1961 NAIA Basketball Tournament

Last updated
1961 (1961) NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Teams32
Champions Grambling Tigers
(1st title, 1st title game,
1st Fab Four)
Runner-Up Georgetown Tigers
(1st title game,
2nd Fab Four)
Semifinalists Northern Michigan Wildcats
Westminster Titans
Coach of the YearRex Pyles
(Alderson Broaddus)
Chuck Taylor MVP Charles Hardnett
(Grambling)
Charles Stevenson
Hustle Award
Dick Vories
(Georgetown (KY))
  1960 NAIA Division I
Men's Tournaments
1962  

The 1961 NAIA men's basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 24th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. [1] The championship game featured the 13th seeded Grambling and the third seeded Georgetown. For the first time since seeding, in 1958, the third place game featured the first and second seeds, Northern Michigan, and Westminster.

Contents

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1961 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

1961 NAIA bracket

First Round Second Round Elite Eight NAIA National Semifinals NAIA National Championship
               
1 Westminster (PA) 68
- Arkansas State Teachers 60
1 Westminster (PA)85
16 Newberry 73
- Simpson 58
16 Newberry 64
1 Westminster (PA)35
TOP TIER
9 Winston-Salem State 33
9 Winston-Salem State 95
- Westminster (UT) 70
9 Winston-Salem State86
- West Virginia State 76
- West Virginia State 90
8 Whitworth 89
1 Westminster (PA) 44
13 Grambling45
5 Anderson (IN) 85
- St. Bernard 77
5 Anderson (IN)86
12 Emporia State 81*
- Northern State 72
12 Emporia State 77
5 Anderson (IN) 54
TOP TIER
13 Grambling62
13 Grambling 107
- Linfield 85
13 Grambling80
- Peru State 60
- Peru State 72
4 Oglethorpe 65
13 Grambling95
3 Georgetown (KY) 75
3 Georgetown (KY) 88
- Western Montana 76
3 Georgetown (KY)59
14 Redlands 57
- Savannah State 80
14 Redlands 89
3 Georgetown (KY)84
BOTTOM TIER
7 Central State (OK) 83
- Gustavus Adolphus 63
10 Illinois Wesleyan 79
10 Illinois Wesleyan 62
7 Central State (OK)84
7 Central State (OK) 80
- St. Norbert 73
3 Georgetown (KY)101
2 Northern Michigan 67
- East Texas Baptist 70
6 Steubenville 68
- East Texas Baptist 59
11 Southwest Texas State61
11 Southwest Texas State 70
- Central Connecticut State 59
11 Southwest Texas State 75
BOTTOM TIER
2 Northern Michigan80
15 Maryland State 74
- Missouri Valley 89
- Missouri Valley 63
2 Northern Michigan79
- Carson–Newman 60
2 Northern Michigan 69

3rd place game

The third place game featured the losing teams from the national semifinalist to determine third and fourth places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.

NAIA Third Place Game
   
1 Westminster (PA) 84
2 Northern Michigan101

See also

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References

  1. "NAIA.org". Archived from the original on 2009-05-01. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  2. NAIA Championship History Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine