The 1998

NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament (officially styled as "Championship" instead of "Tournament") is a tournament to determine the NCAA Division III national champion. It has been held annually from 1975 to 2019 & since 2022, but no ...

was the 24th annual

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

to determine the national champions of

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) men's

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

collegiate basketball in the United States. The field contained forty-eight teams, a decrease of sixteen teams from the 1997 tournament. Each of these forty-eight programs were allocated to one of four sectionals of twelve teams. All sectional games were played on campus sites, while the national semifinals, third-place final, and championship finals were contested 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 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 combine ...

. Wisconsin–Platteville defeated

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...

, 69–56, in the final, clinching their third overall national title and third championship in seven seasons (

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

). It was also Hope's second defeat in the final in three years (

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

). The Pioneers (30–0) were coached by

Bo Ryan William Francis "Bo" Ryan Jr. (born December 20, 1947) is an American former college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball, Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team of the University of Wisconsin–Mad ...

; this was the third title at Platteville for the future

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

coach. Platteville were furthermore the first Division III team to finish a season undefeated since their own perfect season in 1995. Ben Hoffmann, also from Platteville, was named Most Outstanding Player.

Bracket

Top left sectional

Bottom left sectional

Top right sectional

Bottom right sectional

National finals

*Site:

References

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