The NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament (officially styled by the NCAA as a "Championship" instead of a "Tournament") is an annual championship tournament for colleges and universities that are members of

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

, a grouping of schools in the United States (plus one school in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

) that are generally smaller than the higher-profile institutions of Division I. The tournament, originally known as the NCAA College Division Basketball Championship, was established in 1957, immediately after the NCAA subdivided its member schools into the University Division (today's Division I) and College Division. It became the Division II championship in 1974, when the NCAA split the College Division into the limited-

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

Division II and the non-scholarship Division III, and added the "Men's" designation in 1982 when the NCAA began sponsoring a Division II women's championship. Like all other NCAA basketball divisions for men and women, the champion is decided in a single-elimination tournament. The Division II tournament normally involves 64 teams. The Division II tournaments for men and women differ in a major respect from those in Divisions I and III. The finals of both Division II tournaments consist of eight teams, instead of the four in the other two divisions. The eight survivors of regional play meet in the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

at a predetermined site.

Qualification

A total of 64 bids are normally available for each tournament: 23 automatic bids (awarded to the champion of each Division II all-sports conference) and 41 at-large bids. 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 identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

issues, the 2020 tournament was canceled, and the 2021 tournament was reduced to 48 teams when nine all-sports conferences chose not to compete in men's basketball in 2020–21. The bids are allocated evenly among the eight NCAA-designated regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast, and West), all but one of which contain three of the 23 Division II conferences that sponsor men's basketball. The South Central region contains only two conferences. Each regional tournament involves an appropriate number of automatic qualifiers (teams that won their respective conference tournaments), with the remaining participants entering via at-large bids (which are awarded regardless of conference affiliation).

Conference tournaments

* The

Heartland Conference The Heartland Conference was a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level, which was founded in 1999. The majority of members were in Texas, with additional members in ...

disbanded after the 2018–19 season, with seven of its nine members moving to the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in T ...

and the other two joining the

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Its fourteen me ...

. Its

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

was discontinued.

Results

*Source:

Records and statistics

Championships by school

Team appearances

Former Division II champions now in Division I

''Source:''

Former Division II champions now in Division III

''Source:''

Statistical Leaders

* NCAA Division II season scoring leaders

Broadcasting

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

holds rights to the semi-final and final rounds of the Division II tournament, with the semi-final games broadcast on

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known ...

and the final on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

(covered as part of the ''

NCAA March Madness The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

'' package). In 2015, CBS Sports reached a long-term deal to continue broadcasting the Division II men's semi-final on CBS Sports Network through 2024.

References

External links

Awards history through 2020-2021Archived

Coaching records through 2020-2021Archived

Attendance records through 2020-2021Archived
{{DEFAULTSORT:NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship Recurring sporting events established in 1957