Current season, competition or edition: 2024 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament | |
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| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1957 |
| No. of teams | 64 (reduced to 48 for 2021 only) |
| Country | NCAA Division II (USA) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Minnesota State (1st title) (2024) |
| Most titles | Kentucky Wesleyan (8 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | CBS (Finals) CBS Sports Network (Semifinals) |
| Official website | NCAA.com |
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, a grouping of schools in the United States (plus one schoolinCanada) that are generally smaller than the higher-profile institutions grouped in 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 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 at a predetermined site.
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 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).
Schools in italics are, as of the current 2023–24 Division II basketball season, no longer members of that specific conference.
WWU
Puget
Sound
UC Davis
Cal Poly Pomona
Augustana
SDSU
South Dakota
FHSU
Northeastern
State
KSU
JSU
Chatt.
Barton
NCCU
WSSU
Findlay
ODU
Ferris
State
Drury
Wheaton
UMass
Lowell
SHU
Jefferson
Cheyney
UDC
Morgan
Roa.
MSMU
So. Ind.
Wright
Witt.
Bell.
Florida Southern
Nova Southeastern
Minnesota State
CMU
Winona
State
Metro
State
No. Ala.
VUU
CSUB
NW Missouri
Evans.
Ky. Wes.
8, 
5, 
4, 
3, 
2, 
1
Source:[10]
| School | Championship(s) | Year moved | Current Conference |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | 1958 | 2006 | The Summit League |
| Evansville | 1959 • 1960 • 1964 • 1965 • 1971 | 1977 | Missouri Valley Conference |
| Mount St. Mary's | 1962 | 1989 | Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference |
| South Dakota State | 1963 | 2005 | The Summit League |
| Morgan State | 1974 | 1985 | Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference |
| Old Dominion | 1975 | 1976 | Sun Belt Conference |
| Chattanooga | 1977 | 1977 | Southern Conference |
| North Alabama | 1979 • 1991 | 2018 | Atlantic Sun Conference |
| Wright State | 1983 | 1988 | Horizon League |
| Jacksonville State | 1985 | 1996 | Conference USA |
| Sacred Heart | 1986 | 1999 | Northeast Conference |
| UMass Lowell | 1988 | 2013 | America East Conference |
| North Carolina Central | 1989 | 2008 | Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference |
| Bakersfield | 1993 • 1994 • 1997 | 2007 | Big West Conference |
| Southern Indiana | 1995 | 2022 | Ohio Valley Conference |
| UC Davis | 1998 | 2004 | Big West Conference |
| Kennesaw State | 2004 | 2006 | Atlantic Sun Conference (Conference USA in 2024–25) |
| Bellarmine | 2011 | 2020 | Atlantic Sun Conference |
Source:[11]
| School | Championship(s) | Year moved | Current Conference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheaton (IL) | 1957 | 1974 | College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin |
| Wittenberg | 1961 | 1974 | North Coast Athletic Conference |
| Roanoke | 1972 | 1976 | Old Dominion Athletic Conference |
| Puget Sound | 1976 | 1996 | Northwest Conference |
CBS Sports holds rights to the semi-final and final rounds of the Division II tournament, with the semi-final games broadcast on CBS Sports Network and the final on CBS (covered as part of the NCAA March Madness 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.[12]
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