NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
The NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament is an annual championship tournament for colleges and universities that are members of NCAA Division II, a grouping of schools in the United States that are generally smaller than the higher-profile institutions of Division I. The tournament, originally known as the NCAA College Division Basketball Championship, was established in 1957, immediately after the NCAA subdivided its member schools into the University Division and College Division. It became the Division II championship in 1974, when the NCAA split the College Division into the limited-scholarship Division II and the non-scholarship Division III, and added the "Men's" designation in 1982 when the NCAA began sponsoring a Division II women's championship.
Like all other NCAA basketball divisions for men and women, the champion is decided in a single-elimination tournament. The Division II tournament has 64 teams. The Division II tournaments for men and women differ in a major respect from those in Divisions I and III. The finals of both Division II tournaments consist of eight teams, instead of the four in the other two divisions. The eight survivors of regional play meet in the Elite Eight at a predetermined site.
Qualification
As of 2017, a total of 64 bids are available for each tournament: 24 automatic bids and 40 at-large bids.The sixty-four bids are allocated evenly among the eight NCAA-designated regions, each of which contains three of the twenty-four Division II conferences that sponsor men's basketball. Each region consists of three automatic qualifiers and five at-large bids.
Conference tournaments
- The Heartland Conference disbanded after the 2018–19 season, with seven of its nine members moving to the Lone Star Conference and the other two joining the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Its tournament was discontinued.
Results
- Source:
Records and statistics
Championships by school
Team appearances
Former Division II champions now in Division I
Source:| School | Championship | Year moved | Current Conference |
| South Dakota | 1958 | 2006 | The Summit League |
| Evansville | 1959 • 1960 • 1964 • 1965 • 1971 | 1978 | Missouri Valley Conference |
| Mount St. Mary's | 1962 | 1989 | Northeast Conference |
| South Dakota State | 1963 | 2005 | The Summit League |
| Morgan State | 1974 | 1985 | Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference |
| Old Dominion | 1975 | 1977 | Conference USA |
| Chattanooga | 1977 | 1978 | Southern Conference |
| Wright State | 1983 | 1988 | Horizon League |
| Jacksonville State | 1985 | 1996 | Ohio Valley Conference |
| Sacred Heart | 1986 | 1999 | Northeast Conference |
| UMass Lowell | 1988 | 2013 | America East Conference |
| North Carolina Central | 1989 | 2008 | Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference |
| CSU Bakersfield | 1993 • 1994 • 1997 | 2007 | Western Athletic Conference |
| UC Davis | 1998 | 2004 | Big West Conference |
| Kennesaw State | 2004 | 2006 | Atlantic Sun Conference |
| North Alabama | 1979 • 1991 | 2018 | Atlantic Sun Conference |
Former Division II champions now in Division III
Source:| School | Championship | Year moved | Current Conference |
| Wheaton | 1957 | 1973 | College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin |
| Wittenberg | 1961 | 1973 | North Coast Athletic Conference |
| Roanoke | 1972 | 1976 | Old Dominion Athletic Conference |
| Puget Sound | 1976 | 1996 | Northwest Conference |