AUSTIN (KXAN) — As college basketball grows, so does the NCAA’s crown jewel of events — the men’s national tournament, better known as March Madness. A play-in round, increasing the field size from 64 to 68, reflects part of that growth.
The First Four has been part of March Madness since 2011, giving teams that may not have made the tournament in previous years a shot at making the field of 64. It’s the second tournament expansion since the Mountain West Conference gained Division I status in 1999 and earned an automatic bid to the tournament in 2001.
After the MWC could send their tournament championship to the Big Dance, the NCAA held one play-in game between the two lowest-seeded teams. In 2011, the NCAA expanded to its current form with four play-in games, all held at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, over two days before the official first round.
If you notice, the First Four play-in games don’t feature all No. 16 seeds. Why?
The games are a combination of the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifying teams, so those who won their conference tournaments, and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams the committee selects. Those subsets play each other in the First Four, so the at-large teams play each other and the automatic qualifiers play each other.
In this year’s case, Texas was the No. 41 overall seed out of 68, but they were one of the four lowest-seeded at-large teams, putting them in Dayton to start their March Madness journey. Their opponent, the Xavier Musketeers, earned the No. 42 seed. San Diego State (No. 43) and North Carolina (No. 46) were the other lowest-seeded at-large teams and will also play in Dayton. That grouping in the overall seed list, at least this season, falls in the No. 11 seed range. Therefore, the winners enter the first round as No. 11 seeds and face a No. 6 seed.
The lowest at-large teams don’t always fall in the No. 11 seed range. Last year, the First Four featured No. 10 seeds.
The remaining two First Four games feature American, Alabama State, Mount St. Mary’s and St. Francis (PA). All won their conference tournaments to earn an automatic bid but are the lowest seeds in the tournament. St. Francis is the only team in the tournament with a losing record at 16-17, but they won the Northeast Conference tournament championship and are seeded No. 68.
How do the First Four teams do in the tournament? Usually, at least one of the at-large First Four teams wins a subsequent tournament game. The only year that didn’t happen was 2019. Two teams that played in the First Four have reached the Final Four — Virginia Commonwealth in 2011 and UCLA in 2021.
There are 31 automatic bids via conference tournament championships and 37 at-large bids. The tournament selection committee picks the at-large teams first and then adds in the automatic qualifiers to seed the tournament and build the bracket.
