The 1940 NCAA basketball tournament involved eight schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the participating champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball.
Indiana, coached by Branch McCracken, won the tournament title with a 60–42 victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Phog Allen.
Marvin Huffman of Indiana was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
This would be the only tournament to feature Springfield College, the school James Naismith worked for when he invented the sport of basketball.
They were the first of fourteen colleges and universities to compete in the tournament that are no longer in Division I.