Let's put this nonsense to rest once and for all. Here's some nuggets from Ncaa.com:
"Of the 68 TEAMS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD, 32 got in automatically as conference tournament champions.
Games start with the First Four on Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20. THE TOURNAMENT WILL THEN BE DOWN TO 64 TEAMS."
"Here is how the 68 TEAMS ARE SELECTED EVERY MARCH FOR THE NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT, commonly known as March Madness.
Each member of the Division I men's basketball committee evaluates a vast amount of information during selection process. Their opinions -- developed through observations, discussions with coaches, directors of athletics and commissioners, and review and comparison of data -- ultimately determine selections, seeding and bracketing.
There are three phases to the process to determine the 68 TEAMS FOR THE TOURNAMENT:
I. Select the 36 best at-large teams;
II. SEED THE FIELD OF 68 TEAMS; and
III. Place the teams into the championship bracket."
Below is a list of the NCAA participants by conference, with the automatic bid recipient in caps.
Big Ten: 8 (Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, MICHIGAN STATE, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin)
ACC: 7 (DUKE, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech)
SEC: 7 (AUBURN, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee)
Big 12: 6 (Baylor, IOWA STATE, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech)
American: 4 (CINCINNATI, Houston, Temple, UCF)
BIG EAST: 4 (Marquette, St. John’s, Seton Hall, VILLANOVA)
Pac-12: 3 (Arizona State, OREGON, Washington)
Atlantic 10: 2 (VCU, SAINT LOUIS)
Mountain West: 2 (Nevada, UTAH STATE)
OVC: 2 (Belmont, MURRAY STATE)
WCC: 2 (Gonzaga, SAINT MARY’S)
GAME - SET - MATCH!