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NCAA Men’s Tournament Automatic Bid Tracker: All 31 Teams That Have Punched Their Ticket to March Madness
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It’s that time of the year in college basketball.
The snow is melting. The days are lengthening. March is madnessing.
College basketball’s conference tournament week is officially in the books, with 31 conference tournament champions now crowned. Each will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, a prestigious honor for any program as well as traditionally the only way into the tournament for members of conferences in the distant past. Here is the full men’s conference tournament schedule.
On Selection Sunday, just hours before the selection committee releases the bracket that will send the world scribbling, the final few conference tournaments were won, including Penn (Ivy League), Arkansas (SEC) and Purdue (Big Ten).
Here is every team that clinched a bid to the Big Dance, taking fate into their own hands rather than leaving it to the selection committee.
NCAA men’s tournament automatic bids
Conference | Winner | First tournament appearance since … |
|---|---|---|
Big Ten | Purdue | 2025 |
American | South Florida | 2012 |
SEC | Arkansas | 2025 |
Atlantic 10 | VCU | 2025 |
Ivy League | Penn | 2018 |
WAC | California Baptist | First in program history |
Big West | Hawai’i | 2016 |
C-USA | Kennesaw State | 2023 |
ACC | Duke | 2025 |
MAC | Akron | 2025 |
SWAC | Prairie View A&M | 2019 |
Big East | St. John's | 2025 |
Big 12 | Arizona | 2025 |
Mountain West | Utah State | 2024 |
MEAC | Howard | 2024 |
America East | UMBC | 2018 |
Big Sky | Idaho | 1990 |
Patriot | Lehigh | 2012 |
Southland | McNeese State | 2025 |
WCC | Gonzaga | 2025 |
MAAC | Siena | 2010 |
CAA | Hofstra | 2001 |
Horizon | Wright State | 2022 |
Southern | Furman | 2023 |
Sun Belt | Troy | 2025 |
Summit | North Dakota State | 2019 |
Atlantic Sun | Queens | First in program history |
Big South | High Point | 2025 |
Missouri Valley | Northern Iowa | 2016 |
Ohio Valley | Tennessee State | 1994 |
Northeast | Long Island* | 2018 |
Editor’s note: Long Island earns an auto-bid regardless of Northeast title game result with Mercyhurst ineligible.
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Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .