The 1978 NAIA men's basketball tournament was held in March at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, the United States. The 41st annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1]

1978 NAIA men's basketball tournament
Season1977–78
Teams32
Finals siteKemper Arena
Kansas City, Missouri
ChampionsGrand Canyon (2 title, 2 title game,
2 Final Four)
Runner-upKearney State (1 title game,
1 Final Four)
Semifinalists
  • Quincy (1 Final Four)
  • East Texas State (3 Final Four)
Charles Stevenson
Hustle Award
Randy Cipriano (Kearney State)
MVPTom Ritzdorf (Kearney State)
NAIA men's basketball tournament
«1977 1979»

Awards and honors

edit
  • Leading scorer:
  • Leading rebounder:
  • Player of the Year: est. 1994[2]

1978 NAIA bracket

edit
First round Second round Elite Eight NAIA national semifinals NAIA national championship
               
1 Winston-Salem State (N.C.) 77
- Bethany Nazarene (Okla.) 61
1 Winston-Salem State 64
16 Briar Cliff 63
- Maine Portland-Gorham 78
16 Briar Cliff (Iowa) 115
1 Winston-Salem State 76
TOP TIER
- Kearney State 89
9 Wisconsin–Parkside 72*
- Dowling (N.Y.) 67
9 Kearney State 84*
- Wisconsin–Parkside 80
- Kearney State (Neb.) 70
8 Mercyhurst (Pa.) 69
- Kearney State 76
5 Quincy 74
5 Quincy (Ill.) 70
- Southern Tech (Ga.) 63
5 Quincy 85
- Erskine 84*
- Erskine (S.C.) 74
12 Lake Superior State (Mich) 69
5 Quincy 73
TOP TIER
13 Missouri Southern State 66
13 Missouri Southern State 78
- Mississippi Valley State 59
13 Missouri Southern State 69
4 Ouachita Baptist 56
- Eastern Montana 67
4 Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) 76
- Kearney State 75
2 Grand Canyon 79
3 Drury (Mo.) 90
- Midwestern State (Tex.) 70
3 Drury 86
- St. John's 79
- St. John's (Minn.) 83
14 Central Washington 65
3 Drury 77
BOTTOM TIER
6 East Texas State 79
11 Birmingham Southern (Ala.) 92
- LeMoyne-Owen (Tenn.) 77
11 Birmingham–Southern 72
6 East Texas State 78
- Kansas Newman 65
6 East Texas State 81
6 East Texas State 69
2 Grand Canyon 74
7 Fairmont State(W.Virginia) 55
- Westmont (CA) 65
- Westmont 91**
- Central State 92
- Central State (Ohio) 76
10 Hampton Institute (Virginia) 64
- Central State 82^
BOTTOM TIER
2 Grand Canyon 88
15 Hawaii–Hilo 76
- Franklin (Ind.) 74
15 Hawaii–Hilo 67
2 Grand Canyon 83
- Cumberland (Ky.) 64
2 Grand Canyon (Ariz.) 70
  •  * denotes overtimes.
  •  ^ denotes 5 overtimes.

Third-place game

edit

The third-place game featured the losing national semifinalist teams to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.

NAIA third-place game
   
5 Quincy 87
6 East Texas State 73

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "NAIA.org". Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  2. ^ "NAIA Championship History" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2009.