Butler Men’s Basketball Earns No. 8 Overall Seed in NJCAA National Tournament
The Butler Grizzlies men’s basketball team earned the No. 8 overall seed for the NJCAA National Tournament.
The Butler Grizzlies men's basketball team earned the No. 8 overall seed for the NJCAA National Tournament.
This will be the first NJCAA National Tournament appearance for the Grizzlies since the 2022-23 season and the ninth overall. This also marks the first national tournament appearance for second year head coach Eric Nitsche. Nitsche previously spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Hutchinson, helping guide them to two NJCAA National Tournament appearances. Before arriving at Hutchinson, Nitsche spent seven seasons as an assistant at Cowley, helping guide them to two NJCAA National Tournament appearances, including a national title appearance in 2021.
The Region 6 champion Grizzlies are one of two KJCCC schools to be selected in the NJCAA National Tournament (No. 15 Barton).
No. 8 seed Butler will play the winner of No. 9 Snow and No. 24 Trinidad State (Mar. 22, 12 pm CT) on Tuesday, Mar. 24 at 12 pm CT from the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas.
The No. 9 seed Snow Badgers are 28-4 overall on the season and were the No. 1 team in the country in the final NJCAA poll, a ranking that held for three weeks. Snow was 27-1 before losing their last three of four games of the season. The Grizzlies and Badgers have played only one mutual opponent this season: Western Nebraska. Butler defeated Western Nebraska in a neutral site matchup back on Nov. 8, 114-95. Snow defeated Western Nebraska in their very first game of the season back on Oct. 31, 95-89 on the road.
The No. 24 seed Trinidad State Trojans are 17-16 overall on the season and are the Region 9 Champions. Trinidad State was 13-16 before winning four straight to win their region tournament. Common opponents include Garden City (L, 97-83), Seward County (L, 83-70), Western Nebraska (L, 96-88, W 74-72).
All games will be available to watch on ESPN+ and can also listen to the radio broadcast with Dennis Higgins on 97.5 and 1240 KFH or on kfhradio.com
Full bracket can be found here: https://njcaachampionship.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/div1/2025-26/national_championship/v3-2026_DI_MBB_Championship_Bracket.pdf