The 1949 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 12th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game featured Hamline defeating Regis, 57–46. Hamline's championship win would make them the first team to win two non-consecutive tournaments (1942, and 1949). Regis, in their first tournament appearance, would finish as the National Runner-Up, but it would be the highest finish Regis would ever see of the 5 tournament appearances. Regis would make it back to the NAIA Semifinals in 1951, only to finish in fourth place.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1949 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

Bracket