2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament qualifying teams

2021 qualifying teams
2021 qualifying teams
Total teams	68
Automatic bids	31
At-large bids	37
Top seed	Gonzaga
Champion	Baylor
	NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
	«2019 2022»

Last updated March 16, 2023

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]

Automatic bids

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

Conference	School	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

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
11*	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
16*	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
11*	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
16*	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

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
7	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

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

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References

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

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[1] "How the field of 68 teams is picked for March Madness | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. NCAA. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.

[2] "2021 NCAA conference tournaments: Schedules, brackets, scores, auto bids | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. NCAA. Retrieved 6 March 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.

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v t e 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments
Conference	ACC America East American ASUN Atlantic 10 Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA Conference USA Horizon Ivy MAAC MEAC Mid-American Missouri Valley Mountain West Northeast Ohio Valley Pac-12 Patriot SEC Southern Southland Summit Sun Belt SWAC WAC West Coast
Postseason	NCAA NIT CBI ~~CIT~~