LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin and Marshall men's basketball team, the Centennial Conference's defending champions, have announced the team's 2025-26 schedule. The 25-26 slate features 13 home games, ten away games, and two neutral-site contests.
F&M's 11-game non-conference schedule features three teams that also competed in last season's NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. The Diplomats begin the 2025-26 season by hosting Elizabethtown at the Mayser Center on Saturday, November 8, marking the fourth-straight season of facing the Blue Jays. F&M is on the road over the following week, starting with a trip to Marymount on Tuesday, November 11, marking the first meeting of the sides. They then open the Rutgers-Newark tournament against first-time opponents and fellow NCAA Tournament qualifiers Pitt.-Bradford on Friday, November 14, while they'll face either Rutgers-Newark or St. Elizabeth the following day. F&M hosts a pair of non-conference opponents ahead of the Thanksgiving break, as Albright (Thursday, Nov. 20) and Eastern (Tuesday, Nov. 25) visit Lancaster. It marks the 111th meeting against Albright, while the tenth game against Eastern will be the first time the sides have faced each other since 1996.
F&M returns from Thanksgiving by hosting NCAA Tournament qualifiers Hamilton for the first time since 1963 on Sunday, November 30. The sides resumed the series last season for the first time since the 1964-65 campaign. The team's last game before the winter break sees them travel to Stevens on Wednesday, December 3 for the first series matchup since 1924, the lone game to date. F&M hosts the Franklin & Marshall Holiday Tournament on Monday, December 29, and Tuesday, December 30. They'll face the City College of New York to open, marking the tenth game in the series and the first contest since 1953. On the other side of the bracket, Lancaster Bible and Drew will face off to determine the final day's games. Lancaster Bible has become a regular non-conference opponent, while F&M has not faced Drew, who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season, since 1994. The final non-conference game for the Diplomats comes at Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday, January 3.
With the Centennial Conference split into divisions, F&M will be competing in the same division as McDaniel, Gettysburg, Johns Hopkins, Dickinson, and Haverford, with the Fords being added to the division for the 2025-26 season. They will play each of those schools both home and away as part of the 14-game conference slate, featuring Wednesday and Saturday matchups over a seven-week span. The inter-division matchups will see the Diplomats host Washington College and Swarthmore with trips to Muhlenberg and Ursinus.
The Diplomats open the conference slate against Haverford on Wednesday, January 7 before traveling to McDaniel on Saturday, November 10. They'll face Gettysburg for the first time on the road on Wednesday, January 14, while they host Johns Hopkins in a Centennial Conference Tournament Championship rematch on Saturday, January 17. F&M concludes their series against Haverford on the road on Wednesday, January 21 before facing Dickinson in Carlisle on Saturday, January, 24. F&M then hosts Washington College on Wednesday, January 28 before wrapping up their McDaniel series at home on Saturday, January 31. F&M's next three games are inter-division contests, starting with a trip to Ursinus on Wednesday, February 4, followed by hosting Swarthmore on Saturday, February 7, before wrapping up this stretch at Muhlenberg on Wednesday, February 11. F&M follows this with an away trip to Johns Hopkins on Saturday, February 14 before concluding the final week by hosting Dickinson on Wednesday, February 18 and Gettysburg on Saturday, February 21. Five of the final six regular season games feature teams that also competed in the 2024-25 Centennial Conference Tournament.
The Centennial Conference Tournament will feature the top six teams, regardless of division, from the regular season standings. The postseason starts on Tuesday, February 24 and will continue through the championship game on Sunday, March 1 with the higher-seeded team hosting each of the playoff games on their campus sites.
The 64-team NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament will take place over the following four weekends, starting with regionals on Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7. The Sweet 16 is slated for Friday, March 13, while the Elite 8 and Final Four rounds will take place on Friday, March 20, and Saturday, March 21. The Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, will host the National Championship Game on Sunday, April 5.
