1944 NCAA basketball tournament

1944 NCAA basketball tournament
	Championship game program
Teams	8
Finals site	Madison Square Garden; New York City
Champions	Utah Redskins (1st title, 1st title game,; 1st Final Four)
Runner-up	Dartmouth Indians (2nd title game,; 2nd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Iowa State Cyclones (1st Final Four); Ohio State Buckeyes (2nd Final Four);
Winning coach	Vadal Peterson (1st title)
MOP	Arnie Ferrin (Utah)
Attendance	59,369
Top scorer	Audley Brindley (Dartmouth); (52 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments
«1943	1945»

The 1944 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 24, 1944, and ended with the championship game on March 28 in New York City. A total of nine games were played, including a third place game in each region.

Utah, coached by Vadal Peterson, won the national title with a 42–40 victory in the final game over Dartmouth, coached by Earl Brown. Arnie Ferrin of Utah was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Utah became the first team to play in both the NIT and NCAA tournament in the same season. Utah was given a second chance to play in the NCAA Tournament after a March 1944 automobile accident killed a coaching aide and seriously injured two players on the Arkansas team.^[1]

Utah's winning team featured Wataru Misaka, who later joined the New York Knicks to become the first person of color (in his case, being an Asian-American by being of Japanese descent) to play in modern professional basketball.^[2]

Locations

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1944 tournament:

Regionals

March 24 and 25: East Regional, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Host: Metropolitan New York Conference); West Regional, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Championship Game

March 28: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Host: Metropolitan New York Conference)

Teams

Region	Team	Coach	Conference	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	Catholic	John Long	Independent	Regional Fourth Place	Temple	L 55–35
East	Dartmouth	Earl Brown	EIBL	Runner Up	Utah	L 42–40
East	Ohio State	Harold Olsen	Big Ten	National Semifinals	Dartmouth	L 60–53
East	Temple	Josh Cody	Middle Atlantic	Regional third place	Catholic	W 55–35
West
West	Iowa State	Louis Menze	Big Six	National Semifinals	Utah	L 40–31
West	Missouri	George R. Edwards	Big Six	Regional third place	Pepperdine	W 61–46
West	Pepperdine	Al Duer	Independent	Regional Fourth Place	Missouri	L 61–46
West	Utah	Vadal Peterson	Skyline	Champion*	Dartmouth	W 42–40^OT

Bracket

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Finals

Dartmouth	63

Catholic	38
		Dartmouth	60

		Ohio State	53
Ohio State	57

Temple	47
				Dartmouth	40

				Utah	42^OT
Iowa State	44

Pepperdine	39
		Iowa State	31

		Utah	40
Utah	45

Missouri	35

Regional third place

	East Regional third place

	Catholic		35

	Temple		55

	West Regional third place

	Pepperdine		46

	Missouri		61

^[3]

References

^ Chipman, Kit (April 30, 2010). "University of Utah 1944 National Basketball Championship". University of Utah Department of Communication. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
^ "New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
^ "1944 NCAA basketball tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 4, 2018.

[Utah:_1944_National_Basketball_Champion-1] Chipman, Kit (April 30, 2010). "University of Utah 1944 National Basketball Championship". University of Utah Department of Communication. Retrieved October 22, 2013.

[2] "New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved November 26, 2019.

[3] "1944 NCAA basketball tournament". College Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 4, 2018.

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