1941 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
| 1941 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 32 |
| Finals Site |
Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri |
| Champions |
San Diego State (1st title, 3rd title game, 3rd Final Four) |
| Runner-Up |
Murray State (Ky.) (1st title game, 2nd Final Four) |
| Semifinalists |
West Texas State (1st Final Four) Santa Barbara (Calif.) (1st Final Four) |
| Chuck Taylor MVP | Charles Thomas (Northwestern State (La.)) |
The 1941 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 5th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The third time was the charm for the Aztecs of San Diego State. After losing the previous two years to Southwestern College and Tarkio College, the Aztecs finally won beating Murray State College (Ky.) 36-34. It also was the first time that the tournament MVP was awarded to a player whose team did not win the championship, or make the NAIA Final Four (Charles Thomas played for Northwestern State University which lost in the second round to Texas Wesleyan University. San Diego State was the first team to make it to the championship game 3 times.
Many of the records set by the 1941 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:
The third place game featured the losing team from the national semifinalist to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.
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