1940 NCAA Basketball Tournament
The 1940 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 8 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the participating champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 20, 1940, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 8 games were played, including a single third place game in the West region.
Teams | 8 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
Champions | Indiana Hoosiers (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | Kansas Jayhawks (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
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Winning coach | Branch McCracken (1st title) | ||||
MOP | Marvin Huffman (Indiana) | ||||
Attendance | 36,880 | ||||
Top scorer | Howard Engleman Kansas (39 points) | ||||
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Indiana, coached by Branch McCracken, won the tournament title with a 60–42 victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Phog Allen. Marvin Huffman of Indiana was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Locations
The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1940 tournament:
Regionals
- March 20 and 21
- East Regional, Butler Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
- West Regional, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri
Championship Game
- March 30
- Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri
The 1940 tournament saw only two venues in use. Butler Fieldhouse, the largest college basketball arena in the country at the time, hosted the East regional on the campus of Butler University. In Kansas City, the Municipal Auditorium hosted both the West Regional and the Championship Game. The Auditorium would go on to host another nine finals, nine regionals and two early rounds by 1964. The tournament would not return to Indianapolis again until 1978, when Market Square Arena hosted first-round games.
Teams
East Regional - Indianapolis | |||
---|---|---|---|
School | Coach | Conference | Record |
Duquesne | Chick Davies | Independent | 19–2 |
Indiana | Branch McCracken | Big Ten | 17–3 |
Springfield | Ed Hickox | Independent | 16–2 |
Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle | SIAA | 24–5 |
West Regional - Kansas City | |||
---|---|---|---|
School | Coach | Conference | Record |
Colorado | Frosty Cox | Mountain States | 17–2 |
Kansas | Phog Allen | Big Six | 17–5 |
Rice | Buster Brannon | Southwest | 21–2 |
USC | Sam Barry | Pacific Coast | 19–2 |
Bracket
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
1 | Indiana | 48 | ||||||||||||
8 | Springfield | 24 | ||||||||||||
1 | Indiana | 39 | ||||||||||||
4 | Duquesne | 30 | ||||||||||||
4 | Duquesne | 30 | ||||||||||||
5 | Western Kentucky | 29 | ||||||||||||
1 | Indiana | 60 | ||||||||||||
2 | Kansas | 42 | ||||||||||||
3 | USC | 38 | ||||||||||||
6 | Colorado | 32 | ||||||||||||
3 | USC | 42 | ||||||||||||
2 | Kansas | 43 | ||||||||||||
2 | Kansas | 50 | ||||||||||||
7 | Rice | 44 | ||||||||||||
See also
- 1940 National Invitation Tournament
- 1940 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
References
- "1940 NCAA Basketball Tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved 3 April 2018.