1951 NCAA basketball tournament

1951 NCAA basketball tournament
Season	1950–51
Teams	16
Finals site	Williams Arena; Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	Kentucky Wildcats (3rd title, 3rd title game,; 4th Final Four)
Runner-up	Kansas State Wildcats (1st title game,; 2nd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Illinois Fighting Illini (2nd Final Four); Oklahoma A&M Aggies (4th Final Four);
Winning coach	Adolph Rupp (3rd title)
MOP	Bill Spivey (Kentucky)
Attendance	110,645
Top scorer	Don Sunderlage (Illinois); (83 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments
«1950	1952»

The 1951 NCAA basketball tournament involved 16 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 20, 1951, and ended with the championship game on March 27 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A total of 18 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.

Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp, won the national title with a 68–58 victory over Kansas State, coached by Jack Gardner.

This NCAA tournament was the first with a 16-team field. Only the championship and third place games were held in Minneapolis, while the semifinals were held in the respective regional sites; similar to previous years. A true "Final 4" (semifinals and final at same location) debuted the following year.

The twelve-team National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was held the previous week in New York City at Madison Square Garden, with its championship on Saturday, Mach 17. Four teams competed in both tournaments, including NIT champion BYU;^[1]^[2]^[3] they lost in the quarterfinal round, by ten points to Kansas State.^[4]^[5]

The three other teams were Arizona, North Carolina State, and St. John's.

Locations

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1951 tournament:

First round

March 20: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Host: Metropolitan New York Conference); Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
March 21 and 22: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Regionals

March 22 and 24: East Regional, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Host: Metropolitan New York Conference)
March 23 and 24: West Regional, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Championship Game

March 27: Williams Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Hosts: University of Minnesota, Big Ten Conference)

Teams

Region	Team	Coach	Conference	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	Columbia	Lou Rossini	Ivy League	Sweet Sixteen	Illinois	L 79–71
East	Connecticut	Hugh Greer	Yankee	Sweet Sixteen	St. John's	L 63–52
East	Illinois	Harry Combes	Big Ten	Third Place	Oklahoma A&M	W 61–46
East	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	Southeastern	Champion	Kansas State	W 68–58
East	Louisville	Peck Hickman	Independent	Sweet Sixteen	Kentucky	L 79–68
East	NC State	Everett Case	Southern	Regional Fourth Place	St. John's	L 71–59
East	St. John's	Frank McGuire	Metro NY	Regional third place	NC State	W 71–59
East	Villanova	Alex Severance	Independent	Sweet Sixteen	NC State	L 67–62
West
West	Arizona	Fred Enke	Border	Sweet Sixteen	Kansas State	L 61–59
West	BYU	Stan Watts	Mountain States	Regional Fourth Place	Washington	L 80–67
West	Kansas State	Jack Gardner	Big 7	Runner-up	Kentucky	L 68–58
West	Montana State	Brick Breeden	Independent	Sweet Sixteen	Oklahoma A&M	L 50–46
West	Oklahoma A&M	Henry Iba	Missouri Valley	Fourth Place	Illinois	L 61–46
West	San Jose State	Walt McPherson	Independent	Sweet Sixteen	BYU	L 68–61
West	Texas A&M	John Floyd	Southwest	Sweet Sixteen	Washington	L 62–40
West	Washington	Tippy Dye	Pacific Coast	Regional third place	BYU	W 80–67

Bracket

First round		Quarter-finals		National Semifinals		National Final

Illinois	79

Columbia	71
		Illinois	84

		NC State	70
NC State	67

Villanova	62
				Illinois	74
EAST REGION
				Kentucky	76
Kentucky	79

Louisville	68
		Kentucky	59

		St John's	43
St John's	63

Connecticut	52
						Kentucky	68

						Kansas State	58
Kansas State	61

Arizona	59
		Kansas State	64

		BYU	54
BYU	68

San Jose State	61
				Kansas State	68
WEST REGION
				Oklahoma A&M	44
Oklahoma A&M	50

Montana State	46
		Oklahoma A&M	61

		Washington	57
Washington	62

Texas A&M	40

National Third Place Game

	National Third Place

	Illinois		61

	Oklahoma A&M		46

Regional third place games

	East Regional third place

	St John's		71

	NC State		59

	West Regional third place

	Washington		80

	BYU		67

Source:^[6]

References

^ Miller, Hack (March 18, 1951). "BYU smashes Dayton in finale, 62-43". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. C1.
^ Grimsley, Will (March 18, 1951). "Brigham Young cops invitational hoop title, 62-43". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1B.
^ Miller, Hack (March 18, 1951). "BYU gets nod in NCAA cage opener". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. A11.
^ Miller, Hack (March 24, 1951). "Kansas State dumps cold Cougars, 64-54". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. A5.
^ "Kansas State whips BYU, 64-54". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 24, 1951. p. 10.
^ "1951 NCAA basketball tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 4, 2018.

[smshes-1] Miller, Hack (March 18, 1951). "BYU smashes Dayton in finale, 62-43". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. C1.

[cophoop-2] Grimsley, Will (March 18, 1951). "Brigham Young cops invitational hoop title, 62-43". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1B.

[bnip-3] Miller, Hack (March 18, 1951). "BYU gets nod in NCAA cage opener". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. A11.

[coldcg-4] Miller, Hack (March 24, 1951). "Kansas State dumps cold Cougars, 64-54". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. A5.

[kswhp-5] "Kansas State whips BYU, 64-54". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 24, 1951. p. 10.

[6] "1951 NCAA basketball tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 4, 2018.

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