The Men's Basketball Championship is mostly played at the
Municipal Auditorium in
Kansas City, Missouri. It has been held in Kansas City every year since the tournament began except from 1994 to 2001, when it was played in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, and in 2020, when no tournament was held. Kansas City will continue to host until at least 2024. In 2018, the NAIA announced a new format for the 2021 tournament after the merger of D-I and D-II. Under the new format, the men's and women's tournaments each involve 64 teams (the first post-COVID tournaments in 2021 had 48 teams). The first two rounds are played at 16 separate sites, with only the 16 winners at these sites advancing to Kansas City. The tournament MVP has been presented with the
Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player award since
1939. In
1948, the NAIA became the first national organization to open their intercollegiate postseason to black student-athletes due primarily to the media attention surrounding the
Manhattan Jaspers. Manhattan, who had an all-white team, learned of the NAIA rule that prohibited blacks from participating in the tournament, and after asking the NAIA to rescind the rule, the NAIA refused and Manhattan withdrew from the tournament. "The battle might have ended there but for a man named Harry Henshel, who was a member of the U.S. Olympic basketball committee. One of the reasons that the NAIA tournament was so prestigious was that the champion was invited to compete at the Olympic trials in New York City in late March. (The other teams invited were the two NCAA finalists, three teams from the Amateur Athletic Union, the winner of the National Invitation Tournament, and a YMCA team.)" After reading in the New York papers that blacks could not participate in the tournament, Henshel suggested to the media that the NAIA national champion be eliminated from Olympic consideration. NAIA officials read Hershel’s statement in the papers and quickly took a telegraphic poll amongst its members the following day that rescinded the racial ban. In
1947, Coach
John Wooden of
Indiana State refused the invitation to the NAIA National Tournament primarily because
Clarence J. Walker, the only black player on his team could not participate. Because of the stance taken by Manhattan and Harry Hansel, in 1948, Coach Wooden was able to take Walker to the tournament who became the first African-American student-athlete to play in the NAIA tournament. Walker, a vital role player, helped the Sycamores finish as the NAIA's national finalist. In 1957,
Tennessee State became the first historically black college to win a national championship, and the first team to win three consecutive tournaments. As of 2017,
Kentucky State is the only other school to do so (
1970,
1971,
1972).
Oklahoma City holds the record for the most tournament championships with six. OCU also holds the record for most national championship titles in
NAIA women's basketball. ==Results==