1948 | NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament|
---|---|
Teams | 32 |
Finals Site |
Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri |
Champions |
Louisville (Ky.) (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four) |
Runner-Up |
Indiana State (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four) |
Semifinalists |
Hamline (Minn.) (3rd Final Four) Xavier (Ohio) (1st Final Four) |
Chuck Taylor MVP |
Duane Klueh (Indiana State) |
The 1948 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 11th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game featured Louisville beating Indiana State 82-70.
The only school to have won national titles in both the NAIA and NCAA Division I is Louisville. Uniquely, Indiana State has finished as the National Runner-up in the NAIA (1946 and 1948), the NCAA Division I (1979) and the NCAA Division II (1968) tournaments. Indiana State won the NAIA in 1950.
In 1948 the NAIA allowed black student-athletes to compete in the National Tournament.
Many of the records set by the 1948 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:
The third place game featured the losing teams from the national semifinalist to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.