Conference tournaments are underway in college basketball before March Madness.
A total of 31 automatic bids for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 2021 will be awarded to the Ivy League with the award, the only conference that does not have a tournament. (Normally 32 auto-qualifiers and 36 big bids are made in the region of 68).
A total of 11 bids have been set, and 20 more conferences will be given over the weekend. Saturday’s schedule includes 15 conference championship games:
Saturday, March 11
| the seminar | To match | Time |
| America East | UMass-Lowell vs Hartford | At 11 am |
| MEAC | Norfolk State vs. Morgan State | 1 PM |
| MAAC | Iona vs Fairfield | 4 pm |
| Big 12 | Texas vs Oklahoma State | at 6 pm |
| Mountain west | San Diego State vs. Utah State | at 6 pm |
| SWAC | Texas southern vs prairie scene a & m | at 6 pm |
| Big east | Georgetown vs Crayton | 6:30 pm |
| Mac | Ohio vs Buffalo | 7:30 pm |
| Big sky | Montana State vs. Eastern Washington | At 8 o’clock |
| Acc | Georgia Tech vs Florida State | 8:30 pm |
| C-USA | Western Kentucky vs. North Texas | Night 4 |
| South country | Nicholas vs Abilene Christian | 9:30 PM |
| Pac 12 | Oregon State vs. Colorado | 10 pm |
| WAC | Grand Canyon vs New Mexico State | 10 pm |
| Big west | UC-Santa Barbara vs UC-Irvine | 11:30 pm |
See the full conference tournament schedule (in alphabetical order) here. The list below will be updated as teams punch their tickets for March Madness. The Sporting News will track all automatic bids until March Madness as the bracket begins to fill. The remaining automatic bids will be selected on Sunday, March 14.
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March Madness Bracket Automatic Bid 2021
| the seminar | Natural dates |
| America East | 6–13 March |
| AAC | March 11-14 |
| Acc | March 9-13 |
| Atlantic 10 | 3- 3-14 March |
| Atlantic sun | Liberty (23-5) |
| Big east | 10-13 March |
| Big sky | 10-13 March |
| Big south | Winthrop (23–1) |
| Big ten | 10-14 March |
| Big 12 | 10-13 March |
| Big west | March 9-13 |
| Colonial | Dressel (12-7) |
| Conference USA | March 9-13 |
| Horizon League | Cleveland State (19-7) |
| Ivy League | No tournament |
| MAAC | March 9-13 |
| Central american | March 11-13 |
| MEAC | 10-13 March |
| Missouri Valley | Loyola-Chicago (24-4) |
| Mountain west | 10-13 March |
| Northeast | Mount St. Mary (12-10) |
| Ohio valley | Morehead State (23-7) |
| Pac 12 | 10-13 March |
| Patriot | 6-14 March |
| Second | 10-14 March |
| South | UNC-Greensboro (21-8) |
| South country | 10-13 March |
| Summit | Oral Roberts (16-10) |
| Hemp belt | Appalachian State (17-11) |
| SWAC | March 9, 12-13 |
| WAC | 10-13 March |
| Western coast | Gonzaga (26-0) |
After Selection Sunday, the first four games will tip March Madness in Dayton, Ohio on 18 March. The real first round then begins on 19–20 March. The second round will take place from 21–22 March.
Follow the SN’s expert forecasts in our field of 68 estimates released every week leading up to the selection Sunday, until the final bracket is released.
NCAA tournament bracket forecast
According to Bill Bender of March 10, Sporting News’ latest March Madness bracket predictions are:
Number 1 seed
- Gonzaga
- Boiler
- Michigan
- Illinois
In the last four
- fly
- Utah State
- Colorado state
- Syracuse
First four out
- Ole miss
- Xavier
- St. Louis
- Boise state
Read the rest of our 68 guess areas here.
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