Notables

D3sports.com has learned that there will be no third-place game in the Division III men's basketball Final Four this season and it will be replaced with an All-Star game featuring Division III seniors.

The game, which is sponsored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, will take place in the third-place game's normal time slot, three hours before tipoff of the championship game. This season, that will be 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 20.

The decision was finalized on the NABC's conference call late last week.

Although the details are still being worked out, plans are for two teams of 10 players apiece to be named. At least one spot on each team will be set aside for players from teams who lose in the national semifinals the previous evening, the teams who normally would play in the third-place game.

Coaches for the game have yet to be determined and could be drawn from the national semifinalists as well, or from the NABC's annual lifetime achievement awards, which are announced around the same time. Traditionally, there are at least a dozen Division III men's basketball head coaches already in Salem attending the Final Four, if not more. Players would arrive in Salem, Va., on Thursday, take part in a community service event on Friday, have a practice and play Saturday morning.