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
Teams	32
Champions	Louisville (Ky.) (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Fab Four)
Runner-Up	Indiana State (2nd title game, 2nd Fab Four)
Semifinalists	Hamline (Minn.) Xavier (Ohio)
Chuck Taylor MVP	Duane 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 Wooden had withdrawn from the 1947 tournament because the NAIB would not allow Walker to play.[2]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