The NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament (officially styled as "Championship" instead of "Tournament") is a tournament to determine the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

national champion. It has been held annually from 1975 to 2019 & since 2022, but not played in 2020 and 2021 due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

issues. From 1996 to 2012 and 2014 to 2018, the NCAA Division III men's basketball championship was held at the

Salem Civic Center The Salem Civic Center is a 6,820-seat multi-purpose arena in Salem, Virginia. It was built in 1967 and is part of the James E. Taliaferro Sports and Entertainment Complex (named after a former mayor of Salem), which also includes the Salem Football ...

Salem, Virginia Salem is an independent city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,346. It is the county seat of Roanoke County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combin ...

. The event had been hosted by the

Old Dominion Athletic Conference The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference. Of its 15 member schools, all but one are located in Virginia; the other full member is in North Carolina. The conference also has an associate member in Nort ...

and the City of Salem. From 2017 to 2020 & since 2022, the tournament has been a 64-team

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, with teams advancing from four sectionals to the semifinals and final in Fort Wayne. For 2013, as part of the celebration of the 75th NCAA Division I tournament, the championship games in both the NCAA Division II and Division III tournaments were played at Philips Arena, now known as

State Farm Arena State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena) is a multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Atlanta Hawks. It also served as home to the National Hockey Leag ...

, in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. From 2014 to 2018, the final game returned to Salem. Currently, the Final Four is held in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. For 2020 only, the national semifinals were to be played in Fort Wayne, but the championship game was to have returned to Atlanta, with the NCAA choosing to hold the championship games of both Divisions II and III as part of the festivities surrounding the men's Division I Final Four; however, the NCAA decided to abandon the tournament after the second round, 16 teams remaining. The NCAA also canceled the 2021 tournament after a majority of D-III conferences chose not to play due to continued COVID-19 issues. Of teams and conferences that played, D3Hoops' top two ranked teams, No. 1 Randolph-Macon College and No. 2

Trine University Trine University is a private university in Angola, Indiana. It was founded in 1884 and offers degrees in the arts and sciences, business, education, and engineering. Trine University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. History Tri ...

, opted to play a self-organised mythical national championship game. Randolph-Macon won, 69-55. Randolph-Macon is the most recent national champion, beating Elmhurst College 75-45 to win the 2022 championship.

Qualification

Since 2021–22, a total of 64 bids were intended to be available for the tournament: *44 automatic bids, awarded to the champions of all Division III conferences. *20 at-large bids. Changes from the 2020 tournament, ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are: * The American Collegiate Athletic Association merged into the

Capital Athletic Conference The Coast to Coast Athletic Conference (C2C; officially stylized as Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference), formerly named Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member i ...

to form the Coast to Coast Athletic Conference. * The

Atlantic East Conference The Atlantic East Conference is an NCAA Division III collegiate athletic conference in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. History Beginning play in July 2018, the league consists of seven private universities, each former members o ...

, which began play in 2018–19 with seven members that all sponsor men's basketball, will receive its first automatic bid in the 2022 tournament, assuming that it is held.

Conference tournaments

Schools in ''italics'' are, as of the current 2022–23 basketball season, no longer members of that specific conference.

Summary

*Source: ;Notes

Locations

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

1975–1976 *

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...

1977–1981 *

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

1982–1988 *

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...

1989–1992 *

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

1993–1995 *

1996-2018 (semifinals only in 2013) *

2013 (championship game only) *

2019, 2022–

Championships, by team

Schools in ''italics'' no longer compete in NCAA Division III.

Appearances, by team

* Programs with more than 20 appearances in the Division III tournament:

References

External links

Awards history through 2020-2021Archived

Coaching records through 2020-2021Archived

Attendance records through 2020-2021Archived
{{National Collegiate Athletic Association Recurring sporting events established in 1975