Season | 1968–69 | ||||
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Teams | 32 | ||||
Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
Champions | Eastern New Mexico (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | Maryland State (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
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Coach of the year | Joe Retton (Fairmont State (W.Va.)) | ||||
Charles Stevenson Hustle Award | Larry Vanzant (Eastern New Mexico) | ||||
MVP | Jake Ford (Maryland State) | ||||
Top scorer | Jake Ford (Maryland State) (156 points) | ||||
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The 1969 NAIA men's basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 32nd annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] This is the first tournament since 1965 tournament to feature four new teams to the NAIA Semifinals. (It would be the 5th time since 1937 this has happened; previous years were the inaugural year 1937, 1945, 1947, 1965.) This would not happen again until 2001.