The 1957 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 23 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's college basketball in the NCAA University Division, replaced in 1973 by NCAA Division I. The 1956–57 school year was the first in which NCAA members were formally divided into separate competitive levels, with larger and more competitive athletic programs placed in the University Division and smaller programs placed in the College Division (which would be replaced by NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III in 1973).