Holy Cross Beats Oklahoma in NCAA Men's Basketball Championship

The 1947 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 8 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball.

It began on March 19, 1947, and ended with the championship game on March 25 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.
Holy Cross, coached by Doggie Julian, won the national title with a 58-47 victory in the final game over Oklahoma, coached by Bruce Drake. George Kaftan of Holy Cross was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
This was the first tournament in which a national third place game was held, a tradition which would continue until the 1982 tournament. This was a step short of a true "Final Four," however, since the national semifinals were still played in their respective East and West regional locations. The true Final Four would not emerge until the 1952 tournament.

In wasn't easy. Employing the deliberate playing style that yielded a 16–5 regular season record, Utah came to New York and squeezed out wins over Duquesne (by 1), West Virginia (by 2) and defending NIT champ Kentucky (by 4) in the title game. Ferrin and MVP Vern Gardner each scored 15 against UK, but it was Misaka's handcuffing of the Wildcats' Ralph Beard (1 point) that did the trick. Kentucky had come into the final with 34 wins and an average winning score of 73–37.