2025 NCAA Tournament

[Greek Tragedy]

UAA v NESCAC Final

Wesleyan v Trinity: Wes won the regular season meeting. Trin won the NESCAC title game. Score could be in the low 60s.

NYU swept Washington U handily. The Bears have their hands full.

Trinity v NYU Final.

Defense usually beats offense. Trinity wins it.

[Greek Tragedy]

Man, I said it on X and I'll say it on here. I really dislike the Thursday/Saturday format. If I attend, it's an extra day of vacation I have to use and it's an extra hotel night. Don't tell me it's for the student-athletes. If you're a lower seed in the Big Ten tournament, you could play FIVE days IN A ROW. I don't know the behind-the-scenes activities of the teams, maybe they have activities, tournament commitments, tours they do on the off-day, but playing Friday evening and Saturday, late afternoon is the same thing as some of the conference tournaments and even the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament. I'm so glad next year, if I go, they'll have the four quarterfinal games on Friday and the 2 semifinal games on Saturday. I suppose if I don't have a horse in the race, I can just go to the semis, save a night in the hotel and watch the final on TV. I don't talk to the players, but maybe some prefer to play Friday and Saturday because they still have the adrenaline from the previous night and don't want to cool off for a full day. Yes, injuries are unfortunate and maybe the NCAA wants the players to recover an extra day for the big game, but then they should do it for the other rounds as well. Off my soapbox. I'm done! Good luck to everyone.

[Greek Tragedy]

Well, apparently, Ryan was just told that next year's Elite 8 and Final Four games will be Thursday and Saturday. So stupid.

[ronk]

 I'm not seeing a video link for either women's semifinal; what's the story?

[deiscanton]

I'm not seeing a video link for either women's semifinal; what's the story?

The games are on ESPN+ (ESPN Plus) this week-- the ESPN+ schedule has both women's semifinals scheduled today for 5 PM and 7:30 PM ET respectively from Salem, VA, with the men's semifinals scheduled for 5:30 PM ET and 8 PM ET today respectively from Fort Wayne, IN. 

Look under NCAA women's basketball and NCAA Men's basketball on ESPN+ to find the game feeds.  The game feeds should read NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Championship or NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Championship with each feed either reading Semifinal #1 or Semifinal #2. 

Since the ESPN+ schedule has not listed the teams beside the game feeds, here is the breakdown:

1.)  NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Championship (Semifinal #1)-- NYU v UW-Stout-- 5 PM ET.
2.)  NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Championship (Semifinal #1)-- Trinity (CT) v Wesleyan (CT)-- 5:30 PM ET
3.)  NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Championship (Semifinal #2)-- Smith v UW-Oshkosh-- no earlier than 7:30 PM ET
4.)  NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Championship (Semifinal #2)-- NYU v WashU-- no earlier than 8 PM ET.

ESPN+ is a subscription service, but I already subscribe to the Legacy Disney monthly bundle, so I get the service with Hulu and Disney+ as part of the monthly bundle.  ESPN+ is relatively easy to subscribe to if you do not already have a monthly or yearly subscription to the streaming service.   

[BaboNation]

Unforced error by the NCAA scheduling both men's and women's finals on the same day and hour.
Maybe it's a 1st world problem for NYU, having both teams make it this far, but really an unnecessary set of circumstances.

[hickory_cornhusker]

Unforced error by the NCAA scheduling both men's and women's finals on the same day and hour.
Maybe it's a 1st world problem for NYU, having both teams make it this far, but really an unnecessary set of circumstances.

It's an online platform, it's not like they need to worry about broadcast time space.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Unforced error by the NCAA scheduling both men's and women's finals on the same day and hour.
Maybe it's a 1st world problem for NYU, having both teams make it this far, but really an unnecessary set of circumstances.

We've brought this up with the production staff.  It should not happen again.

[Greek Tragedy]

https://www.ncaa.com/game/6385334

Some highlights

[stlawus]

Much prefer seeing a team built like Trinity win over a team like NYU.  No covid seniors, no 5th year d1 mercenary hires. 4 year players recruited and developed from the ground up.  I'm not a purist or anything, but I can't say I'm upset seeing teams that had massive advantages in terms of 5th year/graduate student recruitment not have anything to show for it in the end. 

[Greek Tragedy]

I imagine there are a number of people that agree with you. However, that doesn't mean they didn't work just as hard everyday to get to the Championship game. Yes, I think it means more when you are part of the building process rather than just putting a super team together for just a year or two.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Man, I said it on X and I'll say it on here. I really dislike the Thursday/Saturday format. If I attend, it's an extra day of vacation I have to use and it's an extra hotel night. Don't tell me it's for the student-athletes. If you're a lower seed in the Big Ten tournament, you could play FIVE days IN A ROW. I don't know the behind-the-scenes activities of the teams, maybe they have activities, tournament commitments, tours they do on the off-day, but playing Friday evening and Saturday, late afternoon is the same thing as some of the conference tournaments and even the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament. I'm so glad next year, if I go, they'll have the four quarterfinal games on Friday and the 2 semifinal games on Saturday. I suppose if I don't have a horse in the race, I can just go to the semis, save a night in the hotel and watch the final on TV. I don't talk to the players, but maybe some prefer to play Friday and Saturday because they still have the adrenaline from the previous night and don't want to cool off for a full day. Yes, injuries are unfortunate and maybe the NCAA wants the players to recover an extra day for the big game, but then they should do it for the other rounds as well. Off my soapbox. I'm done! Good luck to everyone.

It is about the student-athletes... because then they aren't gassed trying to recover for the biggest game of their careers. The entire point is to give them the time and space to recover from a hard fought semifinals and prepare for the finals, instead of a cram session and likely no recovery ahead of that game.

So yes, it is about the student-athletes. And it is about them also Thur/Sat because while they miss class time, they are still doing homework or taking exams if necessary - though seems more often then not schools are on spring break this week (not always, but most if not all four on the men's side were on break). And then they don't miss Monday classes coming back (which happens in soccer with whatever gender plays on Sunday).

The division decided to go this way so that championship games weren't decided on sheer luck of recovery or one player got over a twisted ankle better than another in 24 hours.

And don't compare to the Big 10... do you think it is actually about student-athletes there? Those students who are actually trying to get an education also have four or more tutors and academic people at their disposal on the trip they are making. It is a big money product there ... also the chances of a deep-seed going all the way through like that are slim and none almost every year. Look at how they treat their other tournaments and you will see something far more akin to DIII.

Yes, I got it confirmed from the committee that next year will be Thursday/Saturday. I suspect his is actually because that is how Fort Wayne had the facility scheduled more than anything else. This is the extra year they lost in 2020 and I don't believe when it was given to them it was actually decided the combined-championships were taking place. So likely, the Thursday/Saturday schedule was set prior to the schedule changing to quarters and semis. I know conversations about moving the All-Star game to the middle day in general, but especially next year fall on it not happening due to the staffing for the arena not being scheduled or in the case of next year, they likely already have other events to deal with in the arena (not to mention, four teams getting shoot arounds on that off day).

For the record, I love the day off in between because I can get better prepared without sacrificing even more sleep. Yeah, it sucks from a work perspective having to take even more time off or missing something on the day before games, but being able to recover and prep is valuable.

So anyway... as much as you may not like it (you are in a small minority), this is actually about the student-athletes. They have all responded in multiple sports very positively about the experience of an extra day off.

An aside, the issue that needs to be addressed in DIII is actually how teams travel surrounding these events, especially those who lose in the first game of a weekend. The stories I've heard in the last few years are embarrassing.

Sheesh, first post back in a LONG time... and I went on and on.. sorry.

[Greek Tragedy]

No need to apologize for the long post. I appreciate your response, although I'll disagree. I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but another case in point is that NYU offered a fan bus for the championship game only. I think the reason could be no one, school, students etc, could afford (or want to) to bus out Thursday and basically stay for 3 or 4 days because of the extra day in between. Just my uneducated opinion.

[D3BBALL]

Man, I said it on X and I'll say it on here. I really dislike the Thursday/Saturday format. If I attend, it's an extra day of vacation I have to use and it's an extra hotel night. Don't tell me it's for the student-athletes. If you're a lower seed in the Big Ten tournament, you could play FIVE days IN A ROW. I don't know the behind-the-scenes activities of the teams, maybe they have activities, tournament commitments, tours they do on the off-day, but playing Friday evening and Saturday, late afternoon is the same thing as some of the conference tournaments and even the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament. I'm so glad next year, if I go, they'll have the four quarterfinal games on Friday and the 2 semifinal games on Saturday. I suppose if I don't have a horse in the race, I can just go to the semis, save a night in the hotel and watch the final on TV. I don't talk to the players, but maybe some prefer to play Friday and Saturday because they still have the adrenaline from the previous night and don't want to cool off for a full day. Yes, injuries are unfortunate and maybe the NCAA wants the players to recover an extra day for the big game, but then they should do it for the other rounds as well. Off my soapbox. I'm done! Good luck to everyone.

It is about the student-athletes... because then they aren't gassed trying to recover for the biggest game of their careers. The entire point is to give them the time and space to recover from a hard fought semifinals and prepare for the finals, instead of a cram session and likely no recovery ahead of that game.

So yes, it is about the student-athletes. And it is about them also Thur/Sat because while they miss class time, they are still doing homework or taking exams if necessary - though seems more often then not schools are on spring break this week (not always, but most if not all four on the men's side were on break). And then they don't miss Monday classes coming back (which happens in soccer with whatever gender plays on Sunday).

The division decided to go this way so that championship games weren't decided on sheer luck of recovery or one player got over a twisted ankle better than another in 24 hours.

And don't compare to the Big 10... do you think it is actually about student-athletes there? Those students who are actually trying to get an education also have four or more tutors and academic people at their disposal on the trip they are making. It is a big money product there ... also the chances of a deep-seed going all the way through like that are slim and none almost every year. Look at how they treat their other tournaments and you will see something far more akin to DIII.

Yes, I got it confirmed from the committee that next year will be Thursday/Saturday. I suspect his is actually because that is how Fort Wayne had the facility scheduled more than anything else. This is the extra year they lost in 2020 and I don't believe when it was given to them it was actually decided the combined-championships were taking place. So likely, the Thursday/Saturday schedule was set prior to the schedule changing to quarters and semis. I know conversations about moving the All-Star game to the middle day in general, but especially next year fall on it not happening due to the staffing for the arena not being scheduled or in the case of next year, they likely already have other events to deal with in the arena (not to mention, four teams getting shoot arounds on that off day).

For the record, I love the day off in between because I can get better prepared without sacrificing even more sleep. Yeah, it sucks from a work perspective having to take even more time off or missing something on the day before games, but being able to recover and prep is valuable.

So anyway... as much as you may not like it (you are in a small minority), this is actually about the student-athletes. They have all responded in multiple sports very positively about the experience of an extra day off.

An aside, the issue that needs to be addressed in DIII is actually how teams travel surrounding these events, especially those who lose in the first game of a weekend. The stories I've heard in the last few years are embarrassing.

Sheesh, first post back in a LONG time... and I went on and on.. sorry.

An article from last summer says next year's d3 finals will be played on Sunday not sure when semi finals will be played but it doesn't sound like a Thursday Saturday event.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2024-07-11/mens-basketball-committee-approves-single-site-2026-divisions-i-ii-and-iii?amp

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

We're told it will be Thursday - Saturday for the rounds of 8 and 4 in Fort Wayne (March 19 and 21).  The final will be played two weeks later in Indianapolis on the day between the D1 semis and final, along with the D2 final.  That will be April 5th, Easter Sunday!