2017 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament

The 2017 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball national championship was held in March at Keeter Gymnasium in Point Lookout, Missouri. The 26th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured thirty-two teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game was won by the Union Bulldogs of Barbourville, KY over the Cornerstone Golden Eagles of Grand Rapids, MI by a score of 72 to 69. <!--comments begin here

Tournament field
The 2016 tournament field was announced on March 14th in a live selection show. The field is made up of 23 automatic qualifiers and eight at-large bids and one automatic host bid presented to College of the Ozarks. This tournament field welcomed the return of four out of the last five champions, led by defending champion and top seed Indiana Wesleyan University along with Cardinal Stritch, Cornerstone, and Saint Francis. There were four newcomers to the bracket, Brescia, Northwestern Ohio, Olivet Nazarene and St. Francis of Illinois.

The complete field consists of Ashford, Bellevue, Bethel, Brescia, Briar Cliff, Cal Maritime, Cardinal Stritch, Concordia, Cornerstone, Dakota State, Davenport, Embry-Riddle, Friends, Grace, College of Idaho, Indiana University East, Indiana Wesleyan, Midland, Milligan, Morningside, Mount Mercy, Northwestern Ohio, Olivet Nazarene, College of the Ozarks, Saint Francis, Saint Thomas, Southern Oregon, Tabor, Union, and Warner Pacific. Here is the 2016 updated reference for the tournament bracket, whenever the field section is ready.

Fab Four
The fifth ranked Dakota Wesleyan Tigers came back from a twelve point deficit to defeat the College of Idaho Yotes 88-80 and advance to the NAIA championship game. On the other side of the bracket, Davenport hit three free throws in the final six seconds to secure a 79-75 win over defending champion Indiana Wesleyan.

Championship game
Indiana Wesleyan won their second national championship in three years. This was the fourth meeting of the year between the Crossroads League rivals. Saint Francis won two regular season contests in addition to edging Indiana Wesleyan in the league's year-end tournament. In the NAIA championship, Saint Francis fell behind early, with the first half deficit reaching 13 points. With the lead still six points at half-time, Indiana Wesleyan held off the Cougars to win against the then-#1-team in the nation.

Team award

 * Dr. James Naismith/Emil Liston Team Sportsmanship Award: Dakota Wesleyan (SD)

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Individual awards

 * Most Valuable Player: Paul Stone, Union (KY)
 * Championship Hustle Award: Mike Martin, Union (KY)
 * NABC/NAIA Division II Coach of the Year: Kim Elders, Cornerstone (MI)
 * NAIA Division II National Coach of the Year: Kevin Burton, Union (KY)

Bracket

 * * denotes game decided in overtime

