The 1953 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 16th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game would feature Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State University, and Hamline University (Minn.) (10th appearance in tournament). The Bears were coached by Bob Vanatta. The championship game was the first time that these two teams had ever met in the tournament. The Bears would defeat the Pipers to win another national championship by the score of 79 to 71. It was the first time since 1937 and 1938, the first two years of the tournament, that the same team would win the national championship title. (The first two tournaments were also won by a Missouri university, Central Missouri State University.)
Playing for 3rd place was Indiana State University and East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University–Commerce. It was the first time that these two teams had played each other. The Sycamores defeated the Lions by a score of 74 to 71.
The 1953 tournament would be Hamline University's first, and only, 2nd place title as well as Indiana State University's first, and only, 3rd place title. Making them the first two schools to win, outright, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places in the NAIA tournament (Georgetown (Ky.) the only other school to have that honor).
It is the last year without the Coach of the Year Award. And the first tournament to feature a Nazarene University, (Pasadena (Calif.), now Point Loma Nazarene University). There were two games in which all-time top performances would be recorded.
Read more about 1953 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament: Awards and Honors, 1953 NAIA Bracket
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