The 1941 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in

single-elimination A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

play to determine the national champion of men's

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

. It began on March 21, 1941, and ended with the championship game on March 29 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 ...

. A total of nine games were played, including a third place game in both regions.

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, coached by

Bud Foster Robert Eugene "Bud" Foster Jr. (born July 28, 1959) is a retired American college football coach and former player. He currently serves as a Special Assistant to Athletics Director Whit Babcock. Following the 2006 season, he received the Frank Br ...

, won the national title with a 39–34 victory in the final over

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, coached by

Jack Friel John Bryan Friel (August 26, 1898 – December 12, 1995) was an American college basketball coach, the head coach of the Washington State Cougars for 30 seasons, from 1928 He holds the school record for victories by a men's basketball coach with ...

. John Kotz of Wisconsin was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Locations

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1941 tournament:

Regionals

;March 21 and 22: :East Regional,

Wisconsin Field House The Wisconsin Field House (commonly known as the UW Field House) is a multi-purpose arena owned by the University of Wisconsin–Madison and located directly south of Camp Randall Stadium. In addition to sports events, the Field House has been the ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

:West Regional, Municipal Auditorium,

Championship Game

;March 29: : Municipal Auditorium,

For the second straight year, the Municipal Auditorium hosted both the West Regional games and the Championship game, making it the first arena to repeat as host. The East Regional was held on a different college campus for the third straight year, this time at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in Madison. This marked the first of two times the Wisconsin Field House hosted games, and first of three times the University has, hosting at its replacement, the

Kohl Center The Kohl Center is an arena and athletic center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The building, which opened in 1998, is the home of the university's men's basketball and ice hockey teams, and the women's basketball team. ...

, in 2002.

Teams

Bracket

Regional third place

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1941 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Ncaa The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament