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| Season | 1949–50 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 8 | ||||
| Finals site | Madison Square Garden New York City | ||||
| Champions | CCNY Beavers (1st title, 1st title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Bradley Braves (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
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| Winning coach | Nat Holman (1st title) | ||||
| MOP | Irwin Dambrot (CCNY) | ||||
| Attendance | 75,464 | ||||
| Top scorer | Sam Ranzino (NC State) (75 points) | ||||
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The 1950 NCAA basketball tournament involved 8 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA college basketball. It began on March 23, 1950, and ended with the championship game on March 28 in New York City. A total of 10 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
CCNY, coached by Nat Holman, won the national title with a 71–68 victory in the final game over Bradley, coached by Forddy Anderson. Irwin Dambrot of CCNY was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. CCNY became the only team to ever win both the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same year. Because of participation changes, this currently cannot happen. CCNY is also the only championship team which is not currently a member of Division I. They dropped down to the NCAA College Division in the 1963–64 season. The CCNY point shaving scandal of 1950–51 had hit the program hard, and they had 12 sub-par seasons from 1951–52 through 1962–63 before dropping down to the College Division.
The 1950 tournament was the last tournament to feature eight teams. The field would expand to sixteen teams the next year.