1950 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament

The 1950 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 13th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] The championship game featured Indiana State University and East Central University (Okla.). It was the first time these two teams had met in the tournament history. The Sycamores defeated the Tigers 61-57.

1950 (1950) NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Teams32
ChampionsIndiana State
(1st title, 3rd title game,
4th Fab Four)
Runner-UpEast Central (Okla.)
(1st title game,
1st Fab Four)
SemifinalistsCentral Methodist (Mo.)
Tampa (Fla.)
Chuck Taylor MVPClemens "Lenny" Rzeszewski
(Indiana State)

This would be Indiana State's highest finish in their 12 career appearances in the NAIA tournament. Winning the championship puts them in a unique group to place 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Also Indiana State finally gets a win after 2 times as runner-up. 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.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1950 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
  • All-Tournament Team: Len Rzeszewski, Dan Dimich, Don McDonald - Indiana State; Stacey Howell, Claude Overton - East Central (Okla)
  • Coach of the Year est. 1954
  • Player of the Year est. 1994
  • All-time scoring leaders; first appearance: Lloyd Thorgaard, 10th, Hamline (Minn.) (1950,51,52,53), 15 games, 111 field goals, 61 free throws, 283 total points, 18.9 average per game; James Fritsche, 14th, Hamline (Minn.) (1950,51,52,53), 15 games, 113 field goals, 46 free throws, 272 total points, 18.1 average per game.
  • All-time scoring leader; final 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.[2]

1950 NAIA bracket
First Round Second Round Elite Eight NAIA National Semifinals NAIA National Championship
               
- Hamline (Minn.) 74
- Regis (Colo.) 66
- Hamline 66
- Central College 76
- Central College (Mo.) 68
- Peru State (Neb.) 59
- Central College 65
TOP TIER
- Central Washington State 55
- Portland (Ore.) 48
- Montana 47
- Portland 43
- Central Washington State 51
- Central Washington State 61
- Murray State (Ky.) 55
- Central College 54
- East Central State 57
- Brooklyn (N.Y.) 79
- Appalachian State (N.C.) 75
- Brooklyn 64
- Puget Sound 47
- Puget Sound (Wash.) 70
- Southeastern Louisiana 68*
- Brooklyn 52
TOP TIER
- East Central State 84
- East Central State (Okla.) 70
- Kansas Wesleyan 68
- East Central State 75
- River Falls State 64
- River Falls State (Wis.) 80
- Eastern Illinois State 68
- East Central State 57
- Indiana State 61
- Westminster (Pa.) 70
- Connecticut Teachers 62
- Westminster 75
- Davis & Elkins 85
- Davis & Elkins (W.Va.) 79
- St. Thomas (Minn.) 55
- Davis & Elkins 69
BOTTOM TIER
- Tampa 81
- Tampa (Fla.) 85
- New Mexico A&M 75
- Tampa 69
- Pepperdine 61
- Pepperdine (Calif.) 54
- American (D.C.) 53
- Tampa 69
- Indiana State 73
- East Texas State 55
- South Dakota 54
- East Texas State 62
- Baldwin-Wallace 82
- Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) 84
- Kalamazoo (Mich.) 83
- Baldwin-Wallace 39
BOTTOM TIER
- Indiana State 61
- Arkansas Tech 75
- Morningside (Iowa) 74
- Arkansas Tech 79
- Indiana State 87
- Indiana State 65
- Delta State (Miss.) 59
  •  *  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
   
- Central College 80
- Tampa 67
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References
  1. "NAIA.org". Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  2. NAIA Championship History Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine
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