This was the first tournament held exclusively for Division II teams; a separate tournament was held concurrently for the teams the NAIA sorted into its Division I.
Grace defeated Northwestern (IA) in the championship game, 85–79 in overtime, to claim the Lancers' first NAIA national title.
The tournament field for the inaugural Division II championship was set at 20 teams, a decrease of 12 teams from the last single-division NAIA tournament in 1991. The top eight teams received seeds, while the eight lowest ranked teams were placed in a preliminary first round.