The 1943 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 7th annual
NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game featured
Southeast Missouri State
Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...
defeating
Northwest Missouri State
Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...
34–32.
This was the first tournament to feature a championship game between two teams from the same state, Missouri, playing in Missouri. The 3rd place game featured the first overtime in the NAIA Final Four history when
North Texas State defeated
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, ...
59–55 in one overtime.
Awards and honors
Many of the records set by the 1943 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
* 1943 NCAA basketball tournament
The 1943 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 24, 1943, and ended with the championship game on Mar ...
* 1943 National Invitation Tournament
The 1943 National Invitation Tournament was the 1943 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
1943 in sports in Missouri