The 1945 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 8th annual
NAIA basketball tournament featured 16 teams playing in a single-elimination format, instead of the normal 32. It is the only tournament to feature only 16 teams.
The NAIA semifinals featured four new teams for the first time since the inaugural year,
1937
Events
January
* January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua.
* January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...
. The championship game featured
Loyola New Orleans defeating
Pepperdine 49–35.
Awards and honors
Many of the records set by the 1945 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
Bracket
* * denotes overtime.
See also
* 1945 NCAA basketball tournament
The 1945 NCAA basketball tournament was an eight-team single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college basketball. It began on March 22, 1945, and ended with the ch ...
* 1945 National Invitation Tournament
The 1945 National Invitation Tournament was the 1945 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
1945 in sports in Missouri