| Season | 1951–52 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 32 | ||||
| Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
| Champions | Southwest Missouri State (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Murray State (2nd title game, 4th Final Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
| ||||
| MVP | Bennie Purcell (Murray State) | ||||
| |||||
The 1952 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 15th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. [1] In 1952, the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB) changes its name to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) [2]
The championship game featured Southwest Missouri State, now Missouri State University, who defeated Murray State, 73–64.
Finishing out the NAIA Final Four, and playing for the 3rd place game were Southwest Texas State, now Texas State University–San Marcos, and Portland. The Bears of Southwest Missouri State defeated the Pilots of Portland, 78–68.
A notorious game happened in the first round between Morningside and Pepperdine. There was a tournament record of forty personal fouls between the two teams in one game. Incidentally, Morningside would win the game 84 to 80.
Many of the records set by the 1952 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:
| First round | Second round | Elite Eight | NAIA national semifinals | NAIA national championship | |||||||||||||||
| Montana State | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||
| American International | 66 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Montana State | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hamline | 85 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hamline | 91 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tampa | 65 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hamline | 65 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TOP TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Portland | 75 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Portland | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Findlay | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Portland | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Memphis State | 48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Memphis State | 60 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore | 39 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Portland | 57 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Murray State | 58 | ||||||||||||||||||
| West Texas State | 88 | ||||||||||||||||||
| West Liberty State | 69 | ||||||||||||||||||
| West Texas State | 73* | ||||||||||||||||||
| Murray State | 75 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Murray State | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Centenary (LA) | 46 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Murray State | 81 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TOP TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Whitworth | 69 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Whitworth | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Whitewater State | 60 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Whitworth | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Millikin | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Millikin | 101 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Elon | 69 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Murray State | 64 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Missouri State | 73 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Missouri State | 87 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chadron State | 66 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Missouri State | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana State | 64 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana State | 79 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Fairleigh Dickinson | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Missouri State | 87 | ||||||||||||||||||
| BOTTOM TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Morningside | 74 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Morningside | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Pepperdine | 80 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Morningside | 98 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Illinois State | 93 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Illinois State | 113 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Huron | 78 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Missouri State | 70 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Texas State | 67** | ||||||||||||||||||
| Utah State | 85 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Clarion State | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Utah State | 63 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Lawrence Tech | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Lawrence Tech | 97 | NAIA third-place game | |||||||||||||||||
| Washburn | 80 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Lawrence Tech | 57 | Portland | 68 | ||||||||||||||||
| BOTTOM TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Texas State | 65 | Southwest Texas State | 78 | ||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico A&M | 86 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mississippi Southern | 70 | ||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico A&M | 52 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Texas State | 69 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwest Texas State | 97 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas Tech | 53 | ||||||||||||||||||
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The 1949 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 12th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.
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