The 1959 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 23 schools playing in

single-elimination A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

play to determine the national champion of men's

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It began on March 7, 1959, and ended with the championship game on March 21 in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. A total of 27 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, coached by

Pete Newell Peter Francis Newell (August 31, 1915 – November 17, 2008) was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, Michigan State University, and the Unive ...

, won the national title with a 71–70 victory in the final game over

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, coached by Fred Schaus.

Jerry West Jerry Alan West (May 28, 1938 – June 12, 2024) was an American basketball player and executive. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

of West Virginia was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Locations

Teams

Bracket

East region

Mideast region

Midwest region

West region

Final Four

National Third Place Game

Regional third place games

Notes

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

qualified for the tournament but university president Benjamin F. Hilbun supported the social degradation of African-American citizens and would not permit the team to participate in the tournament where they would face African-American players. *Five teams - Boston University, Bowling Green, Portland, Saint Joseph's, and Saint Mary's - made their tournament debut. *This would be the most recent tournament appearance, as of 2024, for Dartmouth College. Their 65-year drought is the longest active drought in the NCAA among active Division I schools, and the second longest overall after Harvard's 66-year drought from 1946 to 2012. *This was the last year an all-white starting lineup won the championship game. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/3/1685386/-Top-Comments-last-all-white-championship-teams-edition

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1959 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Ncaa The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Basketball competitions in Louisville, Kentucky NCAA University Division basketball tournament NCAA University Division basketball tournament 1950s in Louisville, Kentucky