The 1955 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 18th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1]
| Season | 1954–55 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 32 | ||||
| Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
| Champions | East Texas State (1st title, 1st title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Southeastern State (OK) (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
| ||||
| Coach of the year | Leroy Morley (Western Illinois) | ||||
| MVP | Jim Miller (East Texas State) | ||||
| |||||
The 1955 tournament featured four of the all-time leading scorers, two single-game best tournament performances, and most free throws made in tournament history.
The championship game featured East Texas State (now Texas A&M-Commerce) and Southeastern Oklahoma State. East Texas State defeated SEOSU, 71–54. The other teams in the NAIA Semifinals were Western Illinois State and Arkansas Tech. The Leathernecks defeated the Wonder Boys for the third place title, 77–74.
Awards and honors
editMany of the records set by the 1955 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
- Player of the Year est. 1994
- Most free throws made; single game: 24 free throws made by Joe Miller of Alderson-Broaddus (W.Va.) in a game verses Quincy (Ill.).
- Most free throws made; career: 120 free throws made by Jim Spivey of Southeastern Oklahoma State (1954,55,56,57).
- All-time single game performances: 5th Joe Miller of Alderson-Broaddus (W.Va.) vs. Quincy (Ill.). Miller scored 12 field goals and 24 free throws, totaling 48 points.
- All-time single game performances: 12th Paul Brownlee of Steubenville (Ohio) vs. Southeastern Oklahoma. Brownlee scored 16 field goals and 14 free throws, totaling 46 points.
- All-time scoring leader; first appearance: Bennie Swain 6th, Texas Southern (1955,56,57,58), 15 games, 119 field goals, 64 free throws, totaling 302 points, 20.1 average per game.
- All-time scoring leader; second appearance: James Spivey, 4th Southeastern Oklahoma State (1954,55,56,57), 13 games, 133 field goals, 120 free throws, totaling 386 points, 29.7 average per game.
- All-time scoring leaders; final appearance: E.C. O’Neal, 9th, Arkansas Tech (1952,53,54,55), 13 games, 122 field goals, 43 free throws, totaling 287 points, 22.1 average per game; James Miller, 18th, East Texas State (1953,54,55), 13 games, 103 field goals, 40 free throws, totaling 246 points, 18.9 average per game.[2]
Bracket
edit| First round | Second round | Elite Eight | NAIA national semifinals | NAIA national championship | |||||||||||||||
| Western Illinois State | 76 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Regis | 60 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Western Illinois State | 86 | ||||||||||||||||||
| NE Missouri State | 85 | ||||||||||||||||||
| NE Missouri State | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Georgetown (KY) | 70 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Western Illinois State | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TOP TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gustavus Adolphus | 49 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Texas Southern | 102 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Adrian | 83 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Texas Southern | 55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Gustavus Adolphus | 67 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Gustavus Adolphus | 78 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wayland | 58 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Western Illinois State | 61 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern State | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Steubenville | 79 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mississippi Southern | 62 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Steubenville | 90 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Louisiana Tech | 65 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Louisiana Tech | 94 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coe | 65 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern State | 96 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TOP TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Steubenville | 77 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern State (OK) | 120 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Middle Tennessee State | 67 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern State | 106 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nebraska Wesleyan | 69 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nebraska Wesleyan | 86 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Geneva | 80* | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern State | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||
| East Texas State | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwestern (KS) | 83 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Loyola Los Angeles | 79 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southwestern (KS) | 78 | ||||||||||||||||||
| East Texas State | 94 | ||||||||||||||||||
| East Texas State | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Portland State | 55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| East Texas State | 66 | ||||||||||||||||||
| BOTTOM TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Beloit | 57 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Florida State | 93 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Montana State | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Florida State | 88 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Beloit | 110 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Beloit | 88 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Whitworth | 75 | ||||||||||||||||||
| East Texas State | 81 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas Tech | 66 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Quincy | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||
| St. Francis (NY) | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Quincy | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alderson–Broaddus | 88 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alderson–Broaddus | 100 | NAIA third-place game | |||||||||||||||||
| Minot State | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas Tech | 93 | Western Illinois State | 77 | ||||||||||||||||
| BOTTOM TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Alderson–Broaddus | 74 | Arkansas Tech | 74 | ||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas Tech | 96 | ||||||||||||||||||
| New Haven State | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas Tech | 93 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Atlantic Christian | 74 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Atlantic Christian | 95 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Evansville | 88 | ||||||||||||||||||
- * denotes overtime.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "NAIA.org". Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
- ^ NAIA Championship History Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine