1941 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament

The 1941 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 5th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] The third time was the charm for the Aztecs of San Diego State. After losing the previous two years to Southwestern College and Tarkio College, the Aztecs finally won beating Murray State College (Ky.) 36-34. It also was the first time that the tournament MVP was awarded to a player whose team did not win the championship, or make the NAIA Final Four (Charles Thomas played for Northwestern State University which lost in the second round to Texas Wesleyan University. San Diego State was the first team to make it to the championship game 3 times.

1941 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Teams	32
Champions	San Diego State (1st title, 3rd title game, 3rd Fab Four)
Runner-Up	Murray State (Ky.) (1st title game, 2nd Fab Four)
Semifinalists	West Texas State Santa Barbara (Calif.)
Chuck Taylor MVP	Charles Thomas (Northwestern State (La.))

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1941 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[2]

1941 NAIA bracket

	First Round					Second Round					Elite Eight					NAIA National Semifinals					NAIA National Championship
	-	West Texas State	77
	-	Dubuque (Iowa)	39
						-	West Texas State	52
						-	St. Mary’s	39
	-	St. Mary’s (Minn.)	38
	-	Tarkio (Mo.)	28
											-	West Texas State	54
	TOP TIER
											-	Delta State	34
	-	Superior State (Wis.)	51
	-	Morningside (Iowa)	42
						-	Superior State	45
						-	Delta State	53
	-	Delta State (Miss.)	52
	-	Sioux Falls (S.D.)	35
																-	West Texas State	40
																-	San Diego State	43
	-	Northwestern State (La.)	50
	-	Central Missouri State	43
						-	Northwestern State (La.)	47
						-	Texas Wesleyan	56
	-	Texas Wesleyan	71
	-	Evansville (Ind.)	62
											-	Texas Wesleyan	42
	TOP TIER
											-	San Diego State	44
	-	Culver-Stockton (Mo.)	40
	-	Texas Western	26
						-	Culver-Stockton	41*
						-	San Diego State	46
	-	San Diego State	46
	-	Western Montana	29
																					-	San Diego State	36
																					-	Murray State	34
	-	Stephen F. Austin (Texas)	64
	-	Simpson (Iowa)	50
						-	Stephen F. Austin	28
						-	Northwest Missouri State	34
	-	Northwest Missouri State	35
	-	Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.)	31
											-	Northwest Missouri State	43
	BOTTOM TIER
											-	Murray State	46
	-	Alma (Mich.)	43
	-	Panhandle A&M (Okla.)	24
						-	Alma	33
						-	Murray State	51
	-	Murray State (Ky.)	68
	-	Oregon College	46
																-	Murray State	35
																-	Santa Barbara	33
	-	Appalachian State (N.C.)	63
	-	Baker (Kan.)	42
						-	Appalachian State	48
						-	Baltimore	36
	-	Baltimore (Md.)	52
	-	Omaha (Neb.)	35
											-	Appalachian State	29
	BOTTOM TIER
											-	Santa Barbara	36
	-	Santa Barbara (Calif.)	32
	-	Wayne State (Neb.)	26
						-	Bemidji State	29*
						-	Santa Barbara	31
	-	Bemidji State (Minn.)	35
	-	Pittsburg State (Kan.)	33

•  * denotes overtime.

3rd place game

The third place game featured the losing team from the national semifinalist to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.

	NAIA Third Place Game
	-	West Texas State	43
	-	Santa Barbara	35

References

1. NAIA.org
2. NAIA Championship History archived via WebCite