March Madness bracket tracker: Updated list of automatic bids to 2024 NCAA Tournament
Though the 2024 NCAA Tournament won’t officially kick off until March 19 with a pair of First Four games in Dayton, Ohio, the race to compete for a national championship is currently afoot.
Conference tournaments in leagues large and small across the country are underway, with teams vying for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament that winning each of those events offers.
While teams from the Power Five conferences and the Big East — along with a handful of other leagues such as the Mountain West — don’t need to hoist their conference tournament trophy to be a part of March Madness, these various competitions will be the sole determining factor in which team from the majority of the 32 Division I leagues end up in the NCAA Tournament.
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Though it renders the regular season moot for many of these conferences, it creates a level of intensity, urgency and drama that make March such a cherished month on the American sports calendar. These tournaments are also where Cinderellas are born, where a door to the NCAA Tournament is opened for little-known programs who can pull off an upset (or more) and, in a single moment, become household names.
Exciting as those tournaments are, the sheer volume of them can be a bit overwhelming at times. To help you navigate some of the joyful madness that March can bring, here’s a look at which teams have secured the automatic bid from each Division I conference, with the leagues listed in chronological order from when their title game is held:
2024 NCAA Tournament automatic bids
Ohio Valley (March 6-9): Morehead State
ASUN (March 4-10): Stetson
Big South (March 6-10): Longwood
Missouri Valley (March 7-10): Drake
Southern (March 8-11): Samford
Sun Belt (March 5-11): James Madison
CAA (March 8-12): Charleston
Horizon (March 5-12): Oakland
Northeast (March 6-12): Wagner
Summit (March 8-12): South Dakota State
West Coast (March 7-12): Saint Mary's
Big Sky (March 9-13): Montana State
Patriot (March 5-13): Creighton
Southland (March 10-13): McNeese State
America East (March 9-16): Vermont
ACC (March 12-16): NC State
Big 12 (March 12-16): Iowa State
Big East (March 13-16): UConn
Big West (March 13-16): Long Beach State
Conference USA (March 12-16): Western Kentucky
MAAC (March 12-16): Saint Peter's
MAC (March 14-16): Akron
MEAC (March 13-16): Howard
Mountain West (March 13-16): New Mexico
Pac-12 (March 13-16): Oregon
SWAC (March 13-16): Grambling
WAC (March 13-16): Grand Canyon University
American Athletic (March 13-17): UAB
Atlantic 10 (March 12-17): Duquesne
Big Ten (March 13-17): Illinois
Ivy (March 16-17): Yale
SEC (March 13-17): Auburn
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: March Madness bracket: Tracking 2024 NCAA Tournament automatic bids