Not every college basketball team enters NCAA tournaments. So, there is a formal selection process for NCAA’s Division 1 for both men and women championships. In the current frenzy (March Madness), 32 teams will automatically participate in the tournaments by winning the championship of their conference.

The fate of the rest of the teams, i.e., 32 and 36 women’s and men’s respectively, depends on the decision of the selection committee to reward them the at-large bid. This process usually happens on Selection Sunday as well as the days preceding this day. It is also an important day for the public release of men’s brackets and seeds. Then the championship brackets for women are announced the following day, i.e., on Selection Monday.

Eligible Teams

The Big Dance and March Madness for the NCAA Division 1 tournament are hitting the waves across the country. Smaller conferences have kick-started the journey, and the major conferences will come later. In Division 1 basketball, 32 conferences are involved, and the winner from every conference tournament will gain an automatic bid into the much-awaited NCAA tournament. This year, several teams have already qualified for the men’s basketball tournament since they have won their respective conference championship. They include the Atlantic 10, American Athletic, and America East.

Who Are the Members of the Selection Committee?

The selection committee comprises of ten professionals who are conference commissioners and athletic directors from Division 1 athletics. There are separate committees for men and women’s tournaments. Every member represents conferences throughout the US and serves a 5-year term. Traditionally, the committee for men’s basketball tournaments consists of men only while that of women’s basketball tournament is exclusively made up of women. But in recent years, women are serving on the men’s selection committee. Janet Cone, Lynn Hickey, and Judy Rose are just to mention a few. Similarly, men such as Jeff Konya and Richard Ensor are also members of the women’s selection committee.