1945 NAIA basketball tournament explained

Type:NAIA men's basketball tournament
Year:1945
Teams:16
Fabfourarena:Municipal Auditorium
Fabfourcity:Kansas City, Missouri
Champions:Loyola New Orleans
Titlecount:1st
Champgamecount:1st
Champffcount:1st
Runnerffcount:1st
Runnerup:Pepperdine
Gamecount:1st
Semifinal1:Eastern Kentucky
Finalfourcount1:1st
Semifinal2:Southern Illinois
Finalfourcount2:1st
Mvp:Fred Lewis
Mvpteam:Eastern Kentucky
Attendance:unknown

The 1945 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 8th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 16 teams playing in a single-elimination format,[1] 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.

The championship game featured Loyola New Orleans defeating Pepperdine 49–35. Loyola New Orleans would not go on to win another NAIA national title until 2022, 77 years later.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1945 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

Bracket

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NAIA.org . 2020-05-16 . https://archive.today/20120714173433/http://naia.cstv.com/ . 2012-07-14 . dead .
  2. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/naia/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/mensd1champhistory.pdf NAIA Championship History