1948 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament

The 1948 NAIA 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.[1] The championship game featured Louisville beating Indiana State 82-70.

1948 (1948) NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Teams32
ChampionsLouisville (Ky.)
(1st title, 1st title game,
1st Fab Four)
Runner-UpIndiana State
(2nd title game,
2nd Fab Four)
SemifinalistsHamline (Minn.)
Xavier (Ohio)
Chuck Taylor MVPDuane Klueh
(Indiana State)

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.

The tournament was the first intercollegiate postseason to feature a black student-athlete, Clarence Walker of Indiana State under coach John Wooden. Wooden had withdrawn from the 1947 tournament because the NAIB would not allow Walker to play.[2]

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1948 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
  • All-time scoring leader; second appearance: Harold Haskins, 12th, Hamline (Minn.) (1947,48,49,50), 14 games, 104 field goals, 72 free throws, 280 total points, 20.0 average per game.[3]

1948 NAIA bracket
First Round Second Round Elite Eight NAIA National Semifinals NAIA National Championship
               
- Marshall (W.Va.) 72
- Peru State (Neb.) 53
- Marshall 72*
- San Jose State 74
- San Jose State (Calif.) 64
- Iowa State Teachers 58
- San Jose State 52
TOP TIER
- Indiana State 59
- Brigham Young (Utah) 66
- Delta State (Miss.) 61*
- Brigham Young 68
- Indiana State 82
- Indiana State 72
- St. Francis (Pa.) 40
- Indiana State 66
- Hamline 65*
- Southern Illinois 54
- Southern Oregon State 50
- Southern Illinois 42
- Manhattan 52
- Manhattan (N.Y.) 65
- Arkansas State Teachers 60
- Manhattan 51
TOP TIER
- Hamline 60
- Gonzaga (Wash.) 46
- Texas Wesleyan 45
- Gonzaga 55
- Hamline 70
- Hamline (Minn.) 85
- Mercer (Ga.) 41
- Indiana State 70
- Louisville 82
- Louisville (Ky.) 63
- South Dakota State 60
- Louisville 82
- Emporia State 66
- Emporia State (Kan.) 65
- Loyola (Md.) 57
- Louisville 85
BOTTOM TIER
- Beloit 76
- Lawrence Tech (Mich.) 76
- Appalachian State (N.C.) 48
- Lawrence Tech 62
- Beloit 78
- Beloit (Wis.) 84
- East Central State (Okla.) 60
- Louisville 56
- Xavier 49
- Connecticut Teachers 63
- Montana 52
- Connecticut Teachers 35
- Xavier 57
- Xavier (Ohio) 67
- Northwestern State (La.) 43
- Xavier 63
BOTTOM TIER
- Mankato State 50
- Mankato State (Minn.) 49
- Denver (Colo.) 46
- Mankato State 54
- Arizona State-Tempe 53
- Arizona State-Tempe 68
- Northeast Missouri State 66
  •  * denotes overtime.

3rd place game

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.

NAIA Third Place Game
   
- Hamline 59
- Xavier 58

References
  1. "NAIA.org". Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  2. Keefer, Zak (March 16, 2017). "Indiana basketball player broke racial barrier, changed game forever". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  3. NAIA Championship History Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine
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