2026 NCAA Basketball Championship Weekend

[ST_Lawson]

I noticed something cool the other day. In the recent past the D2 championship game has been held in Evansville, IN (at the Ford Center) and the D3 championship game has been held in Fort Wayne, IN (at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum)...coincidentally both places where WIU has played conference tournaments (the Mid-Con Tournament was in Ft. Wayne in 2000, '01, and '02).

This year, however, they're bringing everything together to Indy for a big college basketball weekend.

• Thursday (April 2), the two NIT semifinal games will be held at Hinkle Fieldhouse (Butler's basketball arena, seats 9,100).
• Saturday (April 4), the two NCAA Tournament semifinal games will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium (the Indianapolis Colts stadium).
• Sunday (April 5), the DII, DIII, and NIT Championship games will be held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse (home of the Pacers and Fever, seats just over 17k) and one ticket gets you into all three events.
• Monday (April 6), the NCAA Tournament championship game is at Lucas Oil Stadium.

So, from Thursday through Monday, you've got 8 high-stakes men's college basketball games in Indy. Lucas Oil and the Gainbridge Fieldhouse are only about 4 blocks apart, and I'd imagine they'll have shuttles from downtown out to Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse (about 5 miles north of downtown).
If you've got the money, it'd be a pretty exciting weekend of basketball.