SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – (Schedule| Bracket) The 27th annual NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship, presented by Cypress Risk Management, tips off tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Sanford Pentagon. The single-elimination event runs through the championship final on March 13.
The first 30 games of the national championship will be broadcast live on www.NAIANetwork.com – the NAIA’s official video platform. The championship final is distributed on ESPN3 for the fifth-straight season on March 13 at 6 p.m.
No. 2 St. Thomas (Fla.) and No 7 Michigan-Dearborn – out of the Naismith Bracket – open the action tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. The Bobcats (22-7) are The Sun Conference regular-season champions, while Michigan-Dearborn (21-12) won the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament title.
This year’s field consists of 22 automatic berths and 10 at-large spots. Automatic qualification was given to conference regular-season champions, regular-season runners-up, tournament champions or tournament runners-up depending on the league. At-large teams were determined by using the final regular-season Coaches’ Top 25 Poll.
Overall No. 1 seed IU East (Ind.) takes to the court tomorrow at noon against No. 8 Voorhees (S.C.). The Red Wolves carry an NAIA-best 25-game winning streak into the championship and a 31-2 record.
Defending national champion Union (Ky.) enters the event looking to become only the second team in Division II men’s basketball history to win back-to-back national titles. Bethel (Ind.) accomplished the feat in 1997 and 1998.
The Bulldogs, whose first round opponent is No. 6 Marian (Ind.) on Thursday at 9:15 p.m., have won 13 of their last 14 games, including a 73-69 victory over Truett McConnell (Ga.) in the Appalachian Athletic Conference title game.
Sixteen teams return to the championship from the 2017 field, including all of last year’s Fab Four squads – Bellevue (Neb.), Cornerstone (Mich.), Indiana Wesleyan and Union.
Antelope Valley (Calif.), Governors State (Ill.), Michigan-Dearborn, Roosevelt (Ill.), Stillman (Ala.) and Voorhees are all making their first-ever trip to the national championship.
The Crossroads League and the Great Plains Athletic Conference each boast four teams in the field, which is the most among the 12 Division II conferences.
For more information on the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship, click here.