NIT, D-2, D-3 Finals Set Around 2026 Indianapolis Final Four

The NCAA will host a men’s college basketball soiree in 2026 that will feature multiple title games in the same city, the association announced Thursday.

Indianapolis, host of the 2026 Final Four, will also host the Division II and Division III national title games along with the semifinals and finals of the NIT. This is the second time the NCAA has hosted all three national championship games in the same city (Atlanta, 2013).

The NIT semifinals will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Butler, and the title game will be played at another unannounced location. The Division II and Division III national title games in men’s basketball will be played at Gainbridge Fieldhouse one day before the Division I championship game, which will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“This will be a great celebration of men’s college basketball in all three divisions in Indy,” Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of basketball, said in a statement. “When we did it in 2013, we had about 8,000 fans watching the Division II and III championship games, and the final two nights of this year’s NIT at Hinkle Fieldhouse featured sellout crowds of more than 9,000 fans. It will be a great one. For student-athletes at participating schools opportunity, as well as a showcase for Indiana’s legendary college basketball fans.”

The NCAA also announced Thursday that it will consider the new analytics tool as the selection committee chooses the 37 T-Major teams to include in the 2024-25 tournament field. Both Bart Torvik’s ranking and the wins against the bubble metric — an assessment of a team’s performance against its schedule relative to the average bubble team (think baseball’s WAR Status) — will appear in the evaluation process.

“The committee has always evaluated a variety of data points and metrics to assist with their evaluation process, and these two metrics have been increasingly cited by members in recent years,” Gavitt said. “Adding them to the team sheet ensures that all 12 members have easy access to this data. Torvik Rankings, along with BPI and KenPom, give the committee three predictive ratings, while WAB, Strength of Record and KPI give them three outcome-based metrics, all of which, In addition to NET, the team will be beneficial to the evaluation process.”