NAIA District 3 Men's Basketball

NAIA District 3 consisted, throughout its existence, of NAIA schools in California. For a brief period, Nevada was also included.

When the NAIA split into divisions in 1992, all NAIA schools in California participated in Division I.

Primary sources for information on this district include the Oxnard Press-Courier, the Orange County Register, and abstracts from the Los Angeles Times.

Formats

1951, 1953-55, 1957, 1959-60; 1968-70; 1972-73: Four-team playoff (1959 had a third place game).

1952: No playoff. Pepperdine was selected by vote.

1956: Eight-team playoff, divided into Northern and Southern zones.

1958; 1961-66: Best-of-three championship series.

1967; A four-team playoff(at least), but with a stepladder-style format. Both the semifinal and championship were decided in a best-of-three series.

1971: Three-team playoff with one semifinal, followed by a best-of-three championship series.^

1974: Five-team playoff

1975-78: Seven-team playoff, with three teams receiving double byes to the semifinals.

1979-81: Six-team playoff with top two seeds receiving 1st round byes.

1982-88: 1992-93: Eight-team playoff.

1989-91: Seven-team playoff, with the top seed earning a 1st round bye.

District Champions

1951	Pepperdine	1966	California Western (3)	1981	Biola (2)
1952	Pepperdine (2)	1967	Claremont-Mudd	1982	Biola (3)
1953	Pasadena	1968	Pasadena (4)	1983	Point Loma Nazarene (5)‡
1954	Pasadena (2)	1969	Whittier (3)	1984	Westmont (5)
1955	Loyola (CA)†	1970	Whittier (4)	1985	Biola (4)
1956	San Diego State	1971	Whittier (5)	1986	Westmont (6)
1957	Westmont	1972	Westmont (2)	1987	Biola (5)
1958	Pasadena (3)	1973	Westmont (3)	1988	Westmont (7)
1959	Whittier	1974	Azusa Pacific	1989	Biola (6)
1960	Whittier (2)	1975	United States International (4)	1990	Southern California College†
1961	Redlands	1976	California Baptist	1991	Westmont (8)
1962	Orange State†	1977	Whittier (6)	1992 I	Biola (7)
1963	California Western	1978	Westmont (4)	1992 II	unassigned
1964	Redlands (2)	1979	Cal State-Dominguez Hills	1993 I	Azusa Pacific (2)
1965	California Western (2)	1980	Biola	1993 II	unassigned

† - Loyola (CA) is now known as Loyola Marymount. Orange State is now known as Cal State-Fullerton. Southern California College is now known as Vanguard.

‡ - Point Loma Nazarene was formerly known as Pasadena. United States International was formerly known as California Western.

^ - We're still unsure on whether or not there was a fourth team involved in that year's playoff.

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