 | |||||
| Teams | 64 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finals site | Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Fort Wayne, Indiana | ||||
| Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |||||
| |||||
The 2021 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament was to have been the tournament hosted by the NCAA to determine the national champion of Division III men's collegiate basketball in the United States for the 2021–22 NCAA Division III men's basketball season.[1] However, the tournament was cancelled due to an insufficient number of teams participating in Division III. Only 48.6% of schools participated in men's basketball when 60% was required as schools were in the midst of reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic the previous March.
The championship rounds were scheduled to be played at the Allen County War Memorial ColiseuminFort Wayne, Indiana.
Despite not having an official championship, D3Sports.com organised a weekly poll for the eight weeks of play. On March 13, 2021, the Trine Thunder (17-0), which was No. 2 in the D3sports.com poll, traveled to the Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets (11-0), No. 1 in the same poll, for a game billed as a "postseason bowl game" by organisers. Trine won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular season and tournament championships, and Randolph-Macon only played three games in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament regular season, but won the tournament championship.
The two teams agreed to the game, which Brooks Miller, head coach of Trine specially said in a statement, "We are extremely excited about this opportunity for our student-athletes to continue our season by competing against the #1 team in the country. I want to thank Coach Merkel at Randolph Macon College for agreeing to make a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup possible to help determine a D3hoops.com poll champion as well as our leadership here at Trine.”
Randolph-Macon won the game, 69-55, and was the final poll's top-ranked team.[2]
March 14, 2021 |
| Trine Thunder 55, Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets 69 | ||
| Scoring by half: 24-36, 31-33 | ||
| Pts: Nick Bowman 15 Rebs: Connor Jones 6 Asts: Aiden Warzecha 5 |
Pts: Miles Mallory 16 Rebs: Miles Mallory, Buzz Anthony, Josh Talbery 6 Asts: Josh Talbert 6 | |
Crenshaw Gymnasium, Ashland, Virginia |
The following season, Randolph-Macon repeated their title in 2022, but this time as an official national champion.
