The 1953 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament took place from March 5–7, 1953 at the Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons, led by head coach Murray Greason, won their first Southern Conference title and received the automatic berth to the 1953 NCAA tournament.
Format
The top eight finishers of the conference's seventeen members were eligible for the tournament. Teams were seeded based on conference winning percentage. The tournament used a preset bracket consisting of three rounds.