1951 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1951 NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Tournament

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

The 1951 NCAA Men's Division I 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 in the final game over Kansas State, coached by Jack Gardner.

The tournament was the first to introduce 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. In this sense, the 1951 tournament did not feature a true "Final Four." This would have to wait until the 1952 tournament.

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

Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina

March 21 and 22

Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri

Regionals

March 22 and 24

East Regional, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

March 23 and 24

West Regional, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri

Championship Game

March 27

Williams Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	n/a	Columbia	Lou Rossini	Sweet Sixteen	Illinois	L 79-71
East	n/a	Connecticut	Hugh Greer	Sweet Sixteen	St. John's	L 63-52
East	n/a	Illinois	Harry Combes	Third Place	Oklahoma A&M	W 61-46
East	n/a	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	Champion	Kansas State	W 68-58
East	n/a	Louisville	Peck Hickman	Sweet Sixteen	Kentucky	L 79-68
East	n/a	North Carolina State	Everett Case	Regional Fourth Place	St. John's	L 71-59
East	n/a	St. John's	Frank McGuire	Regional Third Place	North Carolina State	W 71-59
East	n/a	Villanova	Alex Severance	Sweet Sixteen	North Carolina State	L 67-62
West
West	n/a	Arizona	Fred Enke	Sweet Sixteen	Kansas State	L 61-59
West	n/a	BYU	Stan Watts	Regional Fourth Place	Washington	L 80-67
West	n/a	Kansas State	Jack Gardner	Runner-up	Kentucky	L 68-58
West	n/a	Montana State	Brick Breeden	Sweet Sixteen	Oklahoma A&M	L 50-46
West	n/a	Oklahoma A&M	Henry Iba	Fourth Place	Illinois	L 61-46
West	n/a	San José State	Walt McPherson	Sweet Sixteen	BYU	L 68-61
West	n/a	Texas A&M	John Floyd	Sweet Sixteen	Washington	L 62-40
West	n/a	Washington	Tippy Dye	Regional Third Place	BYU	W 80-67

Bracket

	First round					Quarter-finals					National Semifinals					National Final
		Illinois	79
		Columbia	71
							Illinois	84
							N.C. State	70
		N.C. 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
	N.C. State		59

	West Regional Third Place
	Washington		80
	BYU		67

See also

• 1951 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament