National Campus Basketball Tournament

     The college basketball fixing scandal first came to light in February, 1951. many schools were involved, from Kentucky to L.I.U. and C.C.N.Y.. Some were blaming the big arenas where the tournaments were played. The National Invitation Tournament, the most important post-season tournament was held at Madison Square Garden, on 8th Avenue in New York. For a decade the N.C.A.A. tournament regionals and the final rounds were also played at the Garden.

     After the point shaving and game-throwing stories started surfacing, many colleges with players involved suspended play, but both tournaments were scheduled for Madison Square, the Eastern Regionals of the N.C.A.A. and the N.I.T.. A movement began to hold the post-season tournament at college campuses. By 1952, the N.C.A.A. was returning to college arenas, but very large size ones, and they never left the "big cities", though Madison Square Garden would never see a final four again.

     Bradley University invited 25 college teams to apply to be invited to a National Campus Tournament at their campus in Peoria. Many asked to be invited, 1950 National Catholic College Tournament champ Siena, Colgate, USF, La Salle, Bowling Green, De Paul, Wyoming, Duquesne, Utah, Washington & Jefferson, William & Mary were some of these schools. Two undisclosed teams were barred from their conference from any post-season tournament than the N.C.A.A..

     Seven accepted invitations, 8 including Bradley, one of the nations top squads. Play began on March 27 on the Bradley campus in Peoria, Illinois.

National Campus Tournament
1951
First Round
March 27
Wyoming 78 - Duquesne 61
Bradley 75 - Western Kentucky 71
March 28
Syracuse 69 - Toledo 52
Utah 67 - Villanova 65
Semi-Finals
March 30
Syracuse 74 - Utah 57
Bradley 77 - Wyoming 63
March 31
Consolation game
Utah 55 - Wyoming 52
Championship game
Syracuse 76 - Bradley 75

     In final game, Syracuse was up 70-66 with 3 minutes left; 76-68 with a minute and a half to go; 76-74 with 20 seconds left when Syracuse called their 6th time out. Only 5 were allowed and a one-shot technical foul shot cut it to one. Bradley's last long shot fell wide.

  Other 1951 post-season basketball tournament championships:
     N.C.A.A. final: Kentucky 68 - Kansas State 58, at Williams Arena, Minneapolis.
     N.I.T. final: Brigham Young 62 - Dayton 43, at Madison Square Garden
     C.C.I.T. final: St. Francis (N.Y.) 93 - Seattle 79, at Albany, NY (Siena College)[National Catholic Tournament]
     N.A.I.B. final: Hamline (St. Paul, Minn.) 69 - James Millikin 61, at Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Kansas [renamed N.A.I.A. in 1952]

     1951 was the only year for the National Campus post season tournament.

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