The 1942 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 mat ...
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 and ...
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 20, 1942, and ended with the championship game on March 28 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of nine games were played, including a third place game in each region.
Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, coached by Everett Dean, won the national title with a 53–38 victory in the final game over
Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to:
Places
* Dartmouth, Devon, England
** Dartmouth Harbour
* Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States
* Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
* Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia
Institutions
* Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...
, coached by
O. B. Cowles
Osborne Bryan "Ozzie" Cowles (August 25, 1899 – August 29, 1997) was an American basketball player and coach. He was the head men's basketball coach at Carleton College (1924–1930), River Falls State Teachers College (now University of Wis ...
. Howie Dallmar of Stanford was named the tournament's
Most Outstanding Player The term Most Outstanding Player may refer to:
* The recipient of the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award
* The NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player award
* The College World Series Most Outstanding Player in college baseball
* The N ...
. The Indians' success, however, was not to last, as they would not make the tournament again for 47 years, which is currently tied for the eighth-longest drought in NCAA tournament history.
Everett Dean is the only coach to have never lost an NCAA tournament game. Dean was 3–0 in his lone appearance.
Colorado, Dartmouth, Kansas and Rice became the first teams to appear in multiple NCAA Tournaments by appearing in the 1942 tournament.
Locations
The following were the sites selected to host each round of the 1942 tournament:
;March 28:
: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri
For the third straight year, the Municipal Auditorium hosted both the West regionals and the championship game, making it one of two cities (along with its successor,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
) to host more than two years in a row. For the fourth straight year, the East Regional was held on a college campus, this time on the campus of
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...
in New Orleans. This would be the only time prior to the construction of the
Louisiana Superdome
The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...
that the tournament would be held in the Crescent City, now a regular tournament site.
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 and ...
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams fro ...