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The first NCAA tournament started in 1939 and was second banana to the NIT, which started the year before in New York City.
One team, Bradley, turned down the NCAA for the NIT, something that would soon become unimaginable (the NIT retained some prestige well into the 1970’s, but NCAA expansion eventually drained off the vast majority of the better teams).
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In this first tournament, eight teams were invited, which made getting to the Final Four a good bit easier.
As it happened, Villanova, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon advanced to the Final Four.
Oregon, then known as the Oregon Webfoots, defeated Oklahoma in the championship game. 46-33.
No one then could have imagined what the tournament would become, but even so, you can see the modern game in some spots here. First, there are moments when the players really get up and down the court, and second, there are small bursts of creativity.
Still, the game is clearly from long ago and far away. For one, the lanes are the old, narrow lanes, and for another, the teams, whether formally segregated or not, appear to be entirely white.
Sixteen years later, Bill Russell would come along and revolutionize basketball in every sense.
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