Madonna and Indiana Tech set to compete in the NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - (NAIA Release)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - [Bracket | First and Second Round Schedule | Watch Live] The 2026 NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament Field has been announced. 64 teams will open play in the NAIA Men's Basketball First Round presented by Ballogy on March 13 at 16 host sites around the country. The first 32 winners will then play on March 14 in the Second Round, with a trip to the historic Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo., at stake, where the Round of 16 will tip off on March 19.
The 16 First and Second Round host sites were announced earlier this week on NAIA.org. Among those host sites, 10 received an auto bid through their conference; the remaining six earned an at-large bid into the tournament.
The field contains 35 automatic qualifiers that were determined by each conference; the remaining 29 spots in the field were decided by the Men's Basketball National Selection Committee, comprised of NAIA men's basketball head coaches and administrators from around the nation representing each of the five different areas, West, Midwest, South, East, and North.
The 64-team field features several teams that have gone the distance in the past and been crowned national champions, led by Oklahoma City, which has won six Red Banners across its 26 championship appearances. 16 other teams have claimed at least one national championship in their program's history; of those, six have claimed three titles, while two have claimed two.
Three programs are making their first national tournament appearance: Simpson (Calif.), Arkansas Baptist, and first-year program Georgia Gwinnett. McPherson (Kan.) and SUNO (La.) are returning to the field for the first time in 12 and 13 years, respectively. Georgetown (Ky.) leads the field, having played in 45 national tournaments over the 88 years the NAIA men's basketball national championship has been played. Cumberlands (Ky.) is second with 33 national tournaments played, followed by the College of Idaho and Northwestern (Iowa) at 28 each.
The Southern States, Sooner, Mid-South, KCAC, Crossroads, and Cascade all have five teams in this year's field, while the Frontier, Great Plains, Great Southwest, and Red River each have four representatives in the field of 64.
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) has the best overall record heading into national tournament action at 29-1. The Lions are riding a 26-game winning streak and went undefeated for the first time in conference action in FHU's history. The field is just as tough as last season, with a total of 1,918 games played by all 64 teams. The combined record for the field is 1,433 wins to 485 losses, or a 74.7 winning percentage.
Madonna University, champions of the WHAC regular season and tournament, enter the tournament as a No. 8 seed, competing in the Duer quadrant of the bracket. The Crusaders face off against No. 9 Southeastern (Fla.) on March 13 at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will play the winner of No. 1 Grace and No. 16 Johnson (Tenn.) Games will be hosted in Winona Lake, Ind. on the campus of Grace. This is the first meeting between these two programs. Southeastern, members of the SUN conference, earned an at-large bid and 24-6 on the season. Madonna enters the matchup with a 24-7 overall record.
Indiana Tech earns the WHAC's second autobid as the regular season runner-up. The Warriors are the No. 13 seed in the Duer quardrant and will take on No. 4 Cumberlands in the first round. The winner will take on the winner of No. 5 William Carey (Miss.) and No. 12 Xaiver (La.). The Warriors are 22-7 on the season and earned an at-large bid out of the Mid-South Conference.