NCAA committee approves Indianapolis to host all 3 men's finals

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis will host championships for all three NCAA divisions and the NIT in 2026, and the governing body’s men’s basketball committee has also approved including the Torvik and Wins Against Bubble rankings among metrics in evaluating teams for next year’s tournament.

The Indiana capital and NCAA home was previously chosen in 2018 to host the men's Division I Final Four for the ninth time from April 4-6, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium. Finals for Divisions II and III have been added for the Sunday before the top-level title game at nearby Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with the NIT championship site to be determined. The NIT will hold its semifinals on April 2, 2026, at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.

It will mark the second time one city has held all three men’s championships, the first since Atlanta in 2013. Indianapolis and Dallas hosted all three women’s championships in 2016 and 2023, respectively.

NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said 2026 will be a celebration of basketball in Indiana and cited attendance of nearly 8,000 for DII and DIII championships in Atlanta in 2013 and sellout crowds for the NIT semifinals and finals last spring at Hinkle.

“It will be an awesome opportunity for student-athletes at the participating schools,” Gavitt said in a release, “as well as a showcase for the legendary college basketball fans in Indiana.”

In evaluating the 68 tournament teams — which will feature 31 conference-champion automatic qualifiers along with 37 at-large squads — Gavitt noted that members have increasingly referenced the Torvik and WAB rankings, along with other metrics such as KenPom, BPI and NET.

Torvik rankings feature projections that rank every team for the upcoming season. WAB measures how many more wins a team earns against its schedule than an average bubble team.

“Adding them to the team sheet ensures that all 12 (committee) members easily have access to this data,” Gavitt said.

The committee also named Sun Belt Conference commissioner Keith Gill as vice chair for the 2024-25 season during its summer meeting. Gill will serve as chair the following season.

FILE - Signage at the headquarters of the NCAA is viewed in Indianapolis, March 12, 2020. A U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia has ruled that some college athletes may qualify as employees under federal wage-and-hour laws. The court says a test should be developed to differentiate students who play college sports for fun from those whose effort “crosses the legal line into work” that benefits the school. The NCAA had hoped to have the case dismissed.(AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

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