Teams | 8 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
Champions | Indiana Hoosiers (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | Kansas Jayhawks (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
| ||||
Winning coach | Branch McCracken (1st title) | ||||
MOP | Marvin Huffman (Indiana) | ||||
Attendance | 36,880 | ||||
Top scorer | Howard Engleman Kansas (39 points) | ||||
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The 1940 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the participating champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The second edition of the tournament began on March 20, 1940, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of eight games were played, including a single third place game in the West region.
Indiana, coached by Branch McCracken, won the tournament title with a 60–42 victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Phog Allen. Marvin Huffman of Indiana was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
This would be the only tournament to feature Springfield College, the school James Naismith worked for when he invented the sport of basketball. They were the first of fourteen colleges and universities to compete in the tournament that are no longer in Division I. This was also the first appearance of the Kansas Jayhawks, whose first coach was Naismith.
The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1940 tournament:
The 1940 tournament saw only two venues in use. Butler Fieldhouse, the largest college basketball arena in the country at the time, hosted the East regional on the campus of Butler University. Butler Fieldhouse, later renamed Hinkle Fieldhouse, would not host another NCAA tournament game until 2021. In Kansas City, the Municipal Auditorium hosted both the West Regional and the Championship Game. The Auditorium would go on to host another nine finals, nine regionals and two early rounds by 1964. The tournament would not return to Indianapolis again until 1978, when Market Square Arena hosted first-round games.
East Regional - Indianapolis | |||
---|---|---|---|
School | Coach | Conference | Record |
Duquesne | Chick Davies | Independent | 19–2 |
Indiana | Branch McCracken | Big Ten | 17–3 |
Springfield | Ed Hickox | Independent | 16–2 |
Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle | SIAA | 24–5 |
West Regional - Kansas City | |||
---|---|---|---|
School | Coach | Conference | Record |
Colorado | Frosty Cox | Mountain States | 17–2 |
Kansas | Phog Allen | Big Six | 17–5 |
Rice | Buster Brannon | Southwest | 21–2 |
USC | Sam Barry | Pacific Coast | 19–2 |
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
Indiana | 48 | |||||||||||||
Springfield | 24 | |||||||||||||
Indiana | 39 | |||||||||||||
Duquesne | 30 | |||||||||||||
Duquesne | 30 | |||||||||||||
Western Kentucky | 29 | |||||||||||||
Indiana | 60 | |||||||||||||
Kansas | 42 | |||||||||||||
USC | 38 | |||||||||||||
Colorado | 32 | |||||||||||||
USC | 42 | |||||||||||||
Kansas | 43 | |||||||||||||
Kansas | 50 | |||||||||||||
Rice | 44 |
West Regional Third Place | ||||
Colorado | 56 | |||
Rice | 60 |
Hoosier Hysteria is the state of excitement surrounding basketball in Indiana or, more specifically, the Indiana high school basketball tournament. In part, the enthusiasm stemmed from the one-class tournament, in which a small town's David might knock off a large city's Goliath. The most famous example occurred in 1954, when Milan defeated Muncie Central to win the state title. The movie Hoosiers was inspired in part by the story of the 1954 Milan team and typifies the hysteria related to basketball in Indiana.
The 1964 NCAA University Division Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball in the United States. It began on March 9, 1964, and ended with the championship game on March 21 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 29 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
The 1941 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA college basketball. It began on March 21, 1941, and ended with the championship game on March 29 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of nine games were played, including a third place game in both regions.
The 1942 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 20, 1942, and ended with the championship game on March 28 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of nine games were played, including a third place game in each region.
The 1943 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 24, 1943, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in New York City. A total of nine games were played, including a third place game in each region. Top-ranked Illinois declined to participate in the NCAA Tournament or NIT after three of its starters were drafted into the Army.
The 1949 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 18, 1949, and ended with the championship game on March 26 in Seattle, Washington. A total of 10 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
The 1951 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 16 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 20, 1951, and ended with the championship game on March 27 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A total of 18 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
The 1952 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 16 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 14th annual edition of the tournament began on March 21, 1952, and ended with the championship game on March 26 in Seattle. A total of 20 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
The 1953 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 22 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of NCAA college basketball. The 15th edition of the tournament began on March 10, 1953, and ended with the championship game on March 18 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 26 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
The 1954 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8 and ended with the championship game on March 20 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 28 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
The 1955 NCAA Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8, 1955, and ended with the championship game on March 19 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 28 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
The 1961 NCAA University Division Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball in the United States. It began on March 14, 1961, and ended with the championship game on March 25 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 28 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
The 1978 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament involved 32 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1978, and ended with the championship game on March 27 in St. Louis, Missouri. A total of 32 games were played, including a national third place game.
The 1980 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament involved 48 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 6th, 1980, and ended with the championship game on March 24th at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. A total of 48 games were played, including a national third-place game.
The 1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I men's college basketball. It began on March 15, 1990, and ended with the championship game on April 2 in Denver, Colorado. A total of 63 games were played.
The 1997 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1997, and ended with the championship game on March 31 in Indianapolis, Indiana at the RCA Dome. A total of 63 games were played.
The 2005 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 19, 2005, and concluded on April 5, 2005, when Baylor was crowned as the new national champion. The Final Four was held for the first time at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 3 and 5, 2005, and was hosted by Butler University and the Horizon League. Future Final Fours will be held every five years in Indianapolis, the NCAA's home city, will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium, one block south of the Indiana Convention Center, where the RCA Dome is located. Baylor, coached by Kim Mulkey-Robertson, defeated Michigan State, coached by Joanne P. McCallie, 84–62 in the championship game. Baylor's Sophia Young was named Most Outstanding Player. For the first time, taking a page from the Men's Tournament, the regionals were named after the city they were played in, rather than the geographical location, and the "pod" system adopted by the Men's Tournament was used.
Hinkle Fieldhouse is a basketball arena on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Completed in early 1928, it was the largest basketball arena in the United States until 1950. The facility was renamed Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1966 in honor of Butler's longtime coach and athletic director, Paul D. "Tony" Hinkle. It is the sixth-oldest college basketball arena still in use. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1987, Hinkle Fieldhouse is sometimes referred to as "Indiana's Basketball Cathedral."
The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2020–21 season. The 82nd edition of the tournament began play on March 18, 2021 in sites around the state of Indiana, and concluded with the championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on April 5, with the Baylor Bears defeating the previously undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs 86–70 to earn the team's first ever title.
The 1940 NCAA Basketball Championship Game was the final of the 1940 NCAA Basketball Tournament and determined the national champion in the 1939–40 NCAA men's basketball season. The game was held at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 30, 1940. The Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 60–42 to win the school's first national championship in men's basketball.