1946 NCAA basketball tournament

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "1946 NCAA basketball tournament" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2022)

The 1946 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 21, 1946, and ended with the championship game on March 26 in New York City. A total of 10 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game.

Oklahoma A&M, coached by Henry Iba, won the national title with a 43–40 victory in the final game over North Carolina, coached by Ben Carnevale. Bob Kurland of Oklahoma A&M was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The Aggies were the first team to win a second NCAA championship, the first to repeat as champions, and the first of two teams (San Francisco being the other) to win the title in their first two NCAA appearances.

This was the first tournament to have four teams advance to the final site, though not the first to have a true "Final Four" format (that would not occur until 1952). The two regional losers played in the national third-place game, while the two winners played for the championship. The third-place game would continue through the 1981 tournament.

The following were the sites which hosted each round of the 1946 tournament:

March 21 and 23

East Regional, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Host: Metropolitan New York Conference)

March 22 and 23

West Regional, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

March 26

Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Host: Metropolitan New York Conference)

* – Denotes overtime period

^[1]

• 1946 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1946 National Invitation Tournament