The 1952 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.
The 15th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.
The Bears of Southwest Missouri State defeated the Pilots of Portland, 78–68.
There was a tournament record of forty personal fouls between the two teams in one game.
Many of the records set by the 1952 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later: