2018 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament

The 2018 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament was the 44th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division III college basketball in the United States. Featuring sixty-four teams, it began on March 2, 2018, following the 2017–18 season, and concluded with the championship game on March 17, 2018.

2018 NCAA Division III
men's basketball tournament

Teams	64
Finals site	Salem Civic Center Salem, Virginia
Champions	Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves (1st title)
Runner-up	Wisconsin–Oshkosh Titans (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Ramapo Roadrunners (2nd Final Four) Springfield Pride (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Dale Wellman (1st title)
MOP	Cooper Cook (Nebraska Wesleyan)
NCAA Division III men's tournaments «2017 2019»

Once again, the national semifinal and championship rounds were held at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia.

Nebraska Wesleyan defeated Wisconsin–Oshkosh in the final, 78–72, to win their first national title. Cooper Cook was voted the MVP.

Qualifying teams

Automatic bids (43)

The following 43 teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2018 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's automatic bid (except for the UAA, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).^[1]

Automatic bids
Conference	Team	Record (Conf.)	Appearance	Last bid
Allegheny Mountain	La Roche	21–6 (16–2)	2nd	2011
American Southwest	Sul Ross State	22–6 (14–3)	2nd	2004
Capital	York (PA)	23–4 (14–4)	5th	2012
Centennial	Johns Hopkins	23–4 (15–3)	11th	2015
CUNYAC	Staten Island	17–11 (12–4)	13th	2017
CCIW	Augustana (IL)	22–5 (12–4)	17th	2017
Colonial States	Cabrini	24–3 (16–2)	14th	2017
Commonwealth Coast	Nichols	25–3 (16–2)	2nd	2017
Empire 8	Nazareth	20–7 (13–3)	8th	2010
Great Northeast	Johnson & Wales (RI)	19–9 (13–3)	4th	2016
Heartland	Hanover	22–6 (14–4)	8th	2017
Iowa	Nebraska Wesleyan	24–3 (13–3)	15th	2001
Landmark	Moravian	20–7 (10–4)	3rd	2008
Liberty	Union (NY)	18–8 (12–6)	5th	2017
Little East	Eastern Connecticut	25–3 (13–1)	8th	2017
MAC Commonwealth	Lebanon Valley	18–9 (10–6)	7th	2005
MAC Freedom	Misericordia	17–10 (10–4)	4th	2017
MASCAC	Bridgewater State	18–9 (9–3)	8th	2014
Michigan	Hope	18–9 (10–4)	27th	2017
Midwest	Monmouth (IL)	20–7 (15–3)	5th	1990
Minnesota	Augsburg	21–7 (13–7)	4th	1999
NECC	Southern Vermont	22–5 (12–2)	3rd	2016
NESCAC	Williams	22–5 (7–3)	16th	2017
NEWMAC	MIT	22–5 (10–4)	8th	2017
New Jersey	Ramapo	21–6 (15–3)	8th	2017
North Atlantic	New England College	21–6 (15–3)	1st	Never
North Coast	Wittenberg	26–2 (16–2)	28th	2014
NEAC	Lancaster Bible	23–5 (15–1)	2nd	2016
Northern Athletics	Aurora	19–8 (16–4)	10th	2013
Northwest	Whitworth	24–3 (14–2)	13th	2017
Ohio	John Carroll	23–5 (14–4)	15th	2016
Old Dominion	Emory and Henry	22–6 (11–5)	6th	1993
Presidents'	Thomas More	23–5 (16–2)	3rd	2017
Skyline	Yeshiva	18–10 (13–7)	1st	Never
Southern	Berry	11–17 (3–11)	1st	Never
SCIAC	Claremont–Mudd–Scripps	19–7 (15–1)	14th	2017
SCAC	Schreiner	15–12 (10–4)	1st	Never
SLIAC	Greenville	19–8 (14–4)	1st	Never
SUNYAC	Plattsburgh State	22–4 (17–1)	10th	2016
UAA	Washington–St. Louis	22–3 (13–1)	21st	2017
Upper Midwest	Bethany Lutheran	19–8 (14–3)	1st	Never
USA South	Maryville (TN)	22–6 (14–2)	19th	2012
Wisconsin	UW–Stevens Point	19–8 (11–3)	15th	2015

At-large bids (21)

The following 21 teams were awarded qualification for the 2018 NCAA field by the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Committee.^[1] The committee evaluated teams on the basis of their win-loss percentage, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, results against common opponents, and results against teams included in the NCAA's final regional rankings.^[2]

At-large bids
Conference	Team	Record (Conf.)	Appearance	Last bid
MAC Commonwealth	Albright	20–6 (12–4)	6th	2010
Capital	Christopher Newport	21–6 (14–4)	22nd	2017
UAA	Emory	21–4 (12–2)	7th	2017
Centennial	Franklin & Marshall	20–6 (14–4)	25th	2016
NESCAC	Hamilton	22–4 (7–3)	10th	2006
CCIW	Illinois Wesleyan	19–7 (12–4)	25th	2015
American Southwest	LeTourneau	23–4 (16–2)	1st	Never
Ohio	Marietta	21–6 (14–4)	7th	2017
NESCAC	Middlebury	19–6 (7–3)	9th	2017
New Jersey	New Jersey City	19–7 (13–5)	18th	2017
CCIW	North Central (IL)	19–8 (11–5)	10th	2017
Minnesota	St. John's (MN)	23–3 (19–1)	9th	2007
Minnesota	St. Olaf	19–7 (15–5)	4th	2016
NEWMAC	Springfield	18–8 (12–2)	9th	2015
SUNYAC	SUNY Brockport	19–7 (14–4)	11th	2014
Centennial	Swarthmore	22–5 (15–3)	2nd	2017
Wisconsin	UW–Oshkosh	20–7 (9–5)	8th	2017
Wisconsin	UW–Platteville	22–4 (12–2)	11th	2009
NESCAC	Wesleyan (CT)	21–6 (7–3)	3rd	2017
Northwest	Whitman	26–1 (16–0)	3rd	2017
North Coast	Wooster	21–6 (14–4)	27th	2017

Tournament bracket

Top-left - Mahwah, New Jersey

	First round March 2 Campus Sites					Second round March 3 Campus Sites					Sectional Semifinals March 9 Mahwah, NJ					Sectional Final March 10 Mahwah, NJ
	Williams		56
	Bridgewater State		45
						Williams		62
	Williamstown, MA
						Ramapo		66
	Ramapo		86
	Moravian		61
											Ramapo		72
											Franklin & Marshall		62
	Christopher Newport		68
	Lancaster Bible		65
						Christopher Newport		52
	Newport News, VA
						Franklin & Marshall		66
	Emory & Henry		59
	Franklin & Marshall		73
																Ramapo		68
																MIT		66
	Eastern Connecticut		75
	Johnson & Wales (RI)		69
						Eastern Connecticut		58
	Windham, CT
						Middlebury		83
	Middlebury		83
	Lebanon Valley		63
											Middlebury		76
											MIT		79
	Johns Hopkins		52
	La Roche		39
						Johns Hopkins		54
	Baltimore, MD
						MIT		62
	MIT		81
	SUNY Brockport		67

Bottom-left - Rock Island, Illinois

	First round March 2 Campus Sites					Second round March 3 Campus Sites					Sectional Semifinals March 9 Rock Island, IL					Sectional Final March 10 Rock Island, IL
	Wittenberg		91
	Misericordia		61
						Wittenberg		60
	Springfield, OH
						UW–Oshkosh		68
	Marietta		67
	UW–Oshkosh		74
											UW–Oshkosh		93
											Emory		72
	Emory		91
	Berry		61
						Emory		83
	Atlanta, GA
						LeTourneau		82
	LeTourneau		85
	Hanover		77
																UW–Oshkosh		95
																Augustana (IL)		88
	Augustana (IL)		123
	Greenville		111
						Augustana (IL)		95
	Rock Island, IL
						Hope		83
	Augsburg		91
	Hope		93
											Augustana (IL)		86
											John Carroll		78
	John Carroll		95
	Thomas More		72
						John Carroll		91
	University Heights, OH
						Wooster		85
	Wooster		72
	Illinois Wesleyan		68

Top-right - Platteville, Wisconsin

	First round March 2 Campus Sites					Second round March 3 Campus Sites					Sectional Semifinals March 9 Platteville, WI					Sectional Final March 10 Platteville, WI
	Whitman		87
	Schreiner		77
						Whitman		89
	Walla Walla, WA
						Claremont–Mudd–Scripps		84
	Whitworth		82
	Claremont–Mudd–Scripps		83
											Whitman		65
											UW–Stevens Point		55
	St. John's (MN)		92
	Bethany Lutheran		102
						Bethany Lutheran		44
	Collegeville, MN
						UW–Stevens Point		82
	UW–Stevens Point		72
	North Central (IL)		55
																Whitman		97
																Nebraska Wesleyan		130
	Washington–St. Louis		80
	Aurora		82
						Aurora		61
	St. Louis, MO
						Nebraska Wesleyan		82
	Nebraska Wesleyan		94
	Maryville (TN)		70
											Nebraska Wesleyan		79
											UW–Platteville		78
	UW–Platteville		91
	Monmouth (IL)		76
						UW–Platteville		74
	Platteville, WI
						St. Olaf		68
	Sul Ross State		75
	St. Olaf		88

Bottom-right - Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

	First round March 2 Campus Sites					Second round March 3 Campus Sites					Sectional Semifinals March 9 Swarthmore, PA					Sectional Final March 10 Swarthmore, PA
	Wesleyan (CT)		101
	Southern Vermont		71
						Wesleyan (CT)		75
	Middletown, CT
						Swarthmore		97
	Swarthmore		90
	New England College		63
											Swarthmore		93
											Plattsburgh State		63
	Plattsburgh State		103
	Nichols		86
						Plattsburgh State		87
	Plattsburgh, NY
						Union (NY)		75
	New Jersey City		70
	Union (NY)		75
																Swarthmore		62
																Springfield		72
	York (PA)		81
	Yeshiva		67
						York (PA)		66
	York, PA
						Hamilton		69
	Hamilton		86
	Nazareth		72
											Hamilton		90
											Springfield		92
	Cabrini		88
	Staten Island		86
						Cabrini		88
	Radnor, PA
						Springfield		96
	Albright		86
	Springfield		88

Final Four

	National semifinal March 16					National championship March 17
	Ramapo		57
	UW–Oshkosh		73
						UW–Oshkosh		72
	Salem, VA
						Nebraska Wesleyan		78
	Nebraska Wesleyan		90
	Springfield		78

See also

• 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2018 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 2018 National Invitation Tournament
• 2018 Women's National Invitation Tournament
• 2018 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2018 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 2018 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament

References

1. "Who's in the men's tournament?". D3Sports.com. February 24, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
2. "2017-18 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Pre-Championship Manual" (PDF). NCAA. October 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.