2023 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament

The 2023 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament was a 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 was played in March 2023, following the 2022–23 season, concluding with the championship game on March 18, 2023.

2023 NCAA Division III
men's basketball tournament

Teams	64
Finals site	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Fort Wayne, Indiana
Champions	Christopher Newport (1st title, 1st title game, 3rd Final Four)
Runner-up	Mount Union (1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Semifinalists	UW–Whitewater (6th Final Four) Swarthmore (2nd Final Four)
Winning coach	John Krikorian (1st title)
MOP	Trey Barber (Christopher Newport)
NCAA Division III men's tournaments «2022 2024»

The national semifinal and championship rounds were held at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Christopher Newport won their first national championship, beating Mount Union 74–72 on a buzzer-beating layup by Trey Barber.

Tournament schedule and venues

 

[Interactive fullscreen map + nearby articles]

2023 first and second round host sites

First and second rounds

First and second round games were played at campus sites on March 3 and March 4.

On the basis of team strength and geography, these locations were chosen to host first and second round games in the 2023 tournament:

• Crenshaw Gymnasium, Ashland, Virginia (Host: Randolph–Macon College)
• Max Ziel Gymnasium, Oswego, New York (Host: State University of New York at Oswego)
• Horsburgh Gymnasium, Cleveland, Ohio (Host: Case Western Reserve University)
• Goldfarb Gymnasium, Baltimore, Maryland (Host: Johns Hopkins University)
• Esbjornson Gymnasium, Glassboro, New Jersey (Host: Rowan University)
• Kolf Sports Center, Oshkosh, Wisconsin (Host: University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh)
• McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex, Alliance, Ohio (Host: University of Mount Union)
• Washington University Field House, St. Louis, Missouri (Host: Washington University in St. Louis)
• Tarble Pavilion, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (Host: Swarthmore College)
• Spaulding Gymnasium, Keene, New Hampshire (Host: Keene State College)
• Stockton University Sports Center, Galloway Township, New Jersey (Host: Stockton University)
• Pepin Gymnasium, Middlebury, Vermont (Host: Middlebury College)
• Freeman Center, Newport News, Virginia (Host: Christopher Newport University)
• Mayborn Campus Center, Belton, Texas (Host: University of Mary Hardin–Baylor)
• O'Connell Athletic Center, West Hartford, Connecticut (Host: University of Saint Joseph)
• Chrouser Sports Complex, Wheaton, Illinois (Host: Wheaton College)

Third and fourth rounds

 

[Interactive fullscreen map + nearby articles]

2023 third and fourth round (blue) and Final Four (red) host sites

Third and fourth round games were played at campus sites on March 10 and March 11.

At the conclusion of the second round, the NCAA announced the following locations would host third and fourth round games.

• Crenshaw Gymnasium, Ashland, Virginia (Host: Randolph–Macon College)
• McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex, Alliance, Ohio (Host: University of Mount Union)
• Tarble Pavilion, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (Host: Swarthmore College)
• Freeman Center, Newport News, Virginia (Host: Christopher Newport University)

National Semifinals and Championship

The National Semifinals and Championship were played on March 16 and March 18.

• Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana (Host: Manchester University)

Fort Wayne hosted the Final Four for the third time, having previously hosted in 2019 and 2022. Fort Wayne was also scheduled to host the Final Four in 2020 and 2021, before those editions of the tournament were canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

Qualifying teams

A total of sixty-four bids were available for the tournament: 44 automatic bids—awarded to the champions of the forty-three NCAA-recognized Division III conference tournaments—and 20 at-large bids.

While this was the first season for the newly established Collegiate Conference of the South, its conference tournament champion was not eligible for an automatic bid until 2024.^[1]

This was also the final year that the Colonial States Athletic Conference and United East Conference received separate bids; the two conferences will merge ahead of the 2023–24 season, consolidating their bids into one, although the name and legacy of the combined conference has not yet been announced.^[2] It was also the final year for the New England Collegiate Conference as an all-sports league. After steady losses of membership in recent years, it had only four members in the 2022–23 season. All four would join other conferences for 2023–24 and beyond.

Automatic bids (44)

The following 44 teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2023 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's automatic bid (except for the UAA, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid).^[3]

Automatic bids
Conference	Team	Record (Conf.)	Appearance	Last bid
Allegheny Mountain	La Roche	20–7 (13–1)	4th	2020
American Rivers	Coe	16–12 (7–9)	3rd	1976
American Southwest	East Texas Baptist	23–5 (14–4)	2nd	2015
Atlantic East	Marymount	17–10 (10–2)	2nd	2000
Centennial	Swarthmore	24–3 (16–2)	6th	2022
CUNYAC	Baruch	22–5 (12–2)	7th	2022
Coast to Coast	Christopher Newport	24–3 (5–0)	26th	2022
CCIW	North Park	22–5 (13–3)	10th	1990
Colonial States	Wilson	19–8 (11–3)	2nd	2022
Commonwealth Coast	Nichols	23–5 (16–2)	6th	2022
Empire 8	St. John Fisher	21–7 (14–4)	18th	2020
Great Northeast	Albertus Magnus	19–9 (14–4)	8th	2019
Heartland	Anderson (IN)	18–9 (14–4)	2nd	2010
Landmark	Scranton	20–7 (10–4)	29th	2017
Liberty	St. Lawrence	19–7 (13–5)	14th	2017
Little East	Keene State	26–1 (16–0)	8th	2022
MAC Commonwealth	Widener	19–8 (11–5)	17th	2009
MAC Freedom	Arcadia	15–11 (9–7)	2nd	2019
MASCAC	Worcester State	22–5 (12–0)	3rd	1994
Michigan	Hope	19–9 (10–4)	29th	2022
Midwest	Illinois College	25–2 (15–1)	2nd	2003
Minnesota	Carleton	24–3 (17–3)	3rd	2010
NECC	Mitchell	23–4 (6–0)	4th	2022
NESCAC	Hamilton	19–8 (7–3)	12th	2019
NEWMAC	Babson	19–8 (10–4)	12th	2022
New Jersey	Rowan	22–5 (16–2)	15th	2022
North Atlantic	SUNY Delhi	20–8 (10–4)	1st	Never
North Coast	Wabash	21–7 (11–5)	7th	2022
Northern Athletics	St. Norbert	19–7 (14–3)	10th	2020
Northwest	Whitworth	18–9 (11–5)	16th	2022
Ohio	Mount Union	25–2 (16–2)	5th	2022
Old Dominion	Randolph–Macon	27–1 (16–0)	19th	2022
Presidents'	Chatham	17–11 (13–7)	2nd	2019
Skyline	Farmingdale State	21–7 (13–3)	7th	2019
Southern	Sewanee	19–9 (9–5)	6th	2019
SCIAC	Cal Lutheran	13–13 (8–8)	5th	2001
SCAC	Schreiner	15–13 (6–10)	2nd	2018
SLIAC	Fontbonne	16–11 (10–4)	5th	2009
SUNYAC	Oswego State	25–2 (17–1)	8th	2022
United East	Lancaster Bible	20–7 (15–1)	3rd	2018
UAA	Case Western Reserve	21–3 (11–3)	2nd	2022
Upper Midwest	Bethany Lutheran	23–4 (12–2)	3rd	2020
USA South	North Carolina Wesleyan	23–4 (13–1)	6th	2011
Wisconsin	UW–Whitewater	21–7 (9–5)	22nd	2017

At-large bids (20)

The following 20 teams were awarded qualification for the tournament field by the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Committee.^[3] 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.^[4]

At-large bids
Conference	Team	Record (Conf.)	Appearance	Last bid
UAA	Emory	17–8 (8–6)	11th	2022
Old Dominion	Hampden–Sydney	21–6 (14–2)	15th	2013
Ohio	John Carroll	22–4 (16–2)	16th	2018
Centennial	Johns Hopkins	23–4 (16–2)	14th	2022
American Southwest	Mary Hardin–Baylor	21–5 (16–2)	8th	2022
Coast to Coast	Mary Washington	19–8 (4–2)	3rd	2014
NESCAC	Middlebury	19–5 (7–3)	12th	2020
New Jersey	Montclair State	22–5 (15–3)	7th	2003
UAA	NYU	18–7 (7–7)	11th	2016
SCIAC	Pomona–Pitzer	20–6 (15–1)	15th	2022
UAA	Rochester	16–9 (6–8)	18th	2022
Great Northeast	St. Joseph (CT)	27–1 (18–0)	3rd	2022
SCAC	St. Thomas (TX)	23–3 (16–0)	1st	Never
New Jersey	Stockton	22–5 (15–3)	18th	2022
NESCAC	Tufts	19–7 (6–4)	7th	2020
Empire 8	Utica	22–4 (17–1)	2nd	2006
Wisconsin	UW–Oshkosh	21–6 (13–1)	12th	2022
UAA	Washington–St. Louis	19–6 (10–4)	24th	2022
CCIW	Wheaton (IL)	22–4 (14–2)	13th	2022
NESCAC	Williams	22–4 (7–3)	19th	2022

Tournament bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

Top-left - Ashland, Virginia

	First round March 3, 2023 Campus Sites					Second round March 4, 2023 Campus Sites					Third round March 10, 2023 Ashland, VA					Quarterfinals March 11, 2023 Ashland, VA
	Randolph–Macon		73
	Wilson		36
						Randolph–Macon		63
	Ashland, VA
						Scranton		41
	Scranton		65
	North Carolina Wesleyan		64
											Randolph–Macon		63
											Oswego State		74
	Oswego State		80
	Marymount		62
						Oswego State		66
	Oswego, NY
						John Carroll		61
	John Carroll		91
	Albertus Magnus		80
																Oswego State		74
																UW–Whitewater		77
	Case Western Reserve		82
	Arcadia		76
						Case Western Reserve		75
	Cleveland, OH
						UW–Whitewater		78
	UW–Whitewater		90
	Wabash		83
											UW–Whitewater		83*
											Johns Hopkins		82
	Johns Hopkins		89
	Mitchell		71
						Johns Hopkins		81
	Baltimore, MD
						Hamilton		71
	Hamilton		84
	Montclair State		75

Bottom-left - Alliance, Ohio

	First round March 3, 2023 Campus Sites					Second round March 4, 2023 Campus Sites					Third round March 10, 2023 Alliance, OH					Quarterfinals March 11, 2023 Alliance, OH
	Rowan		83
	Cal Lutheran		77
						Rowan		83
	Glassboro, NJ
						Utica		72
	Utica		72
	Babson		60
											Rowan		72
											UW–Oshkosh		91
	UW–Oshkosh		86
	Fontbonne		58
						UW–Oshkosh		51
	Oshkosh, WI
						Hope		50
	Hope		79
	Bethany Lutheran		65
																UW–Oshkosh		67
																Mount Union		78
	Mount Union		73
	Anderson (IN)		65
						Mount Union		90
	Alliance, OH
						Lancaster Bible		66
	NYU		64
	Lancaster Bible		67
											Mount Union		102
											North Park		85
	Washington–St. Louis		69
	Coe		48
						Washington–St. Louis		69
	St. Louis, MO
						North Park		72
	North Park		88
	Sewanee		69

Top-right - Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

	First round March 3, 2023 Campus Sites					Second round March 4, 2023 Campus Sites					Third round March 10, 2023 Swarthmore, PA					Quarterfinals March 11, 2023 Swarthmore, PA
	Swarthmore		93
	SUNY Delhi		64
						Swarthmore		101
	Swarthmore, PA
						St. John Fisher		78
	St. John Fisher		74
	Whitworth		59
											Swarthmore		82
											Keene State		58
	Keene State		89
	Baruch		78
						Keene State		77
	Keene, NH
						Tufts		72
	Tufts		78
	Widener		66
																Swarthmore		78
																Nichols		77
	Stockton		86
	La Roche		70
						Stockton		68
	Galloway, NJ
						Mary Washington		65
	Mary Washington		69
	St. Lawrence		42
											Stockton		68
											Nichols		86
	Middlebury		76
	Worcester State		51
						Middlebury		66
	Middlebury, VT
						Nichols		73
	Rochester		71
	Nichols		74

Bottom-right - Newport News, Virginia

	First round March 3, 2023 Campus Sites					Second round March 4, 2023 Campus Sites					Third round March 10, 2023 Newport News, VA					Quarterfinals March 11, 2023 Newport News, VA
	Christopher Newport		61
	Farmingdale State		60
						Christopher Newport		72
	Hampden Sydney, VA^[a]
						Hampden–Sydney		59
	Hampden–Sydney		63
	Emory		59
											Christopher Newport		72
											Mary Hardin–Baylor		60
	Mary Hardin–Baylor		81
	Schreiner		78
						Mary Hardin–Baylor		72
	Belton, TX
						East Texas Baptist		70
	St. Thomas (TX)		75
	East Texas Baptist		79
																Christopher Newport		76
																Wheaton (IL)		70
	St. Joseph (CT)		76
	Chatham		53
						St. Joseph (CT)		75
	West Hartford, CT
						Williams		54
	Pomona–Pitzer		53
	Williams		78
											St. Joseph (CT)		67
											Wheaton (IL)		74
	Wheaton (IL)		79
	Illinois College		66
						Wheaton (IL)		75
	Wheaton, IL
						St. Norbert		71
	Carleton		77
	St. Norbert		81

1. Due to Christopher Newport's women's team hosting first and second round games in the 2023 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament, this pod is hosted by Hampden–Sydney instead.

Final Four

	National semifinal March 16 Fort Wayne, IN					National championship March 18 Fort Wayne, IN
	UW–Whitewater		79
	Mount Union		83
						Mount Union		72
						Christopher Newport		74
	Swarthmore		66
	Christopher Newport		69

Record by conference

Conference	Record	Win %	R64	R32	S16	E8	F4	CG	NC
Coast to Coast	7–1	.875	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Ohio	6–2	.750	2	2	1	1	1	1
Wisconsin	7–2	.778	2	2	2	2	1
Centennial	6–2	.750	2	2	2	1	1
Commonwealth Coast	3–1	.750	1	1	1	1
SUNYAC	3–1	.750	1	1	1	1
CCIW	5–2	.714	2	2	2	1
Little East	2–1	.667	1	1	1
American Southwest	3–2	.600	2	2	1
Old Dominion	3–2	.600	2	2	1
New Jersey	4–3	.571	3	2	2
Great Northeast	2–2	.500	2	1	1
NESCAC	4–4	.500	4	4
Empire 8	2–2	.500	2	2
Landmark	1–1	.500	1	1
Michigan	1–1	.500	1	1
Northern Athletics	1–1	.500	1	1
United East	1–1	.500	1	1
UAA	2–5	.286	5	2
Southern Collegiate	0–2	.000	2
SCIAC	0–2	.000	2

• The R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the round of 64 (first round), round of 32 (second round), Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, and national champion, respectively.
• The Allegheny Mountain, American Rivers, Atlantic East, CUNYAC, Colonial States, Heartland, Liberty, MAC Commonwealth, MAC Freedom, MASCAC, Midwest, Minnesota, NECC, NEWMAC, North Atlantic, North Coast, Northwest, Presidents', Skyline, SAA, SLIAC, Upper Midwest, and USA South each had one representative, eliminated in the Round of 64 with a record of 0–1.

See also

• 2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2023 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 2023 NAIA men's basketball tournament
• 2023 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament

References

1. Coleman, Pat; McHugh, Dave (February 16, 2022). "USA South Athletic Conference to split in two". D3Sports. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
2. "CSAC AND UNITED EAST CONFERENCE - INTENT TO MERGE". csacsports.com. Colonial States Athletic Conference. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
3. "2022-23 men's basketball conference tourney tracker". D3Sports.com. February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
4. "2022-23 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Pre-Championship Manual" (PDF). NCAA. August 1, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2023.