D3 Datacast

Over 400 Division III men’s basketball teams have been in their offseasons for over two weeks but Mary Washington and Emory still had one game to play. The combined championship weekend at the Division I Final Four in Indianapolis meant those two teams had a 15-day wait until, win or lose, their seasons came to an end. Join us in this final edition of The D3 Datacast for the 2025-2026 season as we...

Just one game remains for the 2025-2026 Division III men’s basketball season. It has been quite a season, quite a tournament and it looks like we will have quite a championship game as Emory and Mary Washington have made it through Fort Wayne to reach the title game at the combined championship weekend at the Division I Final Four in Indianapolis. Fort Wayne proved the end of the line for St. Thom...

The 2026 NCAADivision III Men’s Basketball Tournament is down to its Elite 8 with all eight teams heading to Fort Wayne, Indiana to play out the quarterfinals and semifinals on a neutral court. We talk through how we got here with what took place during the special stand-alone Sweet 16 weekend then turn our attention to what we will see in Fort Wayne. With the help of the D3 Datacast efficiency ra...

The 2026 NCAADivision III Men’s Basketball Tournament got off to a tremendous start as the field of 64 is already whittled down to the Sweet 16. We talk through what we saw last weekend in first and second round games and look ahead to a special stand-alone Sweet 16 weekend. With the help of the D3 Datacast efficiency ratings, we dive into the second weekend matchups to see who the favorites are a...

The 2026 NCAADivision III Men’s Basketball Tournament is about to get underway! We are sure to see great games and big upsets, but which games would be upsets and how big of upsets would they be? We run through all the first round games using the D3 Datacast efficiency ratings to break down the matchups, see who the favorites are and how heavily they are favored according to the computer line. Joi...

The NCAA revealed the 2026 Division 3 Men’s Basketball Tournament Bracket on Monday afternoon, and we provide our initial thoughts after seeing the matchups and seedings. Who gets to host, are any teams too high or too low? We talk about it today. Related Episodes: Unpacking NPI - New Tournament Selection Metric for Division 3 Sports - Episode 83: https://youtu.be/xrKp8McryUA What Every D3 Basketb...

The 2025-2026 Division III basketball regular season is over and all that’s left is the dancing! Once the SCIAC championship game went final the last game went into NPI, the system used by Division III to rank every team for tournament selection and seeding. We crunched the numbers so it’s time to talk about who got in, who got left out and who is set up for a deep run with great seeding. Related...

Things move quickly during conference tournament week so we’re back with a bonus show this week to talk about some of the shifts and trends as this men’s basketball season moves closer to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Join us as we take an updated look at how the bubble picture is shaping up, break down the race for the important spots in the Top 8 and Top 16 of the final NPI rankings, and rev...

The 2025-2026 Division III basketball season amps up as it winds down! Most of the regular season has been completed with conference tournaments on the horizon, or in some cases already started! While the tournament outlook is coming into view for many teams, what happens as conference tournaments plays out will have a huge impact on how the NCAA tournament takes shape. With that in mind, we run t...

The 2025-2026 season has reached the point where we get weekly NPI releases from the NCAA but where NPI stands on any given day is far less interesting than where it will end up. There is still plenty of basketball left to be played to determine that, but while we don’t know exactly what will happen, we can use our efficiency ratings to simulate the rest of the season 1,000 times. That can give us...

Official NPI rankings were released by the NCAA for Division III men’s and women’s basketball last week, putting renewed focus on the metric by which teams will be selected and seeded for the NCAA Tournament. That makes it a great time to talk about the fundamentals. What is NPI? How does it work? Whether you need an introduction or just a refresher, we break it down so fans know what is going on...

There are definitely some strong contenders for spots in the 2026 Division III men’s basketball tournament but maybe not to the point where most of the bubble field is coming into focus in terms of exact teams. However, there are some clear conferences that look like favorites to get an extra team into the tournament. Using our latest run of simulations, we go through the conferences in terms of h...

We talk a lot about Division III men’s basketball rankings, tournament selections, seeding, bracketing and championship weekend but this time our audience can hear it from a real expert as we sit down for a chat with Cam Fuller, this season’s chair of the men’s basketball committee. It was great to get a chance to talk with Cam about the transition from the old regional ranking system to NPI, eval...

It’s not quite time to buckle up for the stretch run of this Division III basketball season but it is a good time to get ready for it. To do that, we run through some important things to know before the stretch run heats up and eyes start turning to the tournament picture. We start with the basics like how teams get in, how teams are seeded and how the bracket is arranged. We then look at the sche...

We are at the point in the Division III men’s basketball season that there is a lot we have learned and a lot still to be learned. We try to work through some of that with a segment we call “Can We Say That?” Bob Quillman joins us for this segment with each topic taking the form of a “can we say that…” question and we discuss whether it is something we can or can’t say at this point in time. Join...

As we step into the 2026 portion of the 2025-2026 Division III men’s basketball season the next couple months will be about how conference races play out. We have talked on previous episodes about some interesting dynamics shaping up in a few conferences but this week we take a deeper look at ten conferences that look to be the most wide-open. What makes a conference race wide open? Using the D3 D...

The calendar turns from 2025 to 2026, marking the unofficial turn from non-conference play to conference season. There are a ton of important games that will be played between now and the end of the season but how might they play out and how might that shape the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament? With the help of the D3 Datacast computer we can take a look. Using the D3 Datacast team e...

We love a way too early contest here at The D3 Datacat so it’s time to break out our annual draft to predict which teams will receive at-large bids to the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament! Zac and Matt alternate selections for 11 picks each with three points awarded for each pick that ends up making the tournament as an at-large. Any pick that winds up as their conference's automa...

We often use the D3 Datacast computer efficiency ratings to talk about the strength of teams and how they stack up compared to each other but what about conferences? This week we zoom out from our usual focus on individual teams and look at how efficiency rating conference rankings are taking shape through the early portion of this Division III men’s basketball season. Join us this week on The D3...

A total of 71 Division III men’s basketball teams have been named on at least one D3Hoops.com Top 25 ballot so far this season. In this week’s show we turn to the D3 Datacast efficiency ratings and take a look at the top ten teams that have not yet been named on a ballot. Are there some hidden gems, some teams flying under the radar? Join us this week as we take our usual look around D3 hoops with...

The week of Thanksgiving tends to be a lighter week in the Division III men’s basketball calendar but there is still plenty to react to and talk about from the holiday weekend. Join us this week for another four-point play where we talk about what has been catching our eye across the country then dive in to take a look at a few programs who have made notable moves in our efficiency ratings so far...

The intensity of the 2025-2026 Division III men’s basketball season has ramped up with another great week of non-conference games, including the always fantastic Great Lakes Invitational. This year’s event was hosted by Washington & Jefferson and had a field that included Carthage, Case Western Reserve, Marietta, Mary Washington, Maryville, Trine and Trinity (TX). Join us this week for another...

Every Division III men’s basketball program has played at least one game now so it’s official game on for the 2025-2026 season! Join us this week as we react to another exciting week of action and try to make sense of it all, starting with a scan of the country in our “four-point play” to start another episode. There is still another week until the first D3hoops.com Top 25 poll of the regular seas...

The opening weekend of the Division III basketball season is in the books! Not every team made their debut during the first weekend of play but there were a lot of great games as we start learning just what each team is, or could be, for this season. Join us this week as we discuss what took place in this week’s “four-point play” and talk about how these first games may, or may not, alter the view...

A new week is here and it’s a week with a Division III basketball games! We celebrate the new season by debuting a new segment we’re calling our “four-point play” in which we scan the four points of the compass and talk about what is catching our eye or on our minds in the North, South, East and West. We also take a look at Matt’s preseason Top 25 ballot and talk about how it compares and contrast...