1940 NCAA basketball tournament

1940 NCAA basketball tournament
Season	1939–40
Teams	8
Finals site	Municipal Auditorium; Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Indiana Hoosiers (1st title, 1st title game,; 1st Final Four)
Runner-up	Kansas Jayhawks (1st title game,; 1st Final Four)
Semifinalists	Duquesne Dukes (1st Final Four); USC Trojans (1st Final Four);
Winning coach	Branch McCracken (1st title)
MOP	Marvin Huffman (Indiana)
Attendance	36,880
Top scorer	Howard Engleman (Kansas); (39 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments
«1939	1941»

The 1940 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the participating champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The second edition of the tournament began on March 20, 1940, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of eight games were played, including a single third place game in the West region.

Indiana, coached by Branch McCracken, won the tournament title with a 60–42 victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Phog Allen. Marvin Huffman of Indiana was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

This would be the only tournament to feature Springfield College, the school James Naismith worked for when he invented the sport of basketball. They were the first of fourteen colleges and universities to compete in the tournament that are no longer in Division I. This was also the first appearance of the Kansas Jayhawks, whose first coach was Naismith.

Locations

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1940 tournament:

Regionals

March 20 and 21: East Regional, Butler Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana (Host: Butler University); West Regional, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Championship Game

March 30: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Teams

East Regional - Indianapolis
School	Coach	Conference	Record
Duquesne	Chick Davies	Independent	19–2
Indiana	Branch McCracken	Big Ten	17–3
Springfield	Ed Hickox	Independent	16–2
Western Kentucky	Ed Diddle	SIAA	24–5

West Regional - Kansas City
School	Coach	Conference	Record
Colorado	Frosty Cox	Mountain States	17–2
Kansas	Phog Allen	Big Six	17–5
Rice	Buster Brannon	Southwest	21–2
USC	Sam Barry	Pacific Coast	19–2

Bracket


Regional Semifinals March 22		Regional Finals March 23		National Championship March 30



Indiana	48

Springfield	24
		Indiana	39
East – Indianapolis
		Duquesne	30
Duquesne	30
				Kansas City
Western Kentucky	29
				Indiana	60

				Kansas	42
USC	38

Colorado	32
		USC	42
West – Kansas City
		Kansas	43
Kansas	50

Rice	44



		West Third Place Game



		Colorado	56

		Rice	60

^[1]

References

^ "1940 NCAA basketball tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 3, 2018.

[1] "1940 NCAA basketball tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 3, 2018.

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