The 1961 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 24 schools playing in
single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's
NCAADivision Icollege 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.
The national third-place game, won by
Saint 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
2019 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]