The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is small but mighty – and definitely loyal, as five of the schools were charter members of the conference in 1915.
Even if they decided to leave for a short time, they made their way back to the SCIAC, and they’ve shared the glory in men’s basketball over the years.
For the upcoming season, there will be a 10th program in the mix, as Azusa Pacific moves from NCAA Division II to Division III.
Only time will tell what that means for the dynamic of the conference, but college basketball fans can watch it all shake out live on FloCollege and the FloSports app.
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Last year, the University of Redlands won its first SCIAC Men’s Basketball Tournament title since 2013, ending a two-year run for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, but both teams earned spots in the 2026 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship.
Unfortunately, neither team found much success in the single-elimination bracket and bowed out early, leaving the SCIAC still searching for its first men’s basketball national championship.
Redlands defeated Susquehanna in the opening round (97-75) and then fell to Hood College(114-104), while CMS topped Aurora in the bottom half of the bracket (84-60) and then came up short against UW-La Crosse.
What Teams Play Men’s Basketball In The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference?
The 10 men’s basketball programs in the SCIAC are:
- Azusa Pacific (First year of NCAA reclassification)
- California Lutheran
- Caltech
- Chapman
- Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
- La Verne
- Occidental
- Pomona-Pitzer
- Redlands
- Whittier College
How Did Things Look Across The SCIAC During the 2025-2026 Season?
After 16 conference games last year, Redlands and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps finished tied atop the SCIAC standings and shared the regular-season title. It was the second in a row for Redlands and first for CMS since 2018.
Overall, postseason included, Redlands finished the year at 24-5 and had the top-scoring offense in the conference by a wide margin, averaging 95.1 points per game. Occidental was second at 84 ppg.
On the other end of the floor, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps topped the rankings, allowing just 67.9 points per contest. Chapman was second at 71.4.
Redlands and CMS were the top two teams in margin of victory at 16.7 and 12.4, respectively.
2025-2026 SCIAC Men’s Basketball Standings
Team (SCIAC Record, Overall Record)
- Redlands (13-3, 24-5)
- Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (13-3, 23-5)
- Chapman (11-5, 18-9)
- Occidental (11-5, 19-8)
- California Lutheran (8-8, 13-13)
- Whittier (8-8, 15-10)
- Pomona-Pitzer (5-11, 10-15)
- La Verne (2-14, 4-20)
- Caltech (1-15, 4-21)
- Regular-season champions: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps & Redlands
- SCIAC Championship Tournament winner: Redlands def. Chapman, 93-64
2025-2026 LSC Men’s Basketball Award Winners
- Athlete of the Year: Lucas Gordon, Redlands
- Defensive Athlete of the Year: Tochi Onyeador, Whittier
- Newcomer of the Year: Dorian Glogovac, Caltech
- Ted Ducey Award (senior who exemplifies high ideals): Ze'ev Remer, Cal Lutheran
- Coaching Staff of the Year: Eric Bridgeland, Redlands
What’s The Outlook For the 2026-2027 Season?
The Redlands resurgence and title-sweep last season can’t be ignored, but the Bulldogs will be heading into the new campaign without leading scorer and 2025-2026 SCIAC Athlete of the Year Lucas Gordon, who moved on to play professionally in Australia.
Gordon, a senior forward last season, started all 29 games for Redlands, led the team in field goals made (164), field goals attempted (293), total points (416), points per game (14.3), rebounds (261) and was second in total minutes (713).
The Bulldogs also will hit the hardwood this year without a pair of All-SCIAC second-team guards, Omari Ferguson and Jake Hlywiak, who have moved on, as well.
Can Redlands continue its trajectory on momentum alone? Is the door open for CMS to surge back to the front of the conversation?
Obviously, the addition of Azusa Pacific adds some uncertainty to the conference, as it’s hard to tell how the Cougars will handle the transition from Division II to Division III.
Last season, they were 7-20 overall and finished 5-17 in the PacWest Conference, which put them in a three-way tie at the bottom of the 13-team standings.
With the experience gained at the higher level translate to dominance, or at least success, after the move?
If so, it’ll have to come without 6-foot-7 graduate superstar forward-center Shad Thomas, who led the team with 15 points and 10 rebounds per game over 28 minutes per outing.
Before anyone has a chance to prove themselves in the new campaign, Redlands is being rewarded for its recent success and has been selected to participate in the inaugural National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III Tournament Series presented by D3hoops.com.
The selection is historic, as UR is one of only eight Division III men’s basketball programs chosen nationwide for this first-of-its-kind tournament series.
The event is set to take place Dec. 21-22 in Las Vegas and will feature two four-team brackets. Every team is guaranteed to play at least two games.
A second tournament, featuring another eight Division III teams, will be held in San Antonio on Jan. 1-2.
The regular season for the SCIAC teams will begin during the first week of November.
Historical Highlights For SCIAC Men’s Basketball
Despite finishing no higher than fourth in the conference over the last decade, Whittier actually owns the most regular-season titles in SCIAC history (30), with the first coming in 1924, and the most recent being 1981.
When it comes to the SCIAC Championship Tournament, which was held for the first time in 2008, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has been the most dominant program, winning it all eight times. Pomona-Pitzer is next on the list with four victories.
When Is The 2027 SCIAC Basketball Tournament?
The five-team single-elimination 2027 SCIAC Men’s Basketball Tournament will take place Feb. 23-27, with games hosted by the higher seeds.
The opening round will feature a showdown between the No. 4 and No. 5 teams from the conference standings.
The winner will advance to play the No. 1 seed, while No. 2 and No. 3 face off in the other semifinal.
The semifinal winners will battle for the championship and the SCIAC’s automatic bid to the 2027 Division III Men’s Basketball Championship.
Selections and seeding for the national tournament will be announced March 1, and games will begin March 5.
How Many Teams Participate In The Division III Basketball Championship?
The number of participating teams for the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship has changed many times over the years.
The inaugural edition in 1975 had 30 teams. There were 28 in 1976, and then it went back to 30.
In 1980, there were 32 teams. In 1989, it expanded to 40. Finally, in 1995, the field ballooned to 64 teams split into four sectionals, but the change only lasted three years, before it was changed to 48.
The number slowly increased again, until the full 64-team bracket returned in 2017.
The NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship needed just one year to double in size, as 32 teams participated in 1983. That number remained steady, though regional brackets were introduced in 1989. In 1994, 40 teams played. Then 64 in 1995.
Denison & Mary Washington Are The Reigning Division III National Champions
The last four teams standing in the 2026 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship were Denison, NYU, Scranton and Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and Denison went on to claim its first national title with a 55-41 victory over Scranton at the Cregger Center in Salem, Virginia.
On the men’s side, it was Christopher Newport, Emory, Mary Washington and Trinity College (CT) at the national semifinals in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with Mary Washington topping Emory 75-73 for the trophy in Indianapolis.
2026 Division III Basketball Championship Brackets
Here’s a look at how things unfolded in 2026:
Chapman vs. Redlands Men’s Basketball Full Replay | 2026 SCIAC Basketball
Watch the replay of the 2026 SCIAC Men’s Basketball Tournament final between Chapman and Redland.
Redlands defeated Chapman 93-64 to win its first tournament title since 2013.
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