Harman Patil (Editor)

1950 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

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Teams
  
32

Finals Site
  
Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri

Champions
  
Indiana State (1st title, 3rd title game, 4th Final Four)

Runner-Up
  
East Central (Okla.) (1st title game, 1st Final Four)

Semifinalists
  
Central Methodist (Mo.) (1st Final Four) Tampa (Fla.) (1st Final Four)

Chuck Taylor MVP
  
Clemens "Lenny" Rzeszewski (Indiana State)

The 1950 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 13th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game featured Indiana State University and East Central University (Okla.). It was the first time these two teams had met in the tournament history. The Sycamores defeated the Tigers 61-57.

Contents

This would be Indiana State's highest finish in their 12 career appearances in the NAIA tournament. Winning the championship puts them in a unique group to place 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Also Indiana State finally gets a win after 2 times as runner-up. Uniquely, Indiana State has finished as the National Runner-up in the NAIA (1946 and 1948), the NCAA Division I (1979) and the NCAA Division II (1968) tournaments.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1950 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

  • Leading scorer est. 1963
  • Leading rebounder est. 1963
  • Chuck Taylor Award: est. 1939 Len Rzeszewski
  • Charles Stevenson Hustle Award est. 1958
  • All-Tournament Team: Len Rzeszewski, Dan Dimich, Don McDonald - Indiana State; Stacey Howell, Claude Overton - East Central (Okla)
  • Coach of the Year est. 1954
  • Player of the Year est. 1994
  • All-time scoring leaders; first appearance: Lloyd Thorgaard, 10th, Hamline (Minn.) (1950,51,52,53), 15 games, 111 field goals, 61 free throws, 283 total points, 18.9 average per game; James Fritsche, 14th, Hamline (Minn.) (1950,51,52,53), 15 games, 113 field goals, 46 free throws, 272 total points, 18.1 average per game.
  • All-time scoring leader; final appearance: Harold Haskins, 12th, Hamline (Minn.) (1947,48,49,50), 14 games, 104 field goals, 72 free throws, 280 total points, 20.0 average per game.

    • 1950 NAIA bracket

  •  *  Denotes overtime.

    • 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.

    References

    1950 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA