March Madness History: How the Men's Tournament Field is Chosen
The NCAA tournament selection committee has played a large role in March Madness history. After all they are the ones who decide who gets in, who plays who, and who plays where. The process the committee undertakes each year is quite interesting. It's an elaborate system designed to get the most deserving at-large teams into the tournament and to balance the competitiveness of the four regions.
Throughout March Madness history there have been many rules and regulations that the NCAA committee has had to abide by in order to protect the integrity of the selection process. What I would like to do is lay out the basic framework of the process the committee currently follows to select at-large teams, seed teams, and place teams into the NCAA men's championship bracket.
Before Thursday evening of selection weekend each committee
Throughout March Madness history there have been many rules and regulations that the NCAA committee has had to abide by in order to protect the integrity of the selection process. What I would like to do is lay out the basic framework of the process the committee currently follows to select at-large teams, seed teams, and place teams into the NCAA men's championship bracket.
Before Thursday evening of selection weekend each committee
member must submit 2 ballots that include the at-large teams they believe deserve consideration for the tournament. Ballot 1 contains the 34 teams they believe should receive the at-large bids. Ballot 2 contains any other teams they believe should be in the discussion.
Additional balloting takes place once the committee convenes. The goal is to fill the 34 at-large openings. Balloting takes place to both add and remove teams from the at-large nomination board. This continues until 34 teams are tentatively agreed upon.
Balloting continues during the seeding process. Committee members vote for 8 teams at a time starting with the top teams. The top 4 vote getters are moved in order to the selection board. Vote getters 5 through 8 must show up on each committee member's ballot during the next round of balloting. This process continues until all 31 teams from the automatic bid board and all 34 teams from the at-large board are listed on the 65 team selection board. At this point teams are seeded 1 through 65.
Placing teams into the 65 team bracket is probably the most complicated portion of the process. There are rules governing when teams from the same conference can match up in the tournament. There are rules in place to balance each of the 4 regions in terms of competitiveness. There are rules in place to create a "pod system" where teams play 1st and 2nd round games as close to home as possible without damaging the integrity of the seeding process.
March Madness history has proven that conference tournaments ending on late Saturday and on Sunday afternoon can make an impact on who gets into the the Big Dance and where certain teams are seeded. If a couple teams make cinderella advances through their respective conference tournaments, the potential exists that the last team(s) on the NCAA selection board may get bumped off. That's what's great about NCAA basketball. Almost every Division 1A team has a chance to make the Big Dance by way of their conference tournament.
The NCAA selection committee is made up of athletic directors and conference commissioners from across the nation. There are rules in place to prevent any one committee member from giving their conference or school an advantage during the selection and seeding processes. The committee has many informational resources available to them during selection weekend. Records, home and away wins, wins over the last 10 games, RPI rankings, conference and non-conference results, polls, head-to-head results, and the ability to call anyone in the nation for input on a given team or conference. Much discussion and debate takes place among committee members during the selection and seeding processes.
March Madness history is definitely impacted by the work of the NCAA selection committee. Potential matchups do matter. Teams that get left out of the tournament are left to prove their worth in the NIT tourney. The tourney field does not contain the top 65 teams in America. What if it did? There would likely be more upsets and the amount of intriguing matchups would increase.
I love the fact that every NCAA team and conference gets a chance. But I believe there are many deserving, talented teams that get left out of the field of 65 each year. Expanding to 96 teams would only add one more round and would provide the top 32 teams with a first round bye. There are 334 Division 1A teams. Let's end the yearly controversy about who doesn't get in and ensure the best teams are the ones punching tickets to the NCAA basketball tournament. The fairest, most exciting way to do that is to keep the 31 automatic bids in place and increase the field to 96 teams.
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Check out how the NCAA women's tournament field is chosen
Additional balloting takes place once the committee convenes. The goal is to fill the 34 at-large openings. Balloting takes place to both add and remove teams from the at-large nomination board. This continues until 34 teams are tentatively agreed upon.
Balloting continues during the seeding process. Committee members vote for 8 teams at a time starting with the top teams. The top 4 vote getters are moved in order to the selection board. Vote getters 5 through 8 must show up on each committee member's ballot during the next round of balloting. This process continues until all 31 teams from the automatic bid board and all 34 teams from the at-large board are listed on the 65 team selection board. At this point teams are seeded 1 through 65.
Placing teams into the 65 team bracket is probably the most complicated portion of the process. There are rules governing when teams from the same conference can match up in the tournament. There are rules in place to balance each of the 4 regions in terms of competitiveness. There are rules in place to create a "pod system" where teams play 1st and 2nd round games as close to home as possible without damaging the integrity of the seeding process.
March Madness history has proven that conference tournaments ending on late Saturday and on Sunday afternoon can make an impact on who gets into the the Big Dance and where certain teams are seeded. If a couple teams make cinderella advances through their respective conference tournaments, the potential exists that the last team(s) on the NCAA selection board may get bumped off. That's what's great about NCAA basketball. Almost every Division 1A team has a chance to make the Big Dance by way of their conference tournament.
The NCAA selection committee is made up of athletic directors and conference commissioners from across the nation. There are rules in place to prevent any one committee member from giving their conference or school an advantage during the selection and seeding processes. The committee has many informational resources available to them during selection weekend. Records, home and away wins, wins over the last 10 games, RPI rankings, conference and non-conference results, polls, head-to-head results, and the ability to call anyone in the nation for input on a given team or conference. Much discussion and debate takes place among committee members during the selection and seeding processes.
March Madness history is definitely impacted by the work of the NCAA selection committee. Potential matchups do matter. Teams that get left out of the tournament are left to prove their worth in the NIT tourney. The tourney field does not contain the top 65 teams in America. What if it did? There would likely be more upsets and the amount of intriguing matchups would increase.
I love the fact that every NCAA team and conference gets a chance. But I believe there are many deserving, talented teams that get left out of the field of 65 each year. Expanding to 96 teams would only add one more round and would provide the top 32 teams with a first round bye. There are 334 Division 1A teams. Let's end the yearly controversy about who doesn't get in and ensure the best teams are the ones punching tickets to the NCAA basketball tournament. The fairest, most exciting way to do that is to keep the 31 automatic bids in place and increase the field to 96 teams.
Back to NCAA Basketball Tournament History
Back to College Basketball Rankings home page
Check out how the NCAA women's tournament field is chosen
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