The 1941 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at
Municipal Auditorium in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
. The 5th annual
NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.
The third time was the charm for the
San Diego State
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
Aztecs. After losing the previous two years to Southwestern College and
Tarkio College
Tarkio College was a college that operated in Tarkio, Missouri, from 1883 to 1992. The institution was supported by the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, followed by the Presbyterian Church (USA).
It was closed after fi ...
, the Aztecs finally won beating
Murray State
Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...
, 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
Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...
which lost in the second round to
Texas Wesleyan. San Diego State was the first team to make it to the championship game three 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
NAIA Championship History archived via WebCite
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Bracket
* * denotes overtime.
See also
* 1941 NCAA basketball tournament
The 1941 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA college basketball. It began on March 21, 1941, and ended with the championship game on March 29 in Kan ...
* 1941 National Invitation Tournament
The 1941 National Invitation Tournament was the 1941 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.
Selected teams
Below is a list of the eight teams selected for the tournament.
References
{{NAIA men's basketball tournament
NAIA Men's Basketball Championship
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
1941 in sports in Missouri