How Many Automatic Qualifying Teams are there for March Madness? 

During the Selection Sunday telecast, we will see a total of 68 teams announced that earned a spot in the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament bracket. Out of the 68, 32 of those teams earn their conference’s automatic bid to the tournament. For most teams, this consists of winning their conference’s postseason tournament. At this time, you can start placing wagers down, head down to your local sportsbook, consider online roulette offers from Roulette77, and kick off March Madness pools.

If a team has recently transitioned to Division I from Division II, then they will not be eligible to represent their conference in the NCAA Tournament. In these cases, the conference in question will have specific rules or guidance on whether the tournament runner-up or if the highest seed in the tournament gets the bid. 

How Do the Team’s Get Seeded During Selection Sunday? 

The NCAA Selection Committee uses a pretty complex process to not only pick the 36 at-large teams, but seed all 68. The NCAA Evaluation tool (NET) is used pretty heavily to help sort out good teams from those who just aren’t quite there for participating in March Madness. The committee will use this data that incorporates strength of schedule, quality of wins, the badness of losses, and more. Once the committee has picked the at-large teams, they will then go through the seeding process. After that is complete, working to ensure competitive balance across the four regions in the NCAA Tournament is the final step. All pretty complex and designed to be as fair as possible. 

Has Selection Sunday Occurred on St. Patrick’s Day Before? 

It’s been a little while since we combined two of the greatest Holidays into one 🙂 The last time sports fans enjoyed St. Patricks’s Day and Selection Sunday together was our pre-COVID tournament in 2019. Prior to that was for the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The driver behind the timing of Selection Sunday is the end of Championship Week for the college basketball conference tournaments. The 17th is actually the latest that Selection Sunday has occurred in a long time. 

How Exactly Does the First Four Work? 

The First Four has only been around since the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Once the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has determined the seeds for all of the teams they start the process of identifying the teams to play in the First Four. The four-lowest seeded automatic qualifying teams will be assigned to play as well as the four-lowest seeded at-large teams. These games occur on March 19th and March 20th, 2024 this year. 

When is Selection Sunday in 2024? 

Selection Sunday for both the men’s and women’s Division I NCAA basketball tournaments will take place on Sunday, March 17th, 2024. Each tournament has a field of 68. The men’s tournament bracket will be announced at 6 PM Eastern Time on CBS. As soon as the dust settles on that announcement, the women’s basketball tournament bracket will be announced at 8 PM Eastern Time on ESPN. 

2024 March Madness Tournament Schedule (Men’s)

Before we get to see the complete March Madness bracket, we have the 2024 NCAA Tournament schedule that you can check out. The First round of play is when most bracket contests start enforcing your picks, but ignore the FIrst Four at your own peril before we get to the final 64 team bracket! We also have the printable 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket up for you to run your own bracketology prior to Selection Sunday. Enjoy the games! 

Selection Sunday: 

Sunday, March 17th, 2024

First Four: March 19-20

First Round: March 21-22

Second Round: March 23-24 

Sweet 16: March 28-29 

Elite Eight: March 30-31 

Final Four: April 6 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Championship Game: April 8 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.