How can a college basketball team be eligible for the NCAA Tournament?

Answer 1

1.) They can automatically qualify by winning their conference tournament title or, in the case of the conferences that don't have conference touraments such as the Ivy League, they can qualify by winning their conference's regular season title.

2.) By having a high enough RPI to get one of the 33 at-large bids. The RPI considers the team's record and their performance against quality (or not-so-quality) opponents.

3.) By not getting caught violating the NCAA rules.

Answer 2

Two ways:

Automatic bids. Each of the 31 Division I conferences has one automatic berth in the NCAA Baseball tournament. For the conferences that have conference tournaments, the team that wins that conference's tournament gets the autmatic berth for that conference. If a conference does not have a tournament, the automatic bid goes to the team that wins the conference championship (highest win/loss ratio in conference games, with ties broken by head-to-head results).

At-large bids. The NCAA has a selection committee to select the remaining 33 teams. Powerhouse baseball conferences like the ACC, SEC, and Big 12 can usually count on getting at least 6 at-large bids, and sometimes as many as 8 (for a total of 7 to 9 berths). As a general rule, if you're in one of these conferences, and you're good enough to make the cut for your conference tournament (8 teams), then you'll probably be in a regional somewhere. However, teams that just barely made the cut for their conference tournament, then lost their first two games in the conference tournament, shouldn't start packing their bags just yet. Mid-major conferences usually get 2 at-large bids, though it can vary. Minor conferences usually don't get any at-large bids, but have to settle for their single automatic bid. This is not a written rule, mind you. Nothing is written when it comes to at-large selections - I'm just giving you what I perceive to be the unwritten way that it usually works out. And every year, it doesn't work out exactly like this. There's always a handful of at-large bids that go to minor conferences, usually to teams that won the conference championship handily, but couldn't win the conference tournament. The theory is that such teams are, undoubtedly, the best team in their respective conferences, but they had two uncharacteristic bad games in the conference tournament, and they shouldn't be punished for that, especially if the star hitter or ace pitcher was out for those two games. Playing regular season, non-conference games against teams from major or mid-major conferences, and beating them occasionally, can also help a minor-conference team get into a regional. And sometimes, at least among major and mid-major conference teams, just having a history, in past years, of baseball excellence will get you into a regional, despite a poor record in the current year. Also, though the selection committee will surely deny it, some less-discreet college baseball reporters insist that having a former coach, athletic director, president, etc. of your university (or another university in your conference) on the selection committee helps a lot too.

Answer 3

A team automatically qualifies for the NCAA Tournament by winning their Conference Tournament except for the Ivy League. Their regular season champion advances because they do not have a conference tournament.

Answer 4

if they win their conference they are in