Information Provided By The NCAA


INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Committee has announced that Springfield, Mass. will host the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Elite Eight.

The event will be held at the MassMutual Center, with American International College and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame serving as the hosts. The dates of the competition will be March 24, 25 and 27 in 2010 and March 23, 24 and 26 in 2011.

“The committee is excited about going back to Springfield,” said Rich Sanders, chair of the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Committee and director of athletics at Northwest Nazarene University. “It is a tremendous venue for our event. The staffs at American International and the Hall of Fame make sure the student-athletes, coaches and fans all have a first-class experience.”

Springfield has hosted the event 20 times previously, including the last four years. With the addition of the next two years, Springfield will have hosted the event on 22 occasions; one more than the 21 times Evansville, Ind. has served as hosts.

The Northeast-10 has advanced to the Elite Eight seven times in the last ten years beginning with Saint Anselm in 2000, followed by UMass Lowell (2003 & 2004), Bryant (2005), Stonehill (2006) and Bentley (2007 & 2008).