The hundreds of NCAA Division II men’s basketball programs across the U.S. and Canada all dream of ending their season in one place: center-court of the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, lifting the national championship trophy aloft.

At 3 p.m. (ET) Saturday, one of two teams remaining will have the chance to see their dreams come to life.

Recent D-II boogeyman Nova Southeastern, the clear class of the division for the past half-decade, is back in a familiar spot and seeking another title to add to its growing collection. They’ll have to get through Cal State Dominguez Hills to get there, however, as the Toros’ never-say-die attitude has now propelled them to their first national championship game in program history.

It’s a mini-Cinderella story going up against a juggernaut looking to turn a run of success into a dynasty — and we can’t wait for sparks to fly.

Here’s a look ahead at the final matchup of the 2024-25 NCAA Division II men’s basketball season with detailed previews on what to expect from each of the finalists:

Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros Basketball

Conference: California Collegiate Athletic Association

Record: 30-5 

Region: West

The lowdown: Sitting at 2-3 five games into the season, it would’ve been easy for Cal State Dominguez Hills’ year to nosedive as the weight of expectations as the CCAA’s preseason favorite crushed the Toros. 

They’ve instead gone 28-2 since, avenging conference-play defeats to Cal Poly Humboldt and Chico State later in the regular season and in the CCAA Championship title game, respectively. CSUDH would’ve had a season to be proud of regardless of its postseason run, but since games have shifted into win-or-go-home mode, the Toros have been on an absolute tear. 

They first took charge in a wide-open West Regional, beating top-seeded Point Loma on its home floor to make it to the Elite Eight for the first time. Then, seeded as the No. 7 team in Evansville as part of a stacked Elite Eight field, CSUDH has now defied the odds in back-to-back games. It first stormed back from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat a West Liberty team that averaged over 100 points per game in the quarterfinals before winning a wild overtime game in Thursday’s semifinals over Dallas Baptist, featuring seventh-year senior Alex Garcia draining a game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds left in regulation after the Toros were down by as much as 19. 

With both its men’s and women’s teams now playing for national championships on Friday and Saturday night, respectively, CSUDH can match what Minnesota State did last year by capturing both D-II hoops national championships — and the men can do so as an exciting, dangerous dark horse that’ll be playing fearlessly.

Key player: Jeremy Dent-Smith, G, Jr.

Think Dent-Smith has been motivated by being snubbed for what could’ve been a second straight CCAA Player of the Year award? 

The way he has been playing lately on the Toros’ historic run, it certainly looks that way. 

A National Association of Basketball Coaches All-American and the CCAA Player of the Year during an awesome sophomore campaign in 2023-24, Dent-Smith’s averages from last season to this season have only gotten better as he’s tallied up more points (18.8), rebounds (4.4) and assists (3.1), though Chico State’s Jojo Murphy beat him out for the CCAA Player of the Year award earlier this month. 

But all Dent-Smith has done since is get seemingly better and better as the Toros keep winning and the postseason pressure ramps up. This culminated to date in a massive 33-point, seven-rebound night on 11-for-17 shooting across 42 minutes in CSUDH’s comeback win over Dallas Baptist in Thursday’s national semifinals. 

Players like him have sent a clear message to Nova Southeastern for Saturday night that the Toros can fall behind. Still, they’ll never truly be out of the running until the final buzzer blares, and if CSUDH is indeed a team of destiny, Dent-Smith will probably be playing a major role in what could be a historic couple of days for Toro athletics.

Nova Southeastern Sharks Basketball

Conference: Sunshine State Conference

Record: 35-1

Region: South

The lowdown: Eighty-four consecutive home wins. Twenty-six 100-point games this season. A 22-game win streak overall. One chainsaw of a basketball team. 

Coach Jim Crutchfield, who came to Nova Southeastern in 2017 after building for over a decade one of D-II’s most exciting offenses at West Liberty, has done nothing but win, win and win some more while leading the Sharks as they’ve made five Elite Eights since he took over (including an ongoing streak of four straight) and had their crowning achievement in 2023, winning their first-ever national title with a perfect 36-0 record as Crutchfield took down his former program in the national championship game. 

Saturday will be NSU’s third consecutive year in the title game after losing in last season’s final to Minnesota State, and as the nation’s highest-scoring team by over two points per game (102.7), it’ll once again be a nightmare to slow down when it gets churning. In addition to its nation-pacing offense, the Sharks additionally have the best assist-to-turnover ratio (2.26) and largest average scoring margin (21.8 points) in the country, too, and except for a shock loss to Palm Beach Atlantic on Jan. 8, all comers have failed to slow down one of the finest, most frenetic-paced offenses that D-II basketball has ever seen. 

Having rolled to a conference regular-season and tournament double, NSU prevailed in a titanic clash with fellow contender Alabama Huntsville in the South Regional championship game to return to the Ford Center, and the Sharks had little trouble getting past Assumption and Washburn in the national quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Nothing fazes Nova Southeastern, and as the favorite to make it two national titles in three years, that’s a priceless attribute to have.

Key player: MJ Iraldi, G, R-Sr.

Point guard Dallas Graziani deserves an honorable mention shoutout here as he’s excelled in his second stint at NSU after a year away at D-I Samford, leading the country in assists per game (9.1). But Iraldi has unquestionably been the shining star on a Sharks squad full of them. The newly-crowned D-II national player of the year by both the NABC and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association, teams don’t really stop Iraldi — who started his career at Chestnut Hill College before transferring to NSU ahead of the 2023-24 campaign — but instead merely hope to contain him. 

However, teams often can’t do that, either; the 6-foot-6 New Jersey native averages 23.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per night on 52.6% shooting from the field and 40% shooting from 3-point distance and has tallied up eight games of 30 points or more, dropping a season-high 42 on Embry-Riddle in late February. 

The perfect focal point of the Sharks’ devastating offense as he has both made and attempted the most field goals of any player in D-II this season, Iraldi’s ability to find a bucket anywhere on the court and relentless aggression with the ball in his hands makes him a brutally-tough matchup to guard, much like former NSU star and fellow national player of the year RJ Sunahara from two years ago before him. 

Just about the only distinction Iraldi doesn’t have compared to Sunahara, however, is leading the Sharks to a national championship, though Iraldi is now just one game away from pulling off that accomplishment, too.

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