The 1943 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

. The 7th annual NAIA

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...

 basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format . The championship game featured Southeast Missouri State University

Southeast Missouri State University

Southeast Missouri State University, is a public, accredited university located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States, near the banks of the Mississippi River. The institution, having started as a normal school, has a traditional strength in teacher education...

 defeating Northwest Missouri State University

Northwest Missouri State University

Northwest Missouri State University is a state university in Maryville, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, it offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. The campus, based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, is the official Missouri State Arboretum....

 34 to 32. This was the first tournament to feature a championship game between two teams from the same state, Missouri, playing in Missouri. The 3rd place game featured the first overtime in the NAIA Final Four history when North Texas State University

North Texas Mean Green men's basketball

The North Texas Mean Green men's basketball team represents the University of North Texas in NCAA Division I college basketball, competing as a member of the Sun Belt Conference....

 defeated Murray State College

Murray State College

Murray State College, is a public, co-educational community college located in southeastern Oklahoma with the main campus located in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. The college is named in honor of former Oklahoma Governor William H...

 59 to 55 in one overtime.
1943 would also be the last tournament appearance for Luther College (Iowa)

Luther College (Iowa)

Luther College is a four-year, residential liberal arts institution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, located in Decorah, Iowa, USA...

. Luther is the second of the eight originating teams to leave the tournament.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1943 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

1943 NAIA bracket

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. This game would be the first 3rd place game to enter into overtime.

•  * denotes overtime.

See also

• 1943 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
  1943 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
  -External links:* on Shrp Sports * , source for much of the information on this page....
  
  
• 1943 National Invitation Tournament
  1943 National Invitation Tournament
  The 1943 National Invitation Tournament was the 1943 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 8 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....