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| Season | 1953–54 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 24 | ||||
| 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) | ||||
| Attendance | 115,391 | ||||
| Top scorer | Tom Gola (La Salle) (114 points) | ||||
| |||||
The1954 NCAA basketball tournament involved 24 schools playing insingle-elimination play to determine the national champion of men'sNCAA Division Icollege basketball. The 16th annual edition of the tournament began on March 8, and ended with thechampionship game on March 20, at theMunicipal Auditorium inKansas City, Missouri. A total of 28 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game.
La Salle, coached byKen Loeffler, won the national title with a92–76 victory in the final game overBradley, coached byForddy Anderson.Tom Gola of La Salle was named the tournament'sMost 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 theSoutheastern Conference in the tournament, its last appearance until1979, well after the graduation of NCAA all-time leading scorerPete Maravich. LSU made only one postseason appearance over the next 24 seasons, the1970 National Invitation Tournament, during Maravich's senior season.
The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1954 tournament:
* – Denotes overtime period
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
| Cornell | 67 | ||||||||||
| Navy | 69 | ||||||||||
| Navy | 85 | ||||||||||
| Connecticut | 80 | ||||||||||
| Navy | 48 | ||||||||||
| La Salle | 64 | ||||||||||
| NC State | 75 | ||||||||||
| George Washington | 73 | ||||||||||
| NC State | 81 | Third place | |||||||||
| La Salle | 88 | ||||||||||
| La Salle | 76 | NC State | 65 | ||||||||
| Fordham | 74* | Cornell | 54 | ||||||||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| LSU | 70 | |||||||||
| Penn State | 62 | Penn State | 78 | |||||||
| Toledo | 50 | Penn State | 71 | |||||||
| Notre Dame | 63 | |||||||||
| Indiana | 64 | |||||||||
| Notre Dame | 80 | Notre Dame | 65 | Third place | ||||||
| Loyola (LA) | 70 | |||||||||
| Indiana | 73 | |||||||||
| LSU | 62 | |||||||||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
| Colorado | 64 | ||||||||||
| Bradley | 76 | ||||||||||
| Bradley | 61 | ||||||||||
| Oklahoma City | 55 | ||||||||||
| Bradley | 71 | ||||||||||
| Oklahoma A&M | 57 | ||||||||||
| Oklahoma A&M | 51 | Third place | |||||||||
| Rice | 45 | ||||||||||
| Rice | 78 | ||||||||||
| Colorado | 55 | ||||||||||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| USC | 73 | |||||||||
| Idaho State | 77 | Idaho State | 59 | |||||||
| Seattle | 75* | USC | 66 | |||||||
| Santa Clara | 65** | |||||||||
| Colorado A&M | 50 | |||||||||
| Santa Clara | 73 | Santa Clara | 73 | Third place | ||||||
| Texas Tech | 64 | |||||||||
| Idaho State | 62 | |||||||||
| Colorado A&M | 57 | |||||||||
| National semifinal | National Championship | ||||||
| Penn State | 54 | ||||||
| La Salle | 69 | ||||||
| La Salle | 92 | ||||||
| Bradley | 76 | ||||||
| Bradley | 74 | ||||||
| USC | 72 | National third-place game | |||||
| USC | 61 | ||||||
| Penn State | 70 | ||||||