Has anyone ever attended or heard of the NAIA National Basketball Tournament?

SanctionII

I played college hoops in the 1970's at a small college which at the time was affiliated with the NAIA [It has since changed affiliation and is now an NCAA Division 2 school].

Well in the day (LOL) the NAIA was comprised of small schools across the country with most schools being concentrated in the East, South and Midwest. The country was divided into 31 districts and at the end of the hoops regular season each district would have a district playoff [4 teams from the district would play 3 games and the winner would be district champion]. All 31 district champions and one at large selection would then play in a National Tournament. The tournament would be held in Kansas City at Kemper Arena, in March, I think at the same time that the NCAA Regional Finals are held.

The thing about the NAIA national tournament that made it exciting was that the opening round games [16 games] would be held one after the other in the same arena starting on Tuesday & Wednesday. The winners of the opening 16 games would play on Thursday, then the winners of the 8 Thursday games would play on Friday, then the winners of the 4 Friday games would play on Saturday, and the winners of the 2 Saturday games would play for the NAIA Championship on Sunday. To win the Championship your a team would have to play (and win) 5 games in the span of about 5 days. Talk about a marathon.

My college team never made it to the National Tournament (one year we played in the district tournament), but a team in our district did win the Championship during my college years (one of its players played for the Phoenix Suns for a few years). I heard how fun attending the national tournament was however and always thought it would be fun to go watch it.

Some good players have come out of the NAIA to play in the NBA and have great careers, including Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and if I remember correctly Earl Monroe and Jack Sikma.

Has anyone onf the forums heard of or attended this tournament? If so tell us about it.

BigRedMachine

I've never attended the tournament, but went to some regular season games. I spent a year at college in Franklin, Indiana before transferring to IU in the early 90's, and I believe they were NAIA at the time. It wasn't that impressive to me at the time, as far as quality of the games and people showing up.

Of course, this is Indiana, where basketball can get pretty crazy. I remember guys selling high school sectional tickets for $100+ to rich guys wanting to see Damon Bailey play. Nothing like 5000+ at a high school game. There weren't 1000 people at Franklin College, let alone the NAIA basketball games.

Was it an NAIA game I saw that went to four overtimes recently?? Maybe I'm imagining that.

shawn

mreuter

Hear about it all the time here in NW Iowa, there are a half dozen colleges or more within 90 miles of me and usually one of them comes close or makes the tournament. Never been to it, but I think it would be great to just watch basketball nonstop for 5 days and they do have some pretty good teams. The women's tournament has been held in Sioux City (only 20 miles from me) the last few years and they run the same format, the media covers it pretty good around here, especially if a local team makes it.

Connecticoin

I think the NAIA also sanctioned the Women's D-1 tournament until 1982 or something.

SanctionII

I did some checking on the net about the NAIA tournament. It has been around for about 70 years.

Other notable NBA players from the NAIA include Willis Reed and Lloyd B. Free (aka "World B. Free").
During the time that I played college hoops, Grand Canyon College in Phoenix Arizona went from our district to the National Tournment. The won the national title twice duing the time I was in college (75 and 78). In the 78 tournament Grand Canyon College played and won a game that went through 5 overtime periods.

5 straight days of non stop hoops for one tournament, last one standing after 5 games takes it all, would be great for a hoops junkie. This year's tournament is playing the championship game today.

markj111

My alma mater (Birmingham-Southern College) won it twice, but never produced an NBA player. They had a guy drafted one time, but he went to graduate school insterad.

tennesseebanker

Yes, I have heard of the NaIa. The womens tourney is held every year here in my hometown of Jackson, Tn.
A Team from my hometown has won the tournament the past three years(Union University and Lambuth University). It is a pretty exciting time for the city, Especially since our womens teams seem to do so well.