1961 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1961 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Teams	24
Finals site	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Cincinnati (1st title, 1st title game, 3rd Final Four)
Runner-up	Ohio State (3rd title game, 6th Final Four)
Semifinalists	Saint Joseph's (1st Final Four) Utah (2nd Final Four)
Winning coach	Ed Jucker (1st title)
MOP	Jerry Lucas Ohio State
Attendance	169,520
Top scorer	Billy McGill Utah (119 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «1960 1962»

The 1961 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball in the United States. It began on March 14, 1961, and ended with the championship game on March 25 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.

Cincinnati, coached by Ed Jucker, won the national title with a 70-65 victory in the final game over state rival Ohio State, coached by Fred Taylor. Jerry Lucas of Ohio State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The national third place game, won by St. Joseph's over Utah by the score of 127-120 in four overtimes, tied the record for the longest game in NCAA Division I tournament history, set in 1956 in a first-round game between Canisius and North Carolina State. As of the regional finals of the 2009 tournament, no NCAA Division I tournament games since then have gone to a fourth overtime period.^[1] Saint Joseph's victory was later vacated because of the 1961 gambling scandal. ^[2]

Locations

Region	Site	Other Locations
East	Charlotte, North Carolina	New York City, New York
Mideast	Louisville, Kentucky
Midwest	Lawrence, Kansas	Houston, Texas
West	Portland, Oregon
Finals	Kansas City, Missouri

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	n/a	George Washington	Bill Reinhart	First round	Princeton	L 84-67
East	n/a	Princeton	Jake McCandless	Regional Fourth Place	St. Bonaventure	L 85-67
East	n/a	Rhode Island	Ernie Calverley	First round	St. Bonaventure	L 86-76
East	n/a	St. Bonaventure	Eddie Donovan	Regional Third Place	Princeton	W 85-67
East	n/a	St. John's	Joe Lapchick	First round	Wake Forest	L 97-74
East	n/a	Saint Joseph's	Jack Ramsay	Third Place	Utah	W 127-120 (4OT)
East	n/a	Wake Forest	Bones McKinney	Regional Runner-up	Saint Joseph's	L 96-86
Mideast
Mideast	n/a	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	Regional Runner-up	Ohio State	L 87-74
Mideast	n/a	Louisville	Peck Hickman	Regional Third Place	Morehead State	W 83-61
Mideast	n/a	Morehead State	Robert Laughlin	Regional Fourth Place	Louisville	L 83-61
Mideast	n/a	Ohio	James Snyder	First round	Louisville	L 76-70
Mideast	n/a	Ohio State	Fred Taylor	Runner Up	Cincinnati	L 70-65
Mideast	n/a	Xavier	Jim McCafferty	First round	Morehead State	L 71-66
Midwest
Midwest	n/a	Cincinnati	Ed Jucker	Champion	Ohio State	W 70-65
Midwest	n/a	Houston	Guy Lewis	Regional Fourth Place	Texas Tech	L 69-67
Midwest	n/a	Kansas State	Tex Winter	Regional Runner-up	Cincinnati	L 69-64
Midwest	n/a	Marquette	Eddie Hickey	First round	Houston	L 77-61
Midwest	n/a	Texas Tech	Polk Robison	Regional Third Place	Houston	W 69-67
West
West	n/a	Arizona State	Ned Wulk	Regional Runner-up	Utah	L 88-80
West	n/a	Loyola, Los Angeles	William Donovan	Regional Third Place	USC	W 69-67
West	n/a	Oregon	Steve Belko	First round	USC	L 81-79
West	n/a	Seattle	Vince Cazzetta	First round	Arizona State	L 72-70
West	n/a	USC	Forrest Twogood	Regional Fourth Place	Loyola, Los Angeles	L 69-67
West	n/a	Utah	Jack Gardner	Fourth Place	Saint Joseph's	L 127-120 (4OT)

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							St. Joseph's	72
							Princeton	67
		Princeton	84
		George Washington	67
												St. Joseph's	96
												Wake Forest	86
		St. Bonaventure	86
		Rhode Island	76
							St. Bonaventure	73
							Wake Forest	78
		Wake Forest	97
		St. John's	74

Mideast region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Ohio State	56
							Louisville	55
		Louisville	76
		Ohio	70
												Ohio State	87
												Kentucky	74
							Kentucky	71
							Morehead State	64
		Morehead State	71
		Xavier	66

Midwest region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Kansas State	75
							Houston	64
		Houston	77
		Marquette	61
												Kansas State	64
												Cincinnati	69
							Cincinnati	78
							Texas Tech	55

West region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Utah	91
							Loyola-CA	75
												Utah	88
												Arizona State	80
		Arizona State	72
		Seattle	70
							Arizona State	86
							Southern California	71
		Southern California	81
		Oregon	79

Final Four

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	E	St. Joseph's	69
	ME	Ohio State	95
						ME	Ohio State	65*
						MW	Cincinnati	70
	MW	Cincinnati	82
	W	Utah	67

National Third Place Game

	National Third Place Game [3]
	E	St. Joseph's	127
	W	Utah	120****

Regional Third Place Games

East Regional Third Place       St. Bonaventure 85 Princeton 67

Mideast Regional Third Place       Louisville 83 Morehead St. 61

Midwest Regional Third Place       Texas Tech 69 Houston 67

West Regional Third Place       Loyola-Marymount 69 Southern California 67

See also

• 1961 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

References

1. The Sports Network. "The Sports Network - Men's College Basketball". Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
2. http://www.umich.edu/~mgoblue/compliance/gambling/literature.html
3. "1954 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket". Retrieved October 14, 2011.