1942 NCAA basketball tournament

1942 NCAA basketball tournament

Teams	8
Finals site	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Stanford Indians (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Runner-up	Dartmouth Big Green (1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Semifinalists	Colorado Buffaloes (1st Final Four) Kentucky Wildcats (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Everett Dean (1st title)
MOP	Howie Dallmar (Stanford)
Attendance	24,373
Top scorers	Chet Palmer, (Rice) Jim Pollard, (Stanford) (43 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1941 1943»

The 1942 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 20, 1942, and ended with the championship game on March 28 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of nine games were played, including a third place game in each region.

Stanford, coached by Everett Dean, won the national title with a 53–38 victory in the final game over Dartmouth, coached by O. B. Cowles. Howie Dallmar of Stanford was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The Indians' success, however, was not to last, as they would not make the tournament again for 47 years, which is currently tied for the eighth-longest drought in NCAA tournament history.

Everett Dean is the only coach to have never lost an NCAA tournament game. Dean was 3–0 in his lone appearance.

Colorado, Dartmouth and Kansas became the first teams to appear in multiple NCAA Tournaments by appearing in the 1942 tournament.

Locations

The following were the sites selected to host each round of the 1942 tournament:

Regionals

March 20 and 21

East Regional, Tulane Gym, New Orleans, Louisiana

West Regional, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri

Championship Game

March 28

Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri

For the third straight year, the Municipal Auditorium hosted both the West regionals and the championship game, making it one of two cities (along with its successor, New York City) to host more than two years in a row. For the fourth straight year, the East Regional was held on a college campus, this time on the campus of Tulane University in New Orleans. This would be the only time prior to the construction of the Louisiana Superdome that the tournament would be held in the Crescent City, now a regular tournament site.

Teams

East Regional - New Orleans
School	Coach	Conference	Record
Dartmouth	Osborne Cowles	EIBL	20–3
Illinois	Doug Mills	Big Ten	18–3
Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	SEC	18–5
Penn State	John Lawther	Independent	17–2

West Regional - Kansas City
School	Coach	Conference	Record
Colorado	Frosty Cox	Mountain States	15–1
Kansas	Phog Allen	Big Six	16–4
Rice	Buster Brannon	Southwest	22–3
Stanford	Everett Dean	Pacific Coast	25–4

Bracket

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
	Dartmouth		44
	Penn State		39
						Dartmouth		47
						Kentucky		28
	Kentucky		46
	Illinois		44
											Dartmouth		38
											Stanford		53
	Stanford		53
	Rice		47
						Stanford		46
						Colorado		35
	Colorado		46
	Kansas		44

Regional Third Place

	East Regional Third Place
	Penn State		41
	Illinois		34

	West Regional Third Place
	Rice		53
	Kansas		55

See also

• 1942 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1942 National Invitation Tournament