We will obviously have our deep dive coming out this weekend. However, we wanted to put this out today with our initial thoughts and reactions! It is important to emphasize that there will always be teams who get left out, who are really good teams. There are also always going to be teams who don’t agree with their seeding. At the end of the day, it is still going to be a GREAT tournament and no matter what you think of your draw, or your seeding, you get the chance to prove it on the court. No more analytics, no more “we play in the best league in the NAIA”, no more rankings and no more “we will bounce back from that loss”! March cares nothing about any of that. All that matters is the next game, because if you lose you go home. That is also what makes these games so great! For the most part, teams are playing teams they haven’t ever faced before. Assistants are frantically trying to get scouting reports on their matchup and those with deeper staffs are also working on advance scouts on the teams in their Pods. Everyone in the Championships is here for a reason. You overlook a team, and you go home! As we said, throw out the rankings and throw out your records and let’s settle it on the court!
The Bracket
Final Coaches Poll Breakdown
The seedings are always interesting to look at. Here is a breakdown of the final Coaches Top 25 Poll. We have added in the RPI Rankings, ARC Rankings and seeding for comparison.
| Top 25 Rank | RPI Rank | ARC Rank | Team | Record | SEED |
| 1 | 3 | W1 | College of Idaho | 30-1 | 1-seed Naismith |
| 2 | 1 | W2 | Arizona Christian | 24-5 | 1-seed Liston |
| 3 | 32 | SE3 | Union (Ky.) | 27-2 | 6-seed Cramer |
| 4 | 2 | GL1 | Grace (Ind.) | 25-3 | 1-seed Duer |
| 5 | 23 | SW1 | Langston (Okla.) | 29-2 | 2-seed Duer |
| 6 | 9 | GL2 | Indiana Tech | 27-3 | 2-seed Liston |
| 7 | 6 | MW2 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 26-4 | 2-seed Cramer |
| 8 | 4 | M21 | William Penn (Iowa) | 28-3 | 1-seed Cramer |
| 8 | 13 | GL3 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 26-4 | 3-seed Duer |
| 10 | 16 | W3 | Montana Tech | 26-4 | 4-seed Cramer |
| 11 | 14 | NC1 | Jamestown (N.D.) | 25-6 | 3-seed Liston |
| 12 | 26 | MW3 | Kansas Wesleyan | 25-4 | 5-seed Liston |
| 13 | 5 | SE2 | Faulkner (Ala.) | 26-5 | 3-seed Cramer |
| 14 | 8 | SW2 | Florida College | 26-5 | 2-seed Naismith |
| 15 | 20 | GL4 | Huntington (Ind.) | 24-7 | 4-seed Naismith |
| 16 | 15 | GL6 | Indiana Wesleyan | 20-9 | 6-seed Duer |
| 17 | 22 | SW3 | LSU Shreveport (La.) | 24-7 | 5-seed Naismith |
| 18 | 7 | NC2 | Morningside (Iowa) | 21-6 | 4-seed Liston |
| 19 | 12 | SE1 | Loyola (La.) | 24-6 | 3-seed Naismith |
| 20 | 43 | W5 | Antelope Valley (Calif.) | 25-2 | 8-seed Duer |
| 21 | 18 | GL5 | Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) | 23-8 | 5-seed Duer |
| 22 | 28 | MW4 | Southwestern (Kan.) | 25-6 | 7-seed Duer |
| 23 | 24 | SW4 | Iowa Wesleyan | 27-2 | 7-seed Liston |
| 24 | 21 | GL7 | Thomas More (Ky.) | 22-8 | 5-seed Cramer |
| 25 | 11 | W4 | The Master’s (Calif.) | 21-8 | 7-seed Naismith |
The Field
ARC Breakdown
Great Lakes
Grace | 1-seed Duer
Indiana Tech | 2-seed Liston
Georgetown | 3-seed Duer
Huntington | 4-seed Naismith
Freed-Hardeman | 5-seed Duer
Indiana Wesleyan | 6-seed Duer
Thomas More | 5-seed Cramer
Rio Grande | 8-seed Cramer
Madonna | 9-seed Duer
Marian | 9-seed Cramer
IU Southeast | 12-seed Duer
IU Kokomo | 12-seed Liston
Shawnee State | 14-seed Cramer
Pikeville | 13-seed Naismith
Lourdes | 14-seed Duer
Bethel IN | 13-seed Duer
West
College of Idaho | 1-Seed Naismith
Arizona Christian | 1-seed Liston
Montana Tech | 4-seed Cramer
The Master’s | 7-seed Naismith
Antelope Valley | 8-seed Liston
Ottawa AZ | 7-seed Cramer
Hope International | 9-seed Naismith
Eastern Oregon | 12-seed Cramer
Southern Oregon | 15-seed Duer
Westmont | 13-seed Cramer
Corban | 16-seed Liston
Westcliff |16-seed Naismith
North-Central
Jamestown | 3-seed Liston
Morningside | 4-seed Liston
Dordt | 4-seed Duer
Olivet Nazarene 8-seed Duer
Mayville State | 11-seed Liston
Northwestern IA | 1-seed Duer
IU South Bend | 15-seed Liston
Saint Xavier | 16-seed Cramer
Concordia NE | 15-seed Cramer
Midwest
William Penn | 1-seed Cramer
Oklahoma Wesleyan | 2-seed Cramer
Kansas Wesleyan | 5-seed Liston
Southwestern KS | 7-seed Duer
Peru State | 6-seed Liston
Baker | 10-seed Cramer
Evangel | 10-seed Liston
MidAmerica Nazarene |
Columbia MO | 13-seeed Liston
Bethel KS | 14-seed Liston
Southwest
Langston | 2-seed Duer
Florida College | 2-seed Naismith
LSU Shreveport | 5-seed Naismith
Iowa Wesleyan | 7-seed Liston
Xavier | 8-seed Naismith
Texarkana | 11-seed Naismith
Wayland Baptist | 9-seed Liston
SAGU | 14-seed Naismith
Southeast
Loyola | 3-seed Naismith
Faulkner | 3-seed Cramer
Union | 6-seed Cramer
Tougaloo | 6-seed Naismith
Southeastern FL | 11-seed Cramer
St Thomas | 1-seed Naismith
Thomas | 12-seed Naismith
Life | 15-seed Naismith
Columbia International | 16-seed Duer
State Breakdown
