GUIDELINES
ESPN’s Bracketology initiatives aim to forecast the NCAA tournament field similar to how we anticipate the NCAA Division I basketball committee will select teams in March. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme utilizes the same metrics preferred by the committee, including schedule strength and various season-long markers, such as the NET and team-sheet statistics akin to those available to the NCAA, in his field projections. For a more comprehensive grasp of the NCAA selection criteria, visit the NCAA’s official website.
64-Team Field
The 64-team field represents the typical structure of the NCAA tournament that has been established since 1994. However, if the 2021 field consists of 64 teams, there will be significant differences compared to previous years.
The main change from a typical year is, of course, that the entire NCAA tournament will take place at a single location. This removes the need for geographic factors in the seeding process. Furthermore, there will be at least one fewer automatic qualifier this season, as the Ivy League’s choice to opt out of the 2020-21 season reduces the number of AQ entries to 31 for this season.
48-Team Field
In this forecast, a streamlined selection process would decrease the field by eight at-large teams and eight automatic qualifiers (the latter still earns a revenue unit). The top four seeds in every region would earn a bye into the second round, with four first-round matchups in each region – 5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, and 8 vs. 9.
16-Team Field
In this forecast, the committee selects and seeds the 16 best teams available. There are no automatic qualifiers, although all non-participating conference champions receive the allocated revenue unit.
To ensure national balance, conference representation is limited to four teams. Additionally, no region may include more than one team from the same conference.
