1945 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1945 (1945) NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Teams 16
Finals Site Municipal Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Champions Loyola (La.)
(1st title, 1st title game,
1st Final Four)
Runner-Up Pepperdine (Calif.)
(1st title game,
1st Final Four)
Semifinalists Eastern Kentucky
(1st Final Four)
Southern Illinois
(1st Final Four)
Chuck Taylor MVP Fred Lewis
(Eastern Kentucky)
NAIA Men's Division I Tournaments
 1943 1946 

The 1945 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 8th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 16 teams playing in a single-elimination format,[1] instead of the normal 32. The NAIA Semifinals featured four new teams for the first time since the inaugural year, 1937. The championship game featured Loyola University (La.) defeating Pepperdine University (Calif.) 49 to 35.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1945 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

1945 NAIA bracket

First Round Elite Eight NAIA National Semifinals NAIA National Championship
            
- Central College (Mo.) 54
- Eau Claire (Wisc.) 36
- Central College (Mo.) 48*
- Eastern Kentucky 50
- Eastern Kentucky 64
- Simpson (Iowa) 42
- Eastern Kentucky 34
TOP TIER
- Pepperdine 52
- West Texas State 54
- Wichita (Kan.) 43
- West Texas State 45
- Pepperdine 52
- Pepperdine (Calif.) 77
- Peru State (Neb.) 42
- Pepperdine 35
- Loyola 49
- Central Normal (Ind.) 53
- Catawba (N.C) 39
- Central Normal 43
- Loyola 50
- Loyola (La.) 53
- Phillips (Okla.) 31
- Loyola 37
BOTTOM TIER
- Southern Illinois 35
- Southern Illinois 64
- Washburn (Kan.) 49
- Southern Illinois 61
- Doane 44
- Doane (Neb.) 54
- Eastern Washington State 51

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
   
- Eastern Kentucky 45
- Southern Illinois 49

References

See also

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