MC Chaparrals Basketball Receives Much-Deserved At-Large Berth in the NJCAA Men's DI National Tournament

Midland College Basketball

NJCAA Men's Division I National Basketball Championship Tournament

March 21-28, 2026

Hutchinson, KS

These are exciting times for the Midland College Chaparrals and the MC faithful as the Chaps were selected for an at-large berth into the NJCAA Men's DI National Tournament.  Monday's National Tournament bracket reveal and seeding show saw Midland College selected as the #7 seed in the 24-team tournament field.  MC is currently 27-6 this season and finished the regular season as the #4 seed in the Region 5 Basketball Tournament.  Midland College advanced to the Region 5 Tournament championship game where they lost to Howard College 82-72. 

The NJCAA Selection Committee took into consideration the Chaps strong season schedule including wins over several Top 25 ranked teams and wins over four National Tournament teams, when they were chosen to join the National Tournament field.  MC was ranked in the Top 10 for a significant portion of the season and they played in the toughest conference in the nation; the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC). 

This season the WJCAC had five teams ranked in the NJCAA Top 25, with Howard College, South Plains College and New Mexico Junior College each making their way into the national tournament in Hutchinson, KS.  Odessa College was also ranked among the nation's Top 25 teams all season. 

All told the Chaps played head-to-head against five teams who are in the national tournament field:  Trinity Valley Community College, Mineral Area Community College and the aforementioned Howard College, South Plains College and New Mexico Junior College, going 6-4 versus those teams.      

Midland College, by virtue of their #7 seed, received a first-round bye in the national tournament and will play their opening round game on Tuesday, March 24th @ 2:30 p.m. versus the winner of #10 seed the Walters State Community College Senators and the #23 seed the South Georgia State College Hawks.  Walters State Community College of Morristown, TN comes in at 30-1 this season, while South Georgia State College of Douglas, GA enters with a record of 23-10.  The Senators and Hawks are scheduled to play on Sunday, March 22nd @ 2:30 p.m.  The winner will advance to play Midland College.  The loser's season will end after one tournament appearance.  

All NJCAA Men's Division I National Basketball Tournament Games will be live streamed at:  https://www.njcaa.org/network/landing/index 

For the tournament bracket, ticket information or other items related to the tournament:  https://njcaachampionship.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/div1/index 

Go Chaps!