1941 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament

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1941 (1941) NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Teams32
ChampionsSan Diego State
(1st title, 3rd title game,
3rd Fab Four)
Runner-UpMurray State (Ky.)
(1st title game,
2nd Fab Four)
SemifinalistsWest Texas State
Santa Barbara (Calif.)
Chuck Taylor MVPCharles Thomas
(Northwestern State (La.))
← 1940 NAIA Division I
Men's Tournaments		 1942 →

The 1941 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 5th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] The third time was the charm for the Aztecs of San Diego State. After losing the previous two years to Southwestern College and Tarkio College, the Aztecs finally won beating Murray State College (Ky.) 36-34. It also was the first time that the tournament MVP was awarded to a player whose team did not win the championship, or make the NAIA Final Four (Charles Thomas played for Northwestern State University which lost in the second round to Texas Wesleyan University. San Diego State was the first team to make it to the championship game 3 times.

Awards and honors[]

Many of the records set by the 1941 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

  • Leading scorer est. 1963
  • Leading rebounder est. 1963
  • Charles Stevenson Hustle Award est. 1958
  • Coach of the Year est. 1954
  • Player of the Year est. 1994[2]

1941 NAIA bracket[]

First Round Second Round Elite Eight NAIA National Semifinals NAIA National Championship
               
- West Texas State 77
- Dubuque (Iowa) 39
- West Texas State 52
- St. Mary’s 39
- St. Mary’s (Minn.) 38
- Tarkio (Mo.) 28
- West Texas State 54
TOP TIER
- Delta State 34
- Superior State (Wis.) 51
- Morningside (Iowa) 42
- Superior State 45
- Delta State 53
- Delta State (Miss.) 52
- Sioux Falls (S.D.) 35
- West Texas State 40
- San Diego State 43
- Northwestern State (La.) 50
- Central Missouri State 43
- Northwestern State (La.) 47
- Texas Wesleyan 56
- Texas Wesleyan 71
- Evansville (Ind.) 62
- Texas Wesleyan 42
TOP TIER
- San Diego State 44
- Culver-Stockton (Mo.) 40
- Texas Western 26
- Culver-Stockton 41*
- San Diego State 46
- San Diego State 46
- Western Montana 29
- San Diego State 36
- Murray State 34
- Stephen F. Austin (Texas) 64
- Simpson (Iowa) 50
- Stephen F. Austin 28
- Northwest Missouri State 34
- Northwest Missouri State 35
- Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 31
- Northwest Missouri State 43
BOTTOM TIER
- Murray State 46
- Alma (Mich.) 43
- Panhandle A&M (Okla.) 24
- Alma 33
- Murray State 51
- Murray State (Ky.) 68
- Oregon College 46
- Murray State 35
- Santa Barbara 33
- Appalachian State (N.C.) 63
- Baker (Kan.) 42
- Appalachian State 48
- Baltimore 36
- Baltimore (Md.) 52
- Omaha (Neb.) 35
- Appalachian State 29
BOTTOM TIER
- Santa Barbara 36
- Santa Barbara (Calif.) 32
- Wayne State (Neb.) 26
- Bemidji State 29*
- Santa Barbara 31
- Bemidji State (Minn.) 35
- Pittsburg State (Kan.) 33
  •  * denotes overtime.

3rd place game[]

The third place game featured the losing team from the national semifinalist to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.

NAIA Third Place Game
   
- West Texas State 43
- Santa Barbara 35

References[]

  1. ^ NAIA.org
  2. ^ NAIA Championship History archived via WebCite
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