Kansas City, Missouri – (1/2 round schedule | Bracket release | Official brackets) The National Association of Associations (NAIA) has officially announced the field and pairing of 64 teams for the 2025 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship. The tournament begins with the first and second rounds of the 2025 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship, announced on March 14th on 16 host sites nationwide.
The 16 winners from each site will proceed to the 2025 NAIA National Championship Final Site in Kansas City, Missouri.
The field consists of 34 automatic qualifiers awarded to regular season champions, regular season runner-ups, tournament champions, or tournament regular champions, depending on the league. The number of teams in each league determines the number of automatic bids for each meeting. Leagues with schools of 10 or more people receive two autonomous anchorages, and one conference with institutions of less than 10 people receives.
The large team was decided by the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Select Committee (NSC). The NSC is made up of four large members: one representative from each geographical area, a representative from the National Administrative Council, and a former president of the NAIA Men’s Basketball Coaches Association. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on a variety of criteria.
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Notes for the first and second rounds
The Heart of America Conference has seven teams qualified, and then the Crossroads League and Southern State Athletic Conference lead all representative meetings with six teams in a row. There will be 35 repeat qualifiers from the 2024 field. The five teams will be appearing in the national championship fields of UC Merced (California), Carolina (NC), Middle Georgia, William Woods (Missouri) and Johnson (Tennessee). Dickinson State (ND) will return to the national tournament after a 21-year break since its last appearance. Mobile and St. Mary (Kansas) will also return to the tournament field after a break in 2016 and 2012. Georgetown (Kentucky) leads the field of 64 teams, making it the most appearance in the 43 of the program’s history. Cumberlands (Ky.) continues with 32 appearances. Six teams have returned Red Banner to campus at three different times: Georgetown (Kentucky), Oregon Institute of Technology, Cornerstone (Michigan), Bethel (Ind.), Life (GA.), Indiana Wesleyan. Three teams have secured national titles twice in program history, while 10 teams have won the tournament only once. The remaining four host sites have also been decided to host Bethel (Ind.), Huntington (Ind.), Langston (Okla.), and Indiana Wesleyan along with 12 sites announced last week. That release is here. The 64 teams overall field at the 2025 National Championship boasts a 74.7% win rate with an overall record of 1,410-477. The 34 teams have worn animals as mascots this season, with lions being the most common and the Tigers being the second most common. Facility Qualifying Method 2025 Records Previous appearance (National Title) Championship Records Conference Arizona Christian Tournament Champion 26-4 2024113-9 Great Southwest Athletic Conference Abena Maria (FLA.) Tournament Championship 24-6 2024 3 1-2 Sun Conference Baker (Kan) 22-8 2024 19 (3) 36-16 Crossroads League Bethel (Kan) At-Large 22-9 2023 5 4-4 Kansas Collegiate Conference Carlolina (NC) Tournament Champion 13-15 N/A 2024 27 (2) 38-23 CASCADE COLLEGIATE CONFERENCE CONCORDIA (NEB.) AT-LARGE 25-6 2024 15-13 Great Plains Athletic Conference Cornerstone (Mich.) Tournament Champion 22-9 2024 19 (3) Wesleyan (SD) AT-LARGE 20-9 2020 22 13-21 Great Plains Athletic Conference Dalton State (Georgia) Regular Season Champion 24-6 2020 5 (1) 8-2 Southern State Athletic Conference Dickinson State (ND) Tournament Champion 19-10 2004 2004 7 5-6 North Star Athletic Conference Dillard (LA DORDT (Iowa) Regular Season Champion 27-3 2024 9 7-9 Great Plains Athletic Conference Faulkner (Allage) AT-Large 20-9 2023 15(1) 15-12 Southern States Conference Florida Memory at-Large 23-7 2024 5 2-4 The Sun Conference Freed-Hardeman (Kan.) At-Large 23-7 2019 8 2-7 Kansas University Athletic Conference Georgetown (Ky.) AT-Large 26-4 2024 43(3) 78-41 Mid-South Conference Grace (Indiana) Regular Season Champion 26-5 2024 14 14 (1) 22-11 Crossroads League League-season Champion 24-7 Pertin Conference Hope International (California) 22-7 2024 11 6-9 Great Southwest Thres Retic Conference Huntington (Indiana) AT-LARGE 24-7 2024 12 13-11 Crossroads League Indiana Tech Regular Season Champion 23-7 2023 15 (Indiana) Regular Season Runner-up 22-7 2024 3 0-2 Chicagoland College Athletic Conference IU South East (Indiana) Tournament Runner-up 13-17 2023 15 8-13 RIVER STATES JOHNSON (Tennessee) AT-LARGE 20-10 N/A 1 0-0 Appalachian Athlec Conference (Fla. ) (Oclanna) Tournament Champion 24-7 2024 9 12-9 Super Athletic Conference Lewis Clark State (Idaho) AT-LARGE 24-7 2024 19 12-17 Cascade College Conference Life (GA.) Tournament Champion 25-6 2023 19 (3) 27-15 Southern State Conference Lourdes (OHIO) Wolverine Horse Air Threat Conference LSU Alexandria (LA.) Regular Season Champion 28-2 2024 10 10-8 Red River Athletic Conference LSU Shreveport (LA.) AT-Large 18-11 2024 20 18-19 Red River Athletic Conference Madonna (Michigan) AT-Large 22-8 2024 8(1)10-5 Super Athletic Conference Middle Georgia State University 19-8 N/A 1 0-0 Southern State Athletic Conference Milligan (Tennessee) Tournament Champion 22-9 2018 6 1-5 Appalachian Athletic Conference Mobile (ALA.) 2024 6 5-5 Frontier Conference Morningside (Iowa) Tournament Champion 24-7 2024 21 21-19 Great Plains Athletic Conference Nelson (Texas) Regular Season Champion 23-8 2024 12 20-10 Sooner Athletic Conference Northwestern (Iowa) at-rarge 25-5 2024 27 (2) 2024 13 (1) 22-10 University of Kansas Athletic Conference Oregon Institute of Technology Regular Season Runner 22-7 2024 23 (3) 40-19 Cascade College Conference Peru (Nevada) AT-LARGE 22-8 2024 21 9-21 Heart of America Athletic Conference Pikeville (Indiana) 17-12 2022 2022 15 (1) 29-11 Crossroads League St. Mary (Kansas) Tournament Champion 22-9 2013 4 1-3 Kansas University Athletic Conference St. Mary of the Wood (Indiana) (Michigan) at-arge 19-10 2020 6 (1) 8-4 Crossroads League St. Francis (Illinois) Regular Season Champion 25-5 2019 6 1-5 Chicagoland College Athletic Conference Stillman (Alabama) Regular Season Champion (California) February 25, 2018 25-5 9 5-8 Great South West Threat Conference UC Mercedo (California) AT-Large 20-6 N/A 1 0-0 California Pacific Conference West Cliff (California) Tournament Champion 14-8 2023 2 0-1 California Pacific Conference William Carrey (Miss N/A 1 0-0 American Midwest Conference Xavier (La. ) Conference Qualifiers 20-9 2023 23 7-21 Red River Athletic Conference
