1946 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament

The 1946 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 9th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] The championship game was won by Southern Illinois University when the Salukis defeated the Indiana State University Sycamores 49-40.

1946 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Teams	32
Champions	Southern Illinois (1st title, 1st title game, 2nd Fab Four)
Runner-Up	Indiana State (1st title game, 1st Fab Four)
Semifinalists	Pepperdine Loyola (La.)
Chuck Taylor MVP	Gene Stotlar (Southern Illinois)

Central Missouri State, the original National Champions, and first back-to-back National Champions, played in their final NAIA tournament, although they remained an NAIA member for another decade, leaving in the mid 1950s to join the NCAA. The Mules appeared seven tournaments recording an overall record of 13 wins and 6 losses. The Mules won two National Championships in 1937 and 1938 and finishing in 4th place in 1942.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1945 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]

1946 NAIA bracket

	First Round March 11					Second Round March 13					Elite Eight					NAIA National Semifinals					NAIA National Championship
	-	Loyola (La.)	76
	-	Hastings (Neb.)	48
						-	Loyola (La.)	60*
						-	Arizona State-Flagstaff	56
	-	Arizona State-Flagstaff	45
	-	Rockhurst (Mo.)	37
											-	Loyola (La.)	54
	TOP TIER
											-	Drury	43
	-	Drury (Mo).	51
	-	Eastern Kentucky	47
						-	Drury	55
						-	Augsburg	47
	-	Augsburg (Minn.)	64
	-	Washburn	36
																-	Loyola (La.)	37
																-	Southern Illinois	53
	-	Southern Illinois	49
	-	Central Missouri State	39
						-	Southern Illinois	58
						-	Loras	55
	-	Loras (Iowa)	57
	-	Panzer (N.J.)	43
											-	Southern Illinois	66
	TOP TIER
											-	Nevada	58
	-	West Texas State	71
	-	Eau Claire State (Wisc.)	47
						-	West Texas State	46
						-	Nevada	60
	-	Nevada	56
	-	Morningside (Iowa)	40
																					-	Southern Illinois	49
																					-	Indiana State	40
	-	Pepperdine (Calif.)	63
	-	Arkansas State Teachers	37
						-	Pepperdine	64
						-	Iowa State Teachers	22
	-	Iowa State Teachers	58
	-	Montana State	42
											-	Pepperdine	46
	BOTTOM TIER
											-	Eastern Washington State	42
	-	Eastern Washington State	66
	-	Louisiana Tech	44
						-	Eastern Washington State	45
						-	Southeastern Oklahoma State	37
	-	Southeastern Oklahoma State	50
	-	Peru State (Neb.)	36
																-	Indiana State	56
																-	Pepperdine	43
	-	Houston (Texas)	63
	-	High Point (N.C.)	34
						-	Indiana State	62
						-	Houston	43
	-	Indiana State	62
	-	St. Cloud State (Minn.)	51
											-	Indiana State	55
	BOTTOM TIER
											-	Dakota Wesleyan	34
	-	Culver–Stockton (Mo.)	55
	-	Wichita State(Kan.)	51
						-	Culver-Stockton	40
						-	Dakota Wesleyan	41
	-	Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.)	39
	-	New Mexico Mines	36

•  * 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
	-	Pepperdine	82
	-	Loyola (La.)	55

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