Worcester State Men's Basketball to Head to Middlebury for NCAA First Round

Worcester, MA—The NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Committee announced yesterday the field of 64 teams for the 2023 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball championship. Worcester State received the MASCAC automatic qualifier with their Sunday night 65-53 over Westfield State.

Worcester State will travel to regional hosts Middlebury College on March 3 for a 6:10pm tip-off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner will advance to the NCAA second round to face off against the winner of Rochester vs. Nichols, hosted at Middlebury College on March 4 for a 6:10pm.

The championship provides for a 64-team tournament. Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 44 conference champions, which form “Pool A.” The remaining 20 teams are selected from those teams in conferences with automatic bids that did not win their conference’s AQ and the remaining Pool B institutions (Pool C). The teams are geographically paired, whenever possible.

Sixteen sites will host four teams for first- and second-round competition Friday-Saturday, March 3-4. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites March 10-11. Winners of the four sectional championship games will advance to the semi-finals and finals March 16 and 18. All games, except the semi-finals and finals, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The semi-finals and finals will be held at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN.

Conferences and Teams Receiving Automatic Qualification (44):

CONFERENCE                                                              AUTOMATIC QUALIFIER TEAM

Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference         La Roche (19-7)

American Rivers Conference                                    Coe (16-12)

American Southwest Conference                           East Texas Baptist (23-5)

Atlantic East Conference                                          Marymount (Virginia) (17-10)

Centennial Conference                                             Swarthmore (24-3)

City University of New York Athletic Conference Baruch (22-5)

Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference                      Christopher Newport (24-3)

College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin       North Park (22-5)

Colonial States Athletic Conference                       Wilson (19-8)

Commonwealth Coast Conference                        Nichols (23-5)

Empire 8                                                                       St. John Fisher (21-7)

Great Northeast Athletic Conference                    Albertus Magnus (18-9)

Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference             Anderson (Indiana) (18-9)

Landmark Conference                                              Scranton (20-7)

Liberty League                                                             St. Lawrence (18-7)

Little East Conference                                               Keene State (26-1)

Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference       Worcester State (22-5)

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association      Hope (19-9)

Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth       Widener (19-8)

Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom                    Arcadia (15-11)

Midwest Conference                                                 Illinois College (25-2)

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference   Carleton (24-3)

New England Collegiate Conference                      Mitchell (23-4)

New England Small College Athletic Conference Hamilton (18-8)

New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference      Babson (19-8)

New Jersey Athletic Conference                              Rowan (22-5)

North Atlantic Conference                                       SUNY Delhi (20-8)

North Coast Athletic Conference                            Wabash (21-7)

Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference            St. Norbert (19-7)

Northwest Conference                                             Whitworth (18-9)

Ohio Athletic Conference                                         Mount Union (25-2)

Old Dominion Athletic Conference                        Randolph-Macon (27-1)

Presidents’ Athletic Conference                              Chatham (17-11)

Skyline Conference                                                    Farmingdale State (21-7)

Southern Athletic Association                                 Sewanee (18-9)

Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference      Cal Lutheran (13-13)

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference               Schreiner (15-13)

St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference        Fontbonne (16-11)

State University of New York Athletic Conference      Oswego State (25-2)

United East Conference                                            Lancaster Bible (20-7)

University Athletic Association                                Case Western Reserve (21-3)

Upper Midwest Athletic Conference                     Bethany Lutheran (23-4)

USA South Athletic Conference                               North Carolina Wesleyan (23-4)

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference    Wisconsin-Whitewater (20-7)

Pool C

Emory (17-8)

Rochester (N.Y.) (16-9)

Hampden-Sydney (21-6)

U of St. Joseph (Connecticut) (27-1)

John Carroll (22-4)

St. Thomas (Texas) (22-3)

Johns Hopkins (23-5)

Stockton (22-5)

Mary Hardin-Baylor (21-5)

Tufts (19-7)

Mary Washington (19-8)

Utica (22-4)

Middlebury (19-5)

Wisconsin.-Oshkosh (21-6)

Montclair State (22-5)

New York University (18-7)

Pomona-Pitzer (20-6)

Washington University in St. Louis (19-6)

Wheaton (Illinois) (22-4)

Williams (22-4)