Dozens of the nation's top collegiate adaptive student-athletes descended on McKale Center at ALKEME Arena April 1-4 when University of Arizona Adaptive Athletics hosted the 2026 National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament. The U of A earned the honor last year when the men's team won the tournament in Illinois. It was the team's third consecutive finals appearance and first win.
The men's team, under head coach Mike Beardsley, was unable to defend their title after losing to both Southwest Minnesota State University and the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. Auburn University took down rival University of Alabama, 70-59, in the championship game to claim the program's first National Wheelchair Basketball Association title.
The U of A women's team, led by head coach Josie Aslakson, lost in the semifinal to the University of Texas at Arlington, and again to the University of Illinois in the third-place game. The University of Alabama defeated the University of Texas at Arlington, 55-37, in the women's championship.
Wildcat Broden Nagle, a business student in the Eller College of Management, and Elise Froese, a religious studies student in the College of Humanities, placed on the tournament's All-Rookie Teams.
The event provided the U of A an opportunity to showcase its longtime commitment to serve students with disabilities of any kind, as well as highlight an adaptive athletics program that has grown to become the largest of its kind in the United States.