The Ron & Genie Calgaard Gym at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, won't be hosting Division III women's basketball this weekend. In fact, Texas hasn't hosted a sectional since 2008 in women's basketball, and never in men's basketball since the current playoff system came into play in 2000.  Trinity (Texas) athletics photo

By Pat Coleman
Executive Editor
D3sports.com

As announced on Saturday night and Sunday morning, the men's sectionals will be hosted at Christopher Newport, Randolph-Macon, Mount Union and Swarthmore. The women's sectionals will be hosted at Babson, Smith, Tufts and Transylvania.

• 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket: Men | Women
• More NCAA Tournament headlines: Men | Women

Just one in the past 56 sectionals in Division III women's basketball has been hosted by a school currently in Region 10, and in men's basketball, just one sectional in the entire history of the current system -- 84 sectionals -- has been hosted by a school currently in Region 10.

This was a year in which the NCAA could have given the Region 10 women a bit of a makeup call. So many years, the decision has been made by seeding, except when it costs more money to maintain seeds. Then seeds are out the window.

This year, there is a women's sectional which includes Christopher Newport, Trinity (Texas), Tufts and Wartburg. None of these schools are within 500 miles of each other. It costs more or less the same no matter which of these four schools hosts. Christopher Newport cannot, because the men are hosting this weekend. 

But even so, when the money is not the object, Trinity and Region 10 still do not get the call. This is allegedly a call strictly on seeding, but if the NCAA really wanted to represent Region 10, it certainly could have justified giving the sectional to Trinity. Trinity was even ranked ahead of Tufts in the Top 16 when the committee released them in mid-February.

This is a miss, and only adds fuel to the fire from the American Southwest Conference, Northwest Conference, Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference when they ask Division III leadership why they get snubbed on a regular basis. 

Of course, over the years, hosting the sectional has hardly been a golden ticket to the Final Four. In fact, hosts succeed in doing so less than half of the time. Here's the breakdown:

Women's sectional hosts: 47% success rate

Since the format of the NCAA Tournament changed in the 2000 season, all four sectional hosts have advanced to the Final Four just twice in 22 seasons. On two occasions, none of the four sectional hosts have advanced. Because of COVID-19, the sectionals were not played in 2020 and the entire tournament was not played in 2021. Teams in bold advanced to the Final Four.

Teams are listed with their current region, in the 10-region alignment.