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1954 NCAA basketball tournament

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	Penn State Nittany Lions (1st Final Four) USC Trojans (2nd Final Four)
Winning coach	Ken Loeffler (1st title)
MOP	Tom Gola (La Salle)
Attendance	115,391
Top scorer	Tom 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.

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.

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

First round (March 8)

Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York (Hosts: Canisius College, Niagara University)

Duke Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina (Host: Duke University)

East-1 Regional (March 12 and 13)

The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hosts: University of Pennsylvania, Ivy League)

First round (March 9)

Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana (Host: Big Ten Conference)

East-2 Regional (March 12 and 13)

Iowa Field House, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: University of Iowa)

First round (March 8)

Robertson Memorial Field House, Peoria, Illinois (Host: Bradley University)

West-1 Regional (March 12 and 13)

Gallagher Hall, Stillwater, Oklahoma (Host: Oklahoma A&M University)

First round (March 9) and West-2 Regional (March 12 and 13)

Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon (Host: Oregon State University)

March 19 and 20

Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Region	Team	Coach	Conference	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
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	Independent	Champion	Bradley	W 92–76
East	LSU	Harry Rabenhorst	Southeastern	Regional Fourth Place	Indiana	L 73–62
East	Loyola (LA)	Jim McCafferty	Independent	First round	Notre Dame	L 80–70
East	Navy	Ben Carnevale	Independent	Elite 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	Independent	Elite Eight	Penn State	L 71–63
East	Penn State	Elmer Gross	Independent	National Third Place	USC	W 70–61
East	Toledo	Jerry Bush	Mid-American	First round	Penn State	L 62–50
West
West	Bradley	Forddy Anderson	Independent	Runner 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	Independent	Regional third place	Colorado A&M	W 62–57
West	Oklahoma City	Doyle Parrack	Independent	First 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	Independent	First 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

* – 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
					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

	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

• 1954 National Invitation Tournament
• 1954 NAIA Basketball Tournament