The 2012 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college basketball as a culmination of the 2011–12 basketball season.
The Western Washington Vikings won the tournament to earn the first basketball national championship in school history.
Qualification and tournament format The champions of 22 of the 23 Division II basketball conferences qualified automatically. An additional 42 teams were selected as at-large participants by the selection committee. The first three rounds of the tournament were organized in regions comprising eight participants in groups of two or three conferences (two in the Central and Midwest regions). The eight regional winners met at the Elite Eight for the final three rounds held at The Bank of Kentucky Center, now known as BB&T Arena, on the campus of Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky, after the final rounds were held in Springfield, Massachusetts for the previous six years.
Automatic qualifiers The following teams automatically qualified for the tournament as the winners of their conference tournament championships: The newly formed Great American Conference began play for the 2011–12 season, composed of former members of the Lone Star Conference and Gulf South Conference. The conference champion, Arkansas Tech, was not eligible for an automatic berth, but did receive an at-large No. 3 seed in the South Central Region.
Team Conference RegionHumboldt StateCCAAWestBloomfieldCACCEastWinston-Salem StateCIAAAtlanticBartonConference CarolinasSoutheastC.W. PostECCEastFindlayGLIACMidwestSouthern IndianaGLVCMidwestMontana State BillingsGNACWestAlabama-HunstvilleGulf SouthSouthSt. Mary's (Texas)HeartlandSouth CentralMidwestern StateLone StarSouth CentralWashburnMIAASouth CentralStonehillNortheast-10EastSouthwest Minnesota StateNSICCentralDixie StatePacific WestWestMontevalloPeach BeltSoutheastEast StroudsburgPSACAtlanticColorado MinesRMACCentralWingateSACSoutheastBenedictSIACSouthFlorida SouthernSunshine StateSouthWest LibertyWVIACAtlantic
Qualified teams
East RegionSeedSchoolConferenceRecordQualification#1Franklin PierceNE-1021–7At-large#2StonehillNE-1021–8Automatic#3AdelphiNE-1020–8At-large#4UMass LowellNE-1019–10At-large#5BloomfieldCACC24–7Automatic#6C.W. PostECC23–5Automatic#7District of ColumbiaECC22–5At-large#8PhiladelphiaCACC19–9At-large Atlantic RegionSeedSchoolConferenceRecordQualification#1West LibertyWVIAC29–2Automatic#2ShawCIAA25–3At-large#3Charleston (WV)WVIAC26–6At-large#4West Virginia WesleyanWVIAC21–8At-large#5Winston-Salem StateCIAA21–8Automatic#6Wheeling JesuitWVIAC21–9At-large#7Indiana (PA)PSAC23–5At-large#8East StroudsburgPSAC20–11Automatic South Central RegionSeedSchoolConferenceRecordQualification#1Midwestern StateLone Star26–3Automatic#2Tarleton StateLone Star26–5At-large#3Arkansas TechGAC21–4At-large#4WashburnMIAA24–7Automatic#5Northwest Missouri StateMIAA22–6At-large#6West Texas A&MLone Star19–8At-large#7Missouri Southern StateMIAA22–7At-large#8St. Mary's (TX)Heartland19–8Automatic West RegionSeedSchoolConferenceRecordQualification#1Western WashingtonGNAC25–5At-large#2Alaska–AnchorageGNAC22–6At-large#3Seattle PacificGNAC21–7At-large#4Humboldt StateCCAA22–7Automatic#5Chico StateCCAA24–7At-large#6Dixie StatePacific West20–6Automatic#7Montana State–BillingsGNAC18–11Automatic#8Grand CanyonPacific West19–7At-large
South RegionSeedSchoolConferenceRecordQualification#1Alabama–HuntsvilleGulf South26–3Automatic#2Christian BrothersGulf South23–6At-large#3West GeorgiaGulf South22–8At-large#4Florida TechSunshine State22–6At-large#5Saint LeoSunshine State18–11At-large#6EckerdSunshine State20–8At-large#7Florida SouthernSunshine State20–9Automatic#8BenedictSIAC19–10Automatic Midwest RegionSeedSchoolConferenceRecordQualification#1BellarmineGLVC25–3At-large#2Southern IndianaGLVC24–6Automatic#3HillsdaleGLIAC24–5At-large#4Northern KentuckyGLVC23–6At-large#5FindlayGLIAC23–6Automatic#6IndianapolisGLVC19–8At-large#7Kentucky WesleyanGLVC21–7At-large#8LewisGLVC17–11At-large Central RegionSeedSchoolConferenceRecordQualification#1Colorado MinesRMAC27–2Automatic#2Metropolitan StateRMAC22–6At-large#3Bemidji StateNSIC22–8At-large#4Southwest Minnesota StateNSIC18–10Automatic#5Minnesota State–MoorheadNSIC20–8At-large#6St. Cloud StateNSIC19–8At-large#7Adams StateRMAC19–8At-large#8Augustana (SD)NSIC17–10At-large Southeast RegionSeedSchoolConferenceRecordQualification#1MontevalloPeach Belt24–7Automatic#2USC AikenPeach Belt21–7At-large#3Anderson (SC)SAC24–5At-large#4Lincoln MemorialSAC25–5At-large#5KingConference Carolinas23–7At-large#6Columbus StatePeach Belt18–11At-large#7WingateSAC20–11Automatic#8BartonConference Carolinas20–9Automatic
Teams per conference GLVC: 6 NSIC: 5 GNAC, NE-10, Sunshine State, WVIAC: 4 Gulf South, Lone Star, MIAA, Peach Belt, RMAC, SAC: 3 CCAA, CACC, CIAA, Conference Carolinas, ECC, GLIAC, Pacific West, PSAC: 2 GAC, Heartland, SIAC: 1
Regionals
East - Rindge, New Hampshire Location: Franklin Pierce Fieldhouse Host: Franklin Pierce University
Atlantic - West Liberty, West Virginia Location: Academic, Sports, and Recreation Complex Host: West Liberty University
South Central - Wichita Falls, Texas Location: Gerald Stockton Court Host: Midwestern State University
West - Bellingham, Washington Location: Sam Carver Gymnasium Host: Western Washington University
South - Huntsville, Alabama Location: Spragins Hall Host: University of Alabama in Huntsville
Midwest - Louisville, Kentucky Location: Knights Hall Host: Bellarmine University
Central - Golden, Colorado Location: Steinhauer Field House Host: Colorado School of Mines
Southeast - Montevallo, Alabama Location: People's Bank and Trust Arena Host: University of Montevallo
Elite Eight – Highland Heights, Kentucky Location: The Bank of Kentucky Center Host: Northern Kentucky University
All-tournament team Rory Blanche (Western Washington) Antoine Davis (Montevallo) Chris Dowe (Bellarmine) D.J. Rivera (Montevallo) Richard Woodworth (Western Washington)
References 2012 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament jonfmorse.com