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.

	INSTITUTION	QUALIFICATION	LAST QUALIFIED	APPEARANCES (TITLES)	CONFERENCE
	Arizona Christian	At Large	2025	12
	Arkansas Baptist	Tournament Champions	N/A	1
	Ave Maria (Fla.)	Tournament Champion	2025	4
	Bellevue (Neb.)	Regular Season Runner-up	2024	23
	Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.)	At Large	2022	3
	Bethel (Ind.)	At Large	2025	21(3)
	Bethel (Kan.)	At Large	2025	6
	Bethel (Tenn.)	At Large	2019	4
	Carroll (Mont.)	At Large	2024	18
	College of Idaho	At Large	2025	28(3)
	Columbia (Mo.)	Tournament Champion	2024	25
	Corban (Ore.)	Tournament Champion	2023	3
	Cumberlands (Ky.)	At Large	2025	33
	Dalton State (Ga.)	Tournament Champion	2025	6
	Eastern Oregon	At Large	2023	10
	Faulkner (Ala.)	At Large	2025	16(1)
	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)	Tournament Champions	2025	11(1)
	Friends (Kan.)	No. 2 Conference Tournament Seed	2025	9
	Georgetown (Ky.)	At Large	2025	45(3)
	Georgia Gwinnett	Tournament Runner Up	N/A	1
	Governors State (Ill.)	Regular Season Champion	2018	2
	Grace (Ind.)	Regular Season Champion	2025	15(1)
	Graceland (Iowa)	Regular Season Champion	2025	3(1)
	Hope International (Calif.)	At Large	2025	12
	Huntington (Ind.)	At Large	2025	13
	Indiana Tech	Regular Season Runner-up	2025	16
	Indiana Wesleyan	Regular Season Runner Up	2025	19(3)
	IU Kokomo (Ind.)	At Large	2023	5
	IU Southeast (Ind.)	Tournament Champions	2025	16
	Johnson (Tenn.)	Tournament Champion	2025	2
	Keiser (Fla.)	At Large	2025	15
	Langston (Okla.)	At Large	2025	10
	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	Regular Season Champion	2025	20
	Life (Ga.)	At Large	2025	20(3)
	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	At Large	2018	13
	Loyola (La.)	At Large	2024	11(2)
	LSU Alexandria (La.)	Regular Season Runner-up	2025	11
	LSU Shreveport (La.)	Regular Season Champion	2025	21
	Madonna (Mich.)	Regular Season Champion	2025	7
	McPherson (Kan.)	At Large	2013	6
	Montana Tech	At Large	2025	7
	Morningside (Iowa)	Regular Season Champion	2025	22
	Nelson (Texas)	Regular Season Champion	2025	13
	Northwestern (Iowa)	Tournament Champion	2025	28(2)
	Oklahoma City	Tournament Champion	2019	26(6)
	Oklahoma Wesleyan	Regular Season Champion	2025	14(1)
	Oregon Tech	At Large	2025	24(3)
	Pikeville (Ky.)	Regular Season Champion	2025	18(1)
	Rocky Mountain (Mont.)	Regular Season Champion	2019	11
	Shawnee State (Ohio)	Regular Season Champion	2024	5(1)
	Simpson (Calif.)	Tournament Champions	N/A	1
	Southeastern (Fla.)	At Large	2023	7
	SUNO (La.)	Tournament Champions	2012	8
	Southwestern (Kan.)	At Large	2024	15(1)
	St. Francis (Ill.)	Tournament Champion	2025	7
	Taylor (Ind.)	At Large	2017	16
	Texas A&M -Texarkana	At Large	2021	2
	Texas Wesleyan	At Large	2025	20(2)
	The Master's (Calif.)	Tournament Champions	2025	15
	Tougaloo (Miss.)	Tournament Runners Up	2024	11
	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	At Large	2024	23
	William Carey (Miss.)	Regular Season Champion	2025	15
	William Penn (Iowa)	Tournament Champions	2023	14
	Xavier (La.)	At Large	2025	24