

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References

  1. "1954 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket" . Retrieved October 14, 2011.