| Division: | II |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Gender: | men's |
| Teams: | 48 |
| Champions: | Northwest Missouri State Bearcats |
| Titlecount: | 3rd |
| Runnerup: | West Texas A&M Buffaloes |
| Gamecount: | 1st |
| Semifinal1: | Flagler Saints |
| Finalfourcount: | 1st |
| Semifinal2: | Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters |
| Finalfourcount2: | 3rd |
| Coach: | Ben McCollum |
| Coachcount: | 3rd |
| Mop: | Ryan Hawkins |
| Mopteam: | NW Missouri State |
| Finalfourcity: | Ford Center Evansville, Indiana |
The 2021 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament was an annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college basketball in the United States. The championship games were held March 24–27, 2021 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, without fans.[1]
Defending champions Northwest Missouri State defeated West Texas A&M in the championship game, 80–54, to claim the Bearcats' second consecutive and third overall Division II national title.
Biola, Flagler, Fresno Pacific, Lee, Malone, Northwest Nazarene, Nyack, Oklahoma Baptist, and Southern Arkansas qualified for the Division II tournament for the first time.
A total of 48 bids were available for the tournament: 16 automatic (awarded to the champions of the sixteen Division II conferences that crowned a basketball champion after the end of the regular season) and 32 at-large.
The field size was temporarily reduced for just the 2021 championship to account for teams and conferences that chose to not compete during the 2020–21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams from four conferences (CCAA, CIAA, Northeast-10, and Sunshine State) did not participate in the regular season or the tournament.
The remaining bids were allocated evenly among the eight NCAA-designated regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast, and West). Some conferences, however, were shifted from their traditional region to ensure an even distribution of teams across all eight regions.[2] Each region consisted of two automatic qualifiers (the teams who won their respective conference tournaments) and at-large bids.
| Region | Conference | Qualifying school | Record | Appearance | Last bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | CIAA | None awarded | |||
| Mountain East | Fairmont State | 15–4 | 11th | 2019 | |
| G-MAC | Malone | 17–6 | 1st | — | |
| PSAC | None awarded | ||||
| Central | MIAA | Washburn | 19–6 | 15th | 2019 |
| Northern Sun | Northern State | 18–1 | 12th | 2019 | |
| East | CACC | Bloomfield | 6–3 | 9th | 2018 |
| East Coast | St. Thomas Aquinas | 13–1 | 5th | 2019 | |
| Northeast-10 | None awarded | ||||
| Midwest | GLIAC | Ashland | 14–8 | 10th | 2019 |
| GLVC | Lewis | 14–9 | 17th | 2019 | |
| South | Gulf South | Valdosta State | 17–4 | 12th | 2019 |
| Peach Belt | Flagler | 15–2 | 1st | — | |
| SIAC | None awarded | ||||
| Sunshine State | None awarded | ||||
| South Central | Great American | Arkansas–Monticello | 16–4 | 3rd | 2017 |
| Lone Star | Lubbock Christian | 17–2 | 3rd | 2019 | |
| Southeast | Carolinas | Belmont Abbey | 18–4 | 7th | 2013 |
| South Atlantic | Carson-Newman | 16–5 | 5th | 2018 | |
| West | CCAA | None awarded | |||
| GNAC | None awarded | ||||
| PacWest | Biola | 9–3 | 1st | — | |
| RMAC | Colorado Mesa | 21–1 | 7th | 2011 |
| Qualifying school | Record | Conference | Appearance | Last bid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama Huntsville | 14–3 | Gulf South | 13th | 2019 | |
| Caldwell | 5–4 | Central Atlantic | 2nd | 2007 | |
| Charleston (WV) | 14–3 | Mountain East | 7th | 2014 | |
| Colorado Mines | 16–2 | RMAC | 10th | 2019 | |
| Daemen | 8–5 | East Coast | 2nd | 2019 | |
| Dallas Baptist | 16–4 | Lone Star | 5th | 2019 | |
| Dominican (NY) | 4–3 | East Coast | 3rd | 2019 | |
| Emmanuel | 15–6 | Carolinas | 2nd | 2019 | |
| Fresno Pacific | 11–4 | PacWest | 1st | — | |
| Georgia Southwestern | 13–5 | Peach Belt | 3rd | 2014 | |
| Hillsdale | 20–2 | G-MAC | 6th | 2018 | |
| Lee | 14–5 | Gulf South | 1st | — | |
| Lincoln Memorial | 16–3 | South Atlantic | 8th | 2018 | |
| Mercyhurst | 11–0 | PSAC | 4th | 2019 | |
| Michigan Tech | 14–7 | GLIAC | 10th | 2015 | |
| MSU Moorhead | 10–4 | Northern Sun | 6th | 2017 | |
| Missouri Western | 14–10 | MIAA | 11th | 2010 | |
| Northwest Missouri State | 23–2 | MIAA | 20th | 2019 | |
| Northwest Nazarene | 11–4 | GNAC | 1st | — | |
| Nyack | 4–4 | Central Atlantic | 1st | — | |
| Oklahoma Baptist | 15–5 | Great American | 1st | — | |
| Point Loma Nazarene | 8–2 | PacWest | 3rd | 2019 | |
| Queens (NC) | 16–5 | South Atlantic | 12th | 2019 | |
| Southern Arkansas | 15–5 | Great American | 1st | — | |
| Southern Indiana | 11–4 | GLVC | 28th | 2019 | |
| Truman | 18–2 | GLVC | 9th | 2018 | |
| Tusculum | 13–5 | South Atlantic | 3rd | 2009 | |
| Wayne State (NE) | 11–6 | Northern Sun | 3rd | 2000 | |
| Wayne State (MI) | 12–6 | GLIAC | 13th | 2013 | |
| West Georgia | 13–7 | Gulf South | 17th | 2016 | |
| West Liberty | 15–4 | Mountain East | 12th | 2019 | |
| West Texas A&M | 15–2 | Lone Star | 17th | 2019 |