Teams 32 | ||
Finals Site Municipal Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri Champions Marshall
(1st title, 1st title game,
1st Final Four) Runner-Up Mankato State
(1st title game,
1st Final Four) Semifinalists Arizona State-Flagstaff
(1st Final Four)
Emporia State
(1st Final Four) Chuck Taylor MVP Irvin Leifer
(Eastern Washington) | ||
The 1947 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 10th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. It would be the first time since 1945 the NAIA Semifinalist would feature four new teams. A feat that would not be repeated until 1965. The championship game featured Marshall University (W. Va.) defeating Mankato State (Minn.) by a score of 73 to 59. The third place game featured Arizona State-Flagstaff, now Northern Arizona University, defeating Emporia State University by a score of 47 to 38.
Contents
1947 kicks off the "golden age" of NAIA National Tournaments. Harold Haskins became the first of 16 all-time leading scorers.
Awards and honors
Many of the records set by the 1947 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:
1947 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.