Teams | 32 | ||||
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Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
Champions | John Brown (1 title) | ||||
Runner-up | Azusa Pacific (1 title game) | ||||
Semifinalists |
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Coach of the year | Bill Odell (Azusa Pacific) | ||||
Player of the year | Jarred Merrill (Oklahoma Christian) | ||||
Charles Stevenson Hustle Award | Quinton Gibson (Robert Morris (IL)) | ||||
Chuck Taylor MVP | Brandon Cole (John Brown) | ||||
Top scorer | Daniel Rose (Biola) (66 points) | ||||
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The 2005 Buffalo Funds - NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament was held from March 16 to 22 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The sixty-eighth annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] The 2005 National Champions were the unranked John Brown University who defeated the 9th ranked Azusa Pacific University by a score of 65 to 55. The other NAIA National semifinalists were Carroll College (MT) and Robert Morris College (IL).
2005 tournament would bring four new teams to the NAIA national semifinals. The first tournament since 2001 tournament to do so. (It would be the 7th time in tournament history this has happened; previous years were the inaugural year 1937, 1945, 1947, 1965, 1969, 2001).