Current season, competition or edition: 2023 NAIA men's basketball tournament | |
 | |
| Formerly | National college basketball tournament (1937–1981) |
|---|---|
| Sport | College basketball |
| Founded | 1937 |
| Founder | James Naismith |
| Motto | Passion. Tradition. History. |
| Divisions | 1 2 (1992–2020) |
| No. of teams | 64 (2022–present) 32 (1992–2020) 48 (2021) |
| Venue(s) | Municipal Auditorium (1937–1974, 2002–present) Kemper Arena (1975–1993) Mabee Center (1994–1998) Reynolds Center (1999) Tulsa Convention Center (2000–2001) Montgomery Fieldhouse (1992–1998) Idaho Center (1998–1999) Keeter Gymnasium (2000–2017) Sanford Pentagon (2018–2020) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Freed–Hardeman |
| Most titles | D-I: Oklahoma City (6) D-II: Bethel (IN), Cornerstone, Indiana Wesleyan, and Oregon Tech (3 each) |
| TV partner(s) | CBS College Sports Network (national) ESPN 3 (national) TWC Sports Channel (Kansas City area) Victory Sports Network (national) |
| Related competitions | NAIA women's basketball championship |
| Official website | naia.org/sports/mbkb |
The NAIA men's basketball national championship has been held annually by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics since 1937 to determine the national champion of men's college basketball among its members in the United States and Canada.
The tournament was established by James Naismith to crown a national champion for smaller colleges and universities and has been held every year since, with the exceptions of 1944 (due to World War II) and 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Since 2022, the tournament has featured 64 teams, with teams beginning play at one of sixteen regional sites with the winners of those regionals playing at the final venue.[1][2]
From 1992 to 2020, the NAIA sponsored two championships, one for its Division I members and another for those in its Division II. The Division I tournament was played in Kansas City, Missouri while the Division II tournament moved locations several times (it finished, in 2020, at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota). During this time, the NAIA tournaments featured 32 teams with the entire events contested at one location in one week (rather than multiple locations over a series of weekends).
After the 2020 tournaments were cancelled, however, they were merged back into a single tournament, which initially featured 48 teams in 2021 before expanding to 64 teams in 2022.
All tournament games can be watched online through the official NAIA provider StretchInternet.[3]
- ^ "2021 Men's Basketball National Championship Opening Round Field Announced". NAIA.org. March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ "2022 Men's Basketball National Championship Opening Round Field Announced". NAIA.org. March 3, 2022. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ "NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament Viewing Sources". SBit. February 26, 2023.