See also: 1957 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game.
| Year: | 1957 |
| Teams: | 23 |
| Finalfourarena: | Municipal Auditorium |
| Finalfourcity: | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Champions: | North Carolina Tar Heels |
| Titlecount: | 1st |
| Champgamecount: | 2nd |
| Champffcount: | 2nd |
| Runnerup: | Kansas Jayhawks |
| Gamecount: | 4th |
| Runnerffcount: | 4th |
| Semifinal1: | Michigan State Spartans |
| Finalfourcount: | 1st |
| Semifinal2: | San Francisco Dons |
| Finalfourcount2: | 3rd |
| Coach: | Frank McGuire |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mop: | Wilt Chamberlain |
| Mopteam: | Kansas |
| Attendance: | 108,891 |
| Topscorer: | Lennie Rosenbluth |
| Topscorerteam: | North Carolina |
| Points: | 140 |
The 1957 NCAA University Division basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament involving 23 teams to determine the national champion of men's college basketball in the NCAA University Division, which was replaced in 1973 by NCAA Division I. The 1956–57 school year was the first in which NCAA members were formally divided into separate competitive levels, with larger and more competitive athletic programs placed in the University Division and smaller programs placed in the College Division (which would be replaced by NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III in 1973).
The 19th edition of the NCAA tournament began on March 11, 1957, and ended with the championship game on March 23 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 27 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game. North Carolina, coached by Frank McGuire, won the national title with a 54–53 triple-overtime victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Dick Harp. Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas became the fourth player to be named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player despite not playing for the championship team.
North Carolina won two consecutive triple overtime games to win the championship. The North Carolina – Michigan State semi final game and North Carolina – Kansas final game both made USA Todays list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time at 11 and 6 respectively.[1]
| Round | Region | Site | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Round | East | New York, New York | Madison Square Garden | |
| Mideast | Columbus, Ohio | St. John Arena | ||
| Midwest | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | Capitol Hill High School Arena | ||
| West | Pocatello, Idaho | ISU Gymnasium | ||
| Regionals | East | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | The Palestra | |
| Mideast | Lexington, Kentucky | Memorial Coliseum | ||
| Midwest | Dallas, Texas | SMU Coliseum | ||
| West | Corvallis, Oregon | Oregon State Coliseum | ||
| Final Four | Kansas City, Missouri | Municipal Auditorium | ||
| Region | Team | Coach | Conference | Finished | Final Opponent | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | |||||||
| East | Regional third place | Lafayette | W 82–76 | ||||
| East | First round | L 82–76 | |||||
| East | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | Canisius | L 82–76 | |||
| East | Champion | Kansas | W 54–53 | ||||
| East | Independent | Regional Runner-up | North Carolina | L 67–58 | |||
| East | First round | Canisius | L 64–56 | ||||
| East | First round | North Carolina | L 90–74 | ||||
| Mideast | |||||||
| Mideast | Regional Runner-up | L 80–68 | |||||
| Mideast | First round | L 89–77 | |||||
| Mideast | Fourth Place | L 67–60 | |||||
| Mideast | First round | L 86–85 | |||||
| Mideast | Independent | Regional third place | Pittsburgh | W 86–85 | |||
| Mideast | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | Notre Dame | L 86–85 | |||
| Midwest | |||||||
| Midwest | Runner Up | North Carolina | L 54–53 | ||||
| Midwest | Independent | First round | L 76–55 | ||||
| Midwest | Independent | Regional Runner-up | Kansas | L 81–61 | |||
| Midwest | Regional third place | Saint Louis | W 78–68 | ||||
| Midwest | Regional Fourth Place | SMU | L 78–68 | ||||
| West | |||||||
| West | Regional third place | Idaho State | W 65–54 | ||||
| West | Regional Runner-up | San Francisco | L 50–46 | ||||
| West | First round | Idaho State | L 68–57 | ||||
| West | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | BYU | L 65–54 | |||
| West | Third Place | Michigan State | W 67–60 |
* – Denotes overtime period