2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament qualifying teams

This is a list of qualifying teams for the 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. A total of 68 teams participated in the tournament. 31 of the teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments; normally, this would be 32 teams, but the Ivy League cancelled play for this season. The remaining 37 (normally 36) teams were granted at-large bids, which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. All teams were seeded 1 to 16 within their regions, while the Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.[1][2]

2021 qualifying teams
Total teams68
Automatic bids31
At-large bids37
Top seedGonzaga
ChampionBaylor

Automatic bids

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Seeds listed were seeds within the conference tournaments. Conference championship runners-up in bold face were given at-large berths.

Automatic bids
Qualifying school Record (Conf.) Seed Last app. Tournament Runner-up Record (Conf.) Seed
Liberty 23–5 (11–2) 1 2019 Atlantic Sun North Alabama 13–11 (7–8) 5
Morehead State 23–7 (17–3) 2 2011 Ohio Valley Belmont 26–4 (18–2) 1
Winthrop 23–1 (17–1) 1 2017 Big South Campbell 17–10 (11–6) 3
Loyola 24–4 (16–2) 1 2018 Missouri Valley Drake 25–4 (15–3) 2
UNC Greensboro 21–8 (13–5) 1 2018 Southern Mercer 18–11 (8–9) 7
Appalachian State 17–11 (7–8) E4 2000 Sun Belt Georgia State 16–6 (8–4) E1
Cleveland State 19–7 (16–4) 1 2009 Horizon Oakland 12–8 (10–10) 3
Drexel 12–7 (4–5) 6 1996 CAA Elon 10–9 (4–7) 8
Mount St. Mary's 12–10 (9–7) 4 2017 Northeast Bryant 15–6 (10–4) 2
Gonzaga 26–0 (15–0) 1 2019 WCC BYU 20–6 (10–3) 2
Oral Roberts 16–10 (10–5) 4 2008 Summit North Dakota State 15–2 (11–5) 3
Hartford 15–8 (8–6) 4 Never America East UMass Lowell 11–12 (7–8) 6
Norfolk State 16–7 (8–4) N2 2012 MEAC Morgan State 14–8 (7–5) N3
Iona 10–5 (6–3) 9 2019 MAAC Fairfield 9–16 (7–11) 7
San Diego State 21–4 (14–3) 1 2018 Mountain West Utah State 19–7 (15–4) 2
Texas Southern 13–8 (10–3) 3 2018 SWAC Prairie View A&M 15–4 (13–0) 1
Texas 18–7 (11–6) 3 2018 Big 12 Oklahoma State 20–7 (11–7) 5
Georgetown 11–12 (7–9) 8 2015 Big East Creighton 19–7 (14–6) 2
Ohio 16–7 (9–5) 5 2012 MAC Buffalo 16–7 (12–5) 2
Eastern Washington 13–7 (12–3) 2 2015 Big Sky Montana State 11–9 (8–6) 5
Georgia Tech 17–8 (11–6) 4 2010 ACC Florida State 16–6 (11–4) 2
North Texas 15–9 (9–5) W3 2010 Conference USA Western Kentucky 20–6 (11–3) E1
Abilene Christian 21–4 (13–2) 2 2019 Southland Nicholls 17–6 (14–2) 1
Grand Canyon 17–6 (9–3) 1 Never WAC New Mexico State 12–8 (7–6) 3
Oregon State 17–12 (10-10) 5 2016 Pac-12 Colorado 22–8 (14–6) 3
UC Santa Barbara 22–4 (13–3) 1 2011 Big West UC Irvine 18–9 (10–4) 2
Colgate 13–1 (11–1) 2 2019 Patriot Loyola 6–10 (4–10) 9
Alabama 23–6 (16–2) 1 2018 SEC LSU 18–8 (11–6) 3
St. Bonaventure 15–4 (11–4) 1 2018 Atlantic 10 VCU 19–6 (10–4) 2
Houston 23–3 (14–3) 2 2019 American Cincinnati 12–10 (8–6) 5
Illinois 22–6 (16–4) 2 2013 Big Ten Ohio State 21–8 (12–8) 5

At-large bids

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School Conference Appearance Last bid
Arkansas SEC 33rd 2018
Baylor Big 12 13th 2019
BYU WCC 30th 2015
Clemson ACC 12th 2018
Colorado Pac-12 15th 2016
Creighton Big East 22nd 2018
Drake Missouri Valley 5th 2008
Florida SEC 21st 2019
Florida State ACC 18th 2019
Iowa Big Ten 27th 2019
Kansas Big 12 49th 2019
LSU SEC 23rd 2019
Maryland Big Ten 28th 2019
Michigan Big Ten 27th 2019
Michigan State Big Ten 34th 2019
Missouri SEC 28th 2018
North Carolina ACC 51st 2019
Ohio State Big Ten 30th 2019
Oklahoma Big 12 33rd 2019
Oklahoma State Big 12 29th 2017
Oregon Pac-12 17th 2019
Purdue Big Ten 31st 2019
Rutgers Big Ten 7th 1991
Syracuse ACC 41st 2019
Tennessee SEC 23rd 2019
Texas Tech Big 12 17th 2019
UCLA Pac-12 48th 2018
UConn Big East 34th 2016
USC Pac-12 18th 2017
Utah State Mountain West 22nd 2019
VCU Atlantic 10 18th 2019
Villanova Big East 40th 2019
Virginia ACC 24th 2019
Virginia Tech ACC 12th 2019
West Virginia Big 12 30th 2018
Wichita State American 16th 2018
Wisconsin Big Ten 25th 2019

Listed by region and seeding

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The tournament seeds and regions were determined through the NCAA basketball tournament selection process.

In contrast to previous years, the S-Curve used to establish overall seeds will also be used as primary determinant of the tournament bracket; this was made possible by the relatively condensed locations of this year's tournament making geographic concerns irrelevant. However, rules that can modify pairings to avoid early rematches and to distribute top conference representatives to different regions will remain in effect.[3][4]

West Regional
Seed School Conference Record Overall Seed Berth type
1 Gonzaga West Coast 26–0 1 Automatic
2 Iowa Big Ten 21–8 7 At-Large
3 Kansas Big 12 20–8 12 At-Large
4 Virginia ACC 18–6 16 At-Large
5 Creighton Big East 20–8 17 At-Large
6 USC Pac-12 22–7 21 At-Large
7 Oregon Pac-12 20–6 25 At-Large
8 Oklahoma Big 12 15–10 32 At-Large
9 Missouri SEC 16–9 33 At-Large
10 VCU Atlantic 10 19–7 38 At-Large
11* Wichita State American 16–5 45 At-Large
Drake Missouri Valley 25–4 48 At-Large
12 UC Santa Barbara Big West 22–4 50 Automatic
13 Ohio MAC 16–7 51 Automatic
14 Eastern Washington Big Sky 16–7 58 Automatic
15 Grand Canyon WAC 17–6 59 Automatic
16* Norfolk State MEAC 16–7 67 Automatic
Appalachian State Sun Belt 17–11 68 Automatic
East Regional
Seed School Conference Record Overall Seed Berth type
1 Michigan Big Ten 20–4 4 At-Large
2 Alabama SEC 24–6 5 Automatic
3 Texas Big 12 19–7 11 Automatic
4 Florida State ACC 16–6 13 At-Large
5 Colorado Pac-12 22–8 20 At-Large
6 BYU West Coast 20–6 23 At-Large
7 UConn Big East 15–7 26 At-Large
8 LSU SEC 18–9 29 At-Large
9 St. Bonaventure Atlantic 10 16–4 39 Automatic
10 Maryland Big Ten 16–13 36 At-Large
11* Michigan State Big Ten 15–12 43 At-Large
UCLA Pac-12 17–9 44 At-Large
12 Georgetown Big East 13–12 47 Automatic
13 UNC Greensboro Southern 21–8 54 Automatic
14 Abilene Christian Southland 23–4 55 Automatic
15 Iona MAAC 12–5 62 Automatic
16* Mount St. Mary's Northeast 12–10 65 Automatic
Texas Southern SWAC 16–8 66 Automatic
South Regional
Seed School Conference Record Overall Seed Berth type
1 Baylor Big 12 22–2 2 At-Large
2 Ohio State Big Ten 21–9 6 At-Large
3 Arkansas SEC 22–6 9 At-Large
4 Purdue Big Ten 18–9 14 At-Large
5 Villanova Big East 16–6 18 At-Large
6 Texas Tech Big 12 17–10 22 At-Large
7 Florida SEC 14–9 28 At-Large
8 North Carolina ACC 18–10 31 At-Large
9 Wisconsin Big Ten 17–12 35 At-Large
10 Virginia Tech ACC 15–6 37 At-Large
11 Utah State Mountain West 20–8 42 At-Large
12 Winthrop Big South 23–1 49 Automatic
13 North Texas C-USA 17–9 52 Automatic
14 Colgate Patriot 14–1 57 Automatic
15 Oral Roberts Summit 16–10 61 Automatic
16 Hartford America East 15–8 64 Automatic
Midwest Regional
Seed School Conference Record Overall Seed Berth type
1 Illinois Big Ten 23–6 3 Automatic
2 Houston American 24–3 8 Automatic
3 West Virginia Big 12 18–9 10 At-Large
4 Oklahoma State Big 12 20–8 15 At-Large
5 Tennessee SEC 18–8 19 At-Large
6 San Diego State Mountain West 23–4 24 Automatic
7 Clemson ACC 16–7 27 At-Large
8 Loyola Chicago Missouri Valley 24–4 30 Automatic
9 Georgia Tech ACC 17–8 34 Automatic
10 Rutgers Big Ten 15–11 40 At-Large
11 Syracuse ACC 16–9 41 At-Large
12 Oregon State Pac-12 17–12 46 Automatic
13 Liberty Atlantic Sun 23–5 53 Automatic
14 Morehead State Ohio Valley 23–7 56 Automatic
15 Cleveland State Horizon 19–7 60 Automatic
16 Drexel Colonial 12–7 63 Automatic

*See First Four

Conferences with multiple bids

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Bids Conference Schools
9 Big Ten Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Rutgers
7 ACC Georgia Tech, Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Big 12 Texas, Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, West Virginia
6 SEC Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Missouri, Tennessee
5 Pac-12 Oregon State, Colorado, Oregon, UCLA, USC
4 Big East Georgetown, Creighton, UConn, Villanova
2 American Houston, Wichita State
Atlantic 10 St. Bonaventure, VCU
Missouri Valley Loyola, Drake
Mountain West San Diego State, Utah State
WCC Gonzaga, BYU

Bids by state

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Bids State School(s)
1 Alabama Alabama
1 Arizona Grand Canyon
1 Arkansas Arkansas
4 California San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, USC
2 Connecticut Hartford, UConn
1 Colorado Colorado
2 Florida Florida, Florida State
1 Georgia Georgia Tech
1 Indiana Purdue
2 Illinois Illinois, Loyola
2 Iowa Drake, Iowa
1 Louisiana LSU
2 Kansas Kansas, Wichita State
1 Kentucky Morehead State
2 Maryland Maryland, Mount St. Mary's
2 Michigan Michigan, Michigan State
1 Missouri Missouri
1 Nebraska Creighton
1 New Jersey Rutgers
4 New York Colgate, Iona, St. Bonaventure, Syracuse
3 North Carolina Appalachian State, North Carolina, UNC Greensboro
3 Ohio Cleveland State, Ohio, Ohio State
3 Oklahoma Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts
2 Oregon Oregon, Oregon State
2 Pennsylvania Drexel, Villanova
2 South Carolina Clemson, Winthrop
1 Tennessee Tennessee
7 Texas Abilene Christian, Baylor, Houston, North Texas, Texas, Texas Southern, Texas Tech
2 Utah BYU, Utah State
5 Virginia Liberty, Norfolk State, VCU, Virginia, Virginia Tech
2 Washington Eastern Washington, Gonzaga
1 West Virginia West Virginia
1 Wisconsin Wisconsin
1 Washington, D.C. Georgetown

References

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  1. ^ "How the field of 68 teams is picked for March Madness | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. NCAA. January 22, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  2. ^ "2021 NCAA conference tournaments: Schedules, brackets, scores, auto bids | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. NCAA. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  3. ^ "New bracketing principles adopted for 2021 NCAA tournament". www.ncaa.com. NCAA. January 15, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  4. ^ "The NCAA bracket S-curve, explained". www.ncaa.com. NCAA. January 15, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.