Northern Sun men's basketball tournament
# Northern Sun men's basketball tournament

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball tournament is the annual men's conference basketball championship tournament for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The tournament has been held annually since 2000. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records.

The winner, declared conference champion, receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship.

## Tournament format

Between its establishment in 2000 and 2012, the tournament featured only the top 8 teams from the conference, with all eight teams active from the quarterfinal round.

After 2013, however, the tournament expanded to 16 teams, with teams seeded based on their performance in either the North or South Division of the Northern Sun. The first round, which features all sixteen teams, pairs the top-seeded teams from the North and South Divisions against the eighth-seeded team from the opposite division. In turn, the second-seeded team from each of these teams' brackets comes from the opposite division (i.e. the top-seeded team from the North would ideally oppose the second-seeded team from the South and vice versa for the other division's top team). This pattern continues for the third- and fourth-seeded teams.

In all instances of the tournament, the semifinal and final rounds have been played at a pre-determined venue, which has also hosted the quarterfinal round since 2012. From 2000 to 2011, these sites were the on-campus gymnasium of Northern Sun teams. Since 2012, however, these have been neutral-site arenas not home to any Northern Sun programs.

## Results

| Year | Champions | Score | Runner-up | MVP | Venue |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2000 | Wayne State (NE) | 72–60 | Minnesota–Duluth | Brad Joens, Wayne State | Gangelhoff Center (St. Paul, MN) |
| 2001 | Winona State | 94–78 | Southwest State | Kyle Schlaak, Winona State | Gangelhoff Center (St. Paul, MN) |
| 2002 | Minnesota–Duluth | 59–57 | Southwest State | Jason Schneeweis, Minnesota–Duluth | Gangelhoff Center (St. Paul, MN) |
| 2003 | Minnesota–Duluth | 71–66 | Minnesota State–Moorhead | Dusty Decker, Minnesota–Duluth | Gangelhoff Center (St. Paul, MN) |
| 2004 | Northern State (SD) | 63–58 | Minnesota–Duluth | Steve Smiley, Northern State | Gangelhoff Center (St. Paul, MN) |
| 2005 | Northern State (SD) | 73–69 | Winona State | Matt Hammer, Northern State | McCown Gymnasium (Winona, MN) |
| 2006 | Winona State | 93–80 | Northern State (SD) | David Zellman, Winona State | McCown Gymnasium (Winona, MN) |
| 2007 | Winona State | 80–70 | Southwest Minnesota State | John Smith, Winona State | McCown Gymnasium (Winona, MN) |
| 2008 | Winona State | 73–40 | Northern State (SD) | John Smith, Winona State | McCown Gymnasium (Winona, MN) |
| 2009 | St. Cloud State | 91–89 | Minnesota State | Taylor Witt, St. Cloud State | McCown Gymnasium (Winona, MN) |
| 2010 | St. Cloud State | 68–67 | Southwest Minnesota State | Matt Schneck, St. Cloud State | Halenbeck Hall (St. Cloud, MN) |
| 2011 | Winona State | 58–41 | St. Cloud State | Ben Fischer, Winona State | Gangelhoff Center (St. Paul, MN) |
| 2012 | Southwest Minnesota State | 76–72 | Minnesota State–Moorhead | Lavione West, Southwest Minnesota State | Taylor Arena (Rochester, MN) |
| 2013 | Minnesota State | 73–68 | Bemidji State | Jarvis Williams, Minnesota State | Taylor Arena (Rochester, MN) |
| 2014 | Minnesota State | 75–66 | Winona State | Zach Monaghan, Minnesota State | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2015 | Augustana (SD) | 98–82 | Minnesota State–Moorhead | Casey Schilling, Augustana | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2016 | Augustana (SD) | 89-76 | Minnesota State-Moorhead | Casey Schilling, Augustana | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2017 | Southwest Minnesota State | 71–58 | Upper Iowa | Ryan Bruggeman, Southwest Minnesota State | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2018 | Northern State | 81–75 | Southwest Minnesota State | DJ Pollard, Northern State | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2019 | Northern State | 72-68 | Southwest Minnesota State | Ian Smith, Northern State | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2020 | Northern State | 80–59 | Minnesota State | Parker Fox, Northern State | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2021 | Northern State | 78–57 | Minnesota State–Moorhead | Mason Stark, Northern State | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2022 | Minnesota State–Moorhead | 81–73 | Minnesota–Duluth | Gavin Baumgartner, MSU–Moorhead | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |
| 2023 | Minnesota State–Moorhead | 79–69 | Minnesota–Duluth | Jacob Beeninga, MSU–Moorhead | Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, SD) |

## Championship appearances by school

| School | Finals Record | Finals Appearances | Years |
| - | - | - | - |
| Northern State (SD) | 6–2 | 8 | 2004, 2005, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 |
| Winona State | 5–2 | 7 | 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 |
| Southwest Minnesota State | 2–6 | 8 | 2012, 2017 |
| Minnesota State–Moorhead | 2–5 | 7 | 2022, 2023 |
| Minnesota–Duluth | 2–4 | 6 | 2002, 2003 |
| Minnesota State | 2–2 | 4 | 2013, 2014 |
| St. Cloud State | 2–1 | 3 | 2009, 2010 |
| Augustana (SD) | 2–0 | 2 | 2015, 2016 |
| Wayne State (NE) | 1–0 | 1 | 2000 |
| Upper Iowa | 0–1 | 1 | |
| Bemidji State | 0–1 | 1 | |

* Concordia–St. Paul, Mary (ND), Minnesota–Crookston, Minot State, and Sioux Falls have yet to reach the NSIC tournament final.
* Minnesota–Morris never reached the finals of the NSIC tournament before departing the conference.
