By: Chuck Miller
Basketball, Hamilton College, , , , ,

And Hamilton College returns to the NCAA Championships!! (2025 Edition)

Back when I was a student at Hamilton College in the early 1980’s, we were part of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), and although we were a powerhouse in men’s basketball, we were prohibited from participating in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Why?

Well, back then, NESCAC forbade its college members from participating in tournaments that lasted longer than seven days after the team’s last regular season game. So we could win the NESCAC championship, win 25 games in a regular season, and … that’s it. Heck, it wasn’t until 2008 when Hamilton, operating in a different athletic conference, claimed its first-ever NCAA championship title (women’s lacrosse).

The thing is … Hamilton left the NESCAC Conference and joined the Liberty League, and in 1995, the Continentals made their first-ever NCAA men’s basketball appearance.

Hamilton would return to the tournament several times after that – even when the Continentals returned to the NESCAC conference, which changed their policy about postseason play and permitted the NESCAC champion to participate in the NCAA Division III tournament.

And now, for the first time since 2023, the Hamilton men’s basketball team is back in the NCAA tournament, where we currently hold a 15-12 record in tournament play. We have our first game in the bracket on March 7, where we get to clobber Western New England University. And trust me, you can’t spell “WEENEES” without WEstErn New England UnivErSity, amirite?

And trust me, after we slaughter the Weenies, we will face the winner of the match between Montclair State and Utica. We beat Montclair State in the 2023 tournament, and as for Utica … they are no competition. We will beat them like we always beat them.

So at 3:15 eastern time on March 7, Hamilton starts their tournament run towards NCAA immortality. Trust me on this.

I said TRUST ME ON THIS. Dear is thy homestead, glade and glen, the championship’s coming to Clinton again. 😀

HAMILTON COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAMS IN NCAA DIVISION III TOURNAMENT

  • 1995
    • Beat Plattsburgh State 92-74
    • Beat Buffalo State 79-64
    • Lost to New Jersey Tech 96-86
  • 1996
    • Lost to St Lawrence 85-78
  • 1997
    • Lost to Buffalo State 70-66
  • 1998
    • Beat Geneseo State 102-68
    • Beat St John Fisher 87-72
    • Lost to Williams 90-69
  • 1999
    • Beat Rochester 66-58
    • Beat St John Fisher 72-70
    • Lost to Trinity 89-73
  • 2000
    • Beat Endicott 85-68
    • Lost to Cortland State 60-55
  • 2003
    • Beat Colby-Sawyer 93-68
    • Beat St John Fisher 72-68
    • Lost to Williams 76-65
  • 2004
    • Lost to St John Fisher 90-83
  • 2006
    • Beat Plattsburgh State 66-65 OT
    • Lost to Amherst 83-59
  • 2018
    • Defeated Nazareth 86-72
    • Defeated York 69-66
    • Lost to Springfield 92-90
  • 2019
    • Defeated Penn State Behrend 72-70
    • Defeated Moravian 83-72
    • Lost to Christopher Newport 75-67
  • 2023
    • Defeated Montclair State, 84-75
    • Lost to Johns Hopkins, 81-71