The NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Committee announced today the field of 64 teams for the 2026 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship.
Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 43 conference champions. The remaining 21 spots are selected from those teams in conferences with automatic bids that did not win their conference’s AQ. The teams are geographically paired, whenever possible.
16 sites will host four teams each for first- and second-round competition March 6-7. Second-round winners will advance to one of eight third-round sites March 13-14. Both weekends’ games will be played on campuses of competing institutions. The tournament then shifts to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN, for the quarterfinals March 19, and semifinals March 21. Semifinal winners advance to the championship game, which will be staged at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on April 5.
Conferences receiving an automatic qualification are as follows:
| Conference | Automatic Qualifier Team |
|---|---|
| Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference | Penn State-Behrend (20-7) |
| American Rivers Conference | Loras (20-8) |
| American Southwest Conference | Mary Hardin-Baylor (20-7) |
| Atlantic East Conference | Neumann (19-9) |
| Centennial Conference | Gettysburg (18-9) |
| City University of New York Athletic Conference | Lehman (21-6) |
| Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference | Mary Washington (24-3) |
| College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin | Illinois Wesleyan (23-4) |
| Collegiate Conference of the South | Belhaven (16-12) |
| Conference of New England | Endicott (26-1) |
| Empire 8 | Keuka (15-13) |
| Great Northeast Athletic Conference | Saint Joseph’s (Maine) (20-8) |
| Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference | Transylvania (20-8) |
| Landmark Conference | Susquehanna (16-12) |
| Liberty | League Vassar (20-8) |
| Little East Conference | Western Connecticut State University (21-6) |
| Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference | Worcester State (15-12) |
| Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Hope (18-9) |
| Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth | Hood (24-3) |
| Middle Atlantic Conference | Freedom Stevens (18-9) |
| Midwest Conference | Grinnell (22-3) |
| Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Gustavus Adolphus (25-2) |
| New England Small College Athletic Conference | Trinity (Connecticut) (25-2) |
| New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference | Babson (21-6) |
| New Jersey Athletic Conference | The College of New Jersey (21-6) |
| North Atlantic Conference | Maine-Farmington (22-5) |
| North Coast Athletic Conference John | Carroll (22-6) |
| Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference | Aurora (23-5) |
| Northwest Conference | Whitworth (22-5) |
| Ohio Athletic Conference | Heidelberg (16-12) |
| Old Dominion Athletic Conference | Roanoke (22-6) |
| Presidents’ Athletic Conference | Washington and Jefferson (22-6) |
| Skyline Conference | Yeshiva (20-8) |
| Southern Athletic Association | Rhodes (23-4) |
| Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Redlands (23-4) |
| Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference | St. Thomas (Texas) (26-1) |
| St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Mississippi University for Women (17-10) |
| State University of New York Athletic Conference | SUNY Cortland (23-4) |
| United East Conference | Penn State Harrisburg (18-10) |
| University Athletic Association | Emory (22-3) |
| Upper Midwest Athletic Conference | Bethany Lutheran (16-11) |
| USA South Athletic Conference | North Carolina Wesleyan (21-6) |
| Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Wisconsin-La Crosse (22-6) |
At Large Teams
Amherst (18-7)
Bates (18-8)
Catholic (19-7)
Christopher Newport (21-5)
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (22-4)
Franklin & Marshall (22-5)
Johns Hopkins (20-7)
Montclair State (25-2)
Mount Union (23-3)
New York University (17-8)
Otterbein (22-5)
Randolph-Macon (25-3)
Trinity (Texas) (21-6)
Tufts (20-5)
University of Chicago (21-4)
Washington University in St. Louis (18-7)
Wesleyan (Connecticut) (21-6)
Wisconsin-Platteville (18-9)
Wisconsin-Stevens Point (19-7)
Wisconsin-Whitewater (20-7)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (21-5)
For more information about the men’s basketball championship, log on to krikyasport.com.
