| Teams | 32 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
| Champions | Louisville (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Indiana State (2nd title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists | |||||
| MVP | Duane Klueh (Indiana State) | ||||
| Top scorer | Duane Klueh (Indiana State) (96 points) | ||||
| |||||
The 1948 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 11th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1]
The championship game featured Louisville beating Indiana State, 82–70.
The only school to have won national titles in both the NAIA and NCAA Division I is Louisville. Uniquely, Indiana State has finished as the National Runner-up in the NAIA (1946 and 1948), the NCAA Division I (1979) and the NCAA Division II (1968) tournaments. Indiana State won the NAIA in 1950.
The tournament was the first intercollegiate postseason to feature a black student-athlete, Clarence J. Walker of Indiana State under coach John Wooden. Wooden had withdrawn from the 1947 tournament because the NAIB would not allow Walker to play.[2]