Rules
ESPN’s bracketology efforts are focused on presenting the NCAA Tournament field as we expect the NCAA Division I Basketball Committee to select the field in March. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi uses data points favored by the committee, including strength of schedule and other season-long indicators, including NET and team sheet data available to the NCAA, in his projections of the field. Visit the NCAA website for a complete understanding of NCAA selection criteria.
68-Team Bracket
The 68-team bracket is the standard version of the NCAA Tournament field that has existed since 2011. If the 2021 field consists of 68 teams, there will be some significant differences from previous years.
The primary adjustment from a typical year, of course, is playing the entire NCAA Tournament at the same site. This eliminates the need for geographical reservations in sowing. Additionally, there will be at least one less automatic qualifier this season, as the Ivy League’s decision to forgo the 2020–21 season reduces the number of AQ entries to 31 for that season.
48-Team Bracket
In this projection, a condensed selection process would reduce the field to 10 major teams and 10 automatic qualifiers (the latter of which still earn revenue units). The top four seeds in each region will receive byes into the second round, with four first-round games per region — 5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10 and 8 vs. 9 — being played behind closed doors. High seed house court.
To minimize travel, first-round pairings will be guided by geography as much as possible. And the reduced field resulted in only 32 teams competing at the main site. All participants must post at least a .500 conference record – the “Lonardi rule” – to be considered at-large.
16-team bracket
In this projection, the committee picks and chooses the 16 best available teams. There are no automatic qualifiers, although all non-contest conference champions receive a designated revenue unit.
To maintain some sense of national balance, conference participation is limited to four teams. And no region shall have more than one team from the same conference.