Season | 1959–60 | ||||
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Teams | 32 | ||||
Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
Champions | Southwest Texas State (1st title, 1st title game, 3rd Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | Westminster (Pa.) (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
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Coach of the year | Milt Jowers (Southwest Texas State) | ||||
Charles Stevenson Hustle Award | Chuckie Davis (Westminster (Pa.)) | ||||
MVP | Charles Sharp (Southwest Texas State) | ||||
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The 1960 NAIA men's basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 23rd annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1]
The pivotal game in this year's tournament was in the semifinals round when #4 Westminster College knocked off the three time defending national champions #1 Tennessee State University. This ended the 18 tournament win streak. As of 2017, it is still the tournament's longest win streak. Tennessee State would then play in the 3rd-place game where they easily defeated William Jewell College 100-65. (William Jewell's highest finish in the DI tournament, as of 2010).
Westminster went to the championship game and was defeated by Southwest Texas State 44-66. The Bobcats finish with their first national championship, after being in the NAIA Final Four two previous times, 1952, 1959, both finishing 3rd.