Consecutive NCAA Titles Weren't Meant To Be
 

Kansas wasn't supposed to be in the NCAA championship game for the second straight year. Not without Clyde Lovellette and most of the starting cast from the 1952 title team.
But there the Jayhawks were, playing Indiana in the championship game, just as they had done in 1940.

It was the emergence of center B.H. Born that put KU one game away from the crown. Born rode the bench the previous season, serving as a back-up to Lovellette.
Indiana and coach Branch McCracken took a one-point victory when Born's replacement (Born fouled out in the second half), Jerry Alberts, missed a jumper with five seconds left.
Kansas felt injuries kept it from winning. Charlie Hoag, a top reserve on the '52 team, did not play because of a knee injury from football season. Born suffered sinus problems the entire game.