The NCAA Tournament features 68 teams, with 32 securing automatic bids—these guaranteed spots go to the champions of various college basketball conference tournaments, earning their place in the madness.
Below, you’ll find a list of conferences that are guaranteed at least one team to make the March Madness roster. The remaining 36 spots (or 32 if you exclude the four teams from the play-in games) are known as “at-large” bids, awarded based purely on a team’s merit.
The selection committee reviews every team that didn’t receive an automatic bid, assessing their entire season performance to select the top 36 résumés. This process ensures the most competitive and exciting bracket possible for the tournament.
List of College Basketball Conferences (Division 1)
- America East
- American Athletic
- Atlantic 10
- Atlantic Coast
- Atlantic Sun
- Big 12
- Big East
- Big Sky
- Big South
- Big Ten
- Big West
- Coastal Athletic Association
- Conference USA
- Horizon League
- Ivy League
- Metro Atlantic Athletic
- Mid-Eastern Athletic
- Missouri Valley
- Northeast
- Ohio Valley
- Pac-12
- Patriot League
- Southeastern
- Southland
- Southwestern Athletic
- Summit League
- Sun Belt
- West Coast
- Western Athletic
While March Madness highlights include massive upsets and buzzer beaters, the end results have typically favored the powerhouse conferences. In the 84 years that this tournament has been played, 61 (72.6%) of the champions have come from a “Power 5” conference:
- Atlantic Coast: 15
- Pac-12: 15
- Southeastern: 11
- Big Ten: 10
- Big East: 10
That number swells to 66 (78.6%) if you judge titles by the conference teams currently call home as opposed to the conference they were a part of when raising the trophy (realignment has recently been a part of the sport and will continue to be as things trend toward quality and not quantity of conferences).
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Most of this season’s “contenders” are coming from Power 5 conferences, but Houston is ready to crash that party. The Cougars moved from the AAC to the Big 12 before this season, and their stout defense could lead this conference to its third different national champion in the four years since the lost 2020 season.
While the champion usually comes from a few specific spots, upsets can spring from just about anywhere in the tournament. In recent seasons, the Cinderella slipper has perfectly fit the Florida Atlantic Owls (American Conference) and the Saint Peter’s Peacocks (MAAC).
“Winning” and “covering” aren’t always the same thing, making point spreads the great equalizer in a single-game environment. We might see a name-brand conference hoist another trophy on April 8, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of excitement and chaos leading up to then!
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