The NAIA was to crown its Division I Men’s Basketball national champion this week in the 75th tournament to be played in Kansas City. Though the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, The Star used the occasion to select its all-time NAIA Tournament Team for the games played in Kansas City.

Guards

Jerry Anderson, Southwest Missouri State, 1952-53:Anderson made history as the first player to win consecutive tournament MVP awards, and the Bears, with former president Harry S Truman watching from the Municipal Auditorium stands in 1953, became the first school to win back-to-back titles in the grueling 32-team format.

Dick Barnett, Tennessee A&I, 1956-59: Barnett, a smooth-shooting lefthander who would star in the NBA with the New York Knicks, averaged 25.1 points for 18 tournament games and led the Tigers to three consecutive championships from 1957-59.

Lloyd B. Free, Guilford (N.C.), 1973-75:Free, who would later be known as World B. Free during his NBA career, averaged 24 points per game and was tournament MVP in leading the Quakers to the 1973 title.

Kameron Gray, Oklahoma City, 2007-08: Gray, a 6-2 point guard, became the sixth player in NAIA history to become a two-time tournament MVP after leading the Stars to titles in 2007 and 2008, the last time a team has won consecutive championships.

Terry Porter, Wisconsin-Stevens-Point, 1984-85: Porter, who would become a two-time, NBA all-star with the Portland Trail Blazers, averaged 25.0 points per game in the 1984 tournament that ended in an overtime loss to Fort Hays State in the championship game.

Forwards

Travis “Machine Gun” Grant, Kentucky State 1970-72: Grant still owns the NAIA scoring records with 60 points in a game; 213 points in a tournament; 518 points in a career; and a 34.5-point average for 15 games. Grant, a first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Lakers, led the Thorobreds to the 1970-71-72 championships.

Darryl Jones, St. Benedict’s (Kansas), 1965-68: Jones was the do-it-all performer during the Atchison, Kansas school’s (now Benedictine College) run to the 1967 championship. Jones, going against the great Al Tucker of defending champion Oklahoma Baptist, averaged a tournament-best 12.4 rebounds per game in the 1967 tournament.

Dennis Rodman, Southeastern Oklahoma, 1984-86: “The Worm” best known for winning NBA championships in Detroit and Chicago, averaged 27.4 points and 19.0 rebounds in 1986, including a monster 46 points and tournament-record 32 rebounds in a 75-74 victory in the third-place game.

Trevor Setty, University of Pikeville, 2011-14:The mop-haired Setty led Pikeville to an unlikely 2011 championship as the Bears became the first unseeded team to defeat five seeded teams in an NAIA tournament. Setty, a 6-9 forward, scored 32 points, including seven three-pointers, and grabbed 17 rebounds in an 81-76 overtime win against Mountain State (W.Va). in the title game.

Jack Sikma, Illinois Wesleyan, 1975-77: Sikma, a seven-time NBA all-star who led the Seattle SuperSonics to the 1979 NBA championship, played in three NAIA tournaments, reaching the quarterfinals in 1977. He averaged 21.2 points and 13.1 rebounds as a collegian and was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 2012.

Al Tucker, Oklahoma Baptist, 1965-67:Tucker, a first-round draft choice by Seattle, who with his brother Gerald, was credited with inventing the alley-oop pass, led the Bison to three consecutive championship games, winning the 1966 title. Tucker, the 1966 and ’67 tournament MVP, averaged 31.4 points in 15 career games, second only to Grant’s 34.5, including 47 in the 1967 title-game loss to St. Benedict’s.

Jim Spivey, Southeastern Oklahoma, 1954-57: Spivey led the Savages to four straight tournaments, including championship games in 1955 and 1957. He dominated the ’57 tournament, averaging 44 points per game, including performances of 53, 46 and 43 twice. His career 120 career made free throws and 68 made free throws in a tournament are still NAIA records.

Centers

Lucious Jackson, Pan-American (Texas), 1962-64: Jackson, the 1963 and 1964 tournament MVP, led the Broncs to the ’63 championship and second-place finish to Rockhurst in ’64. Jackson, who would star for the 1967 NBA champion Philadelphia 76ers, averaged 25.0 points and 16 rebounds in 12 tournament games and his 180 career rebounds are still the tournament career record.

Joe Pace, Coppin State (Maryland), 1975-76:Pace, a lanky 6-10 presence, dominated the 1976 tournament. He averaged 30.2 points and 13.8 rebounds in the tournament, including 43 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots in winning the championship game and MVP honors. Pace played for the 1978 NBA champion Washington Bullets.

Willis Reed, Grambling (Louisiana), 1961-64:Reed, the future NBA champion and Hall of Famer with the New York Knicks, led the Tigers to the 1961 championship, and a third-place finish in 1963 when he averaged 27.4 points per game.

Head coach

John McLendon, Tennessee A&I, 1954-59:McLendon, coaching at a historically black school, became the first head coach to win three straight national championships, defeating dozens of white teams to capture NAIA titles in 1957, 1958, and 1959.

Assistant coaches

Buddy Meyer, St. Mary’s (Texas), 1978-2005: Meyer went 530-252 at his alma mater, including 13 NAIA Tournament appearances, capped by winning the 1989 national championship.

Ralph Nolan, St Benedict’s (Kansas), 1950-70: Nolan, a product of Bishop Ward in Kansas City, Kan., compiled a 312-174 record at now Benedictine College, including six appearances in the NAIA Tournament and championships in 1954 and 1967.

SECOND TEAM

Zelmo Beaty, Prairie View A&M (Texas), 1962

M.L. Carr, Guilford (N.C.), 1970-73

Nate DeLong, Wisconsin-River Falls, 1947

Bevo Francis, Rio-Grande (Ohio), 1954

Ben Hunt, Texas Wesleyan, 2006

Philip Hutcheson, David Lipscomb (Tenn.), 1988-90)

Eric Manuel, Oklahoma City, 1991

Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Winston-Salem (N.C). State, 1963-65

Charles Sharp, Southwest Texas State, 1957-60

Clarence “Foots” Walker, West Georgia, 1972-74