The 2012 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college basketball as a culmination of the 2011–12 basketball season.

The Western Washington Vikings won the tournament to earn the first basketball national championship in school history.

The champions of 22 of the 23 Division II basketball conferences qualified automatically.

The eight regional winners met at the Elite Eight for the final three rounds held at The Bank of Kentucky Center, now known as BB&T Arena, on the campus of Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky, after the final rounds were held in Springfield, Massachusetts for the previous six years.

The conference champion, Arkansas Tech, was not eligible for an automatic berth, but did receive an at-large No.