The regular season for most teams has almost ended. Now the teams would be gearing up for the conference tournament and compete in the coveted NCAA tournament thereafter. Teams are selected through two processes. 32 teams that are the winners of their respective conference tournaments automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament whereas 36 teams receive at large bids. Thus a total of 68 teams get to ply their trade in the March Madness.

While the process for the 32 conference winners is clear and simple, fans are often confused about the 36 teams that receive at-large bids. The results of the process are announced on Selection Sunday. This season the Selection Sunday for both men’s and women’s basketball teams will take place on 17th March.

How are the teams selected?

The much-anticipated day will bring with itself every matchup from the first round and the location for such games. The selection committee comprises 12 people who get to decide the seed of each team and their location. Southwestern Athletic Conference commissioner Charles McClelland is the chairperson of the men’s committee. The committee is formed of athletic directors and conference commissioners. To avoid rigging the process, the members cannot be present while the seed and score for their program are being thought out.

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There are a number of ways to select the 36 at large teams but one of the most important is the NET rankings. The NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) is a more comprehensive system than the previously used RPI tool. It comprises minute factors such as strength of schedule, and game location among other things. Therefore, it is considered to yield more specific and unbiased results.

There are four quadrants in which the teams are rated and higher the Quad 1 wins translates to more chances for a team to qualify for the March Madness.

• Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
• Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
• Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
• Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353

How are the teams ranked?

Now once 68 teams are selected, they are ranked from 1 to 68. Four teams in each bracket will be the same seed. For example, the 1 to 4 ranked team will be considered to be the No. 1 seed. Similarly, 5th to 8th ranked teams will be No. 2 seeds in the four divisions. The lowest 4 automatic qualifying teams are placed at the No. 16 seed whereas the lowest four at large bid teams are usually placed at the No. 11 and No. 12 seed.

The last four at-large bid teams and the last four ranked conference winners will compete against each other in the First Four games of the tournament. Four teams will thus be eliminated and the NCAA tournament going ahead will feature 64 teams.

Now that the selection process is more transparent, fans might get involved in calculating the NET and wishing their teams either get selected by at-large bids or automatically qualify by winning the conference tournament.

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