At-large bid
Encyclopedia
An at-large bid is a bid or berth in a sporting tournament granted by invitation, not right. This term is most commonly used in the United States
to refer to berths that the NCAA
grants in its annual Division I men's
and women's
basketball
tournaments, although at-large berths are granted in almost all championship tournaments the NCAA conducts.
The NIT
, held for the best teams that didn't make the NCAA Tournament, was at one time an entirely at-large event; new regulations, however, offer automatic bids to teams regular season conference champions which failed to win their post-season conference tournament.
This article focuses mainly on the most common use of the term, in reference to the basketball tournaments. However, a similar procedure applies in most other NCAA-sponsored tournaments, and in other tournaments that use an NCAA-style system.
Each year, the NCAA grants automatic berths in both the men's and women's Division I basketball tournaments to the winners of 31 conferences. In all cases, the conference's automatic berth is granted to the team that wins its conference postseason tournament, with the sole exception of the Ivy League
, which has never conducted a postseason tournament. The Ivy League berth is granted instead to the regular-season champion.
The NCAA has established Selection Committees for both the men's and women's tournaments. Teams that did not win their conference tournament may be eligible to earn an at-large berth. At-large berths are determined by record, ranking, strength of schedule, and many other factors. A key factor in determining at-large berths is the Ratings Percentage Index
, popularly referred to as the RPI. One absolute rule is that a team with a losing record after the conference tournament (or regular season in the case of the Ivy League) is barred from consideration for an at-large berth.
The fields of 68 teams that participate in the men's tournament, and 64 for the women's tournament, are filled as follows:
After all automatic berths are filled, the teams that did not win their conference tournaments are studied to see if they can make the tournament anyway. Once conference tournaments are complete, the Selection Committee need not consider conference affiliations in determining at-large berths, making it free to select as many teams from one conference as it deems correct. Most mid-major
conferences or smaller conferences will receive no at-large berths, and only the winner of the conference tournament will advance to the NCAA Tournament, making for some heartbreaking moments in the tournaments of smaller conferences.
The conference tournaments of major conferences are generally less important, as most losers will make the "Big Dance" via an at-large bid, but often lesser big conference teams will sneak in using the conference tournament, stealing a bid from a deserving mid-major team in the long run.
At-large berths are not necessarily lesser teams than automatic berths. They simply did not play well enough at the time of their conference tournaments. Often, at-large berths will get higher seeds than the teams that beat them in the conference tourney, because the Selection Committee judges base their judgment on the entire season.
Division I independents do not play a conference tournament and therefore do not have an automatic berth, and can only receive an at-large bid to the tournament, which rarely happens in today's game. Sometimes, a team that is otherwise deserving of a bid may be ineligible for the tournament due to an NCAA post-season ban, applied only as a punishment for egregious violations of NCAA rules in that school's program in that sport.
With a 68-team field (64 for women), and 31 automatic berths, the Selection Committee must pick the 37 (men's) or 33 (women's) most deserving teams that are left, which ends up being a long difficult process, which culminates in one of the most intense days in U.S. sports, Selection Sunday. Selection Sunday is a televised event where the brackets are revealed. There are almost always interesting arguments about who should be in and who should be out because there are often more than 34 teams that could be considered deserving of a bid. Many final teams that make it, and final teams that are cut are often thought of as interchangeable. This ends up resulting, sometimes, in major surprises of who makes the tournament as at-large teams. At-large teams often will win the tournament.
The conferences that are known for many at-large bids are generally the six BCS conference
s: the ACC
, Big Ten
, Big 12
, Big East
, Pac-12, and SEC
. ("BCS" refers to Bowl Championship Series
, the current system used to determine the championship of Division I-A football
.) Those conferences, which contain most of the marquee schools in college basketball, typically receive many at-large berths. They usually get at least four at-large bids, despite the lack of an official rule requiring this allocation. While these schools often win their conference tournament, they equally often do not, and therefore usually make the NCAA Tournament via at-large berths.
Other conferences that receive multiple at-large bids on a regular basis are the Atlantic 10
, Missouri Valley
, Mountain West
, WAC
and Conference USA
(although since the loss of many of that conference's top teams to the Big East and A-10, this may change). In recent years, the Horizon League
, Mid-American Conference
and West Coast Conference
have also received more than just the automatic berth several times.
Certain conferences have never, and probably will not in the near future, get an at-large bid, simply because no team in the conference can ever be one of the best 68 teams in the country, and even if one does, two at the same time would be virtually unheard of. Therefore, it is also often argued that these very small conferences do not even deserve their one automatic bid and it should be given to a more deserving large conference team. Most argue that this would take away from the point of the 68-team large tournament style, that always gives the underdog
the chance for an upset
. These conferences include the Big Sky Conference
, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
, and the Southwestern Athletic Conference
. One of these conferences recently made an argument for their best team to make the tournament, even though it lost in the conference tourney. Oral Roberts
of the Mid-Continent Conference blew through their conference in the regular season but lost in the conference tournament, ending with a conference record of 17-1. They did not make the tournament, and Oakland University
won the bid. Utah State
and Holy Cross
also had arguments like this recently. A new way to solve the problem is to attempt to switch to a more prominent conference, which Utah State did in 2005 (Big West to the Western Athletic), or Central Florida
did in 2005 (Atlantic Sun Conference
to the C-USA).
Arguments such as this continue and there will always be much controversy surrounding at-large bids.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to refer to berths that the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
grants in its annual Division I men's
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
and women's
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
tournaments, although at-large berths are granted in almost all championship tournaments the NCAA conducts.
The NIT
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
, held for the best teams that didn't make the NCAA Tournament, was at one time an entirely at-large event; new regulations, however, offer automatic bids to teams regular season conference champions which failed to win their post-season conference tournament.
This article focuses mainly on the most common use of the term, in reference to the basketball tournaments. However, a similar procedure applies in most other NCAA-sponsored tournaments, and in other tournaments that use an NCAA-style system.
Each year, the NCAA grants automatic berths in both the men's and women's Division I basketball tournaments to the winners of 31 conferences. In all cases, the conference's automatic berth is granted to the team that wins its conference postseason tournament, with the sole exception of the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
, which has never conducted a postseason tournament. The Ivy League berth is granted instead to the regular-season champion.
The NCAA has established Selection Committees for both the men's and women's tournaments. Teams that did not win their conference tournament may be eligible to earn an at-large berth. At-large berths are determined by record, ranking, strength of schedule, and many other factors. A key factor in determining at-large berths is the Ratings Percentage Index
Ratings Percentage Index
The Rating Percentage Index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule. It is one of the systems by which NCAA basketball and baseball teams are ranked...
, popularly referred to as the RPI. One absolute rule is that a team with a losing record after the conference tournament (or regular season in the case of the Ivy League) is barred from consideration for an at-large berth.
The fields of 68 teams that participate in the men's tournament, and 64 for the women's tournament, are filled as follows:
- 31 automatic berths
- 30 conference tournament champions
- The Ivy League regular-season champion
- At-large berths
- 37 in the men's tournament
- 33 in the women's tournament
After all automatic berths are filled, the teams that did not win their conference tournaments are studied to see if they can make the tournament anyway. Once conference tournaments are complete, the Selection Committee need not consider conference affiliations in determining at-large berths, making it free to select as many teams from one conference as it deems correct. Most mid-major
Mid-major
Mid-major is a term used in American Division I college sports, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the major six conferences...
conferences or smaller conferences will receive no at-large berths, and only the winner of the conference tournament will advance to the NCAA Tournament, making for some heartbreaking moments in the tournaments of smaller conferences.
The conference tournaments of major conferences are generally less important, as most losers will make the "Big Dance" via an at-large bid, but often lesser big conference teams will sneak in using the conference tournament, stealing a bid from a deserving mid-major team in the long run.
At-large berths are not necessarily lesser teams than automatic berths. They simply did not play well enough at the time of their conference tournaments. Often, at-large berths will get higher seeds than the teams that beat them in the conference tourney, because the Selection Committee judges base their judgment on the entire season.
Division I independents do not play a conference tournament and therefore do not have an automatic berth, and can only receive an at-large bid to the tournament, which rarely happens in today's game. Sometimes, a team that is otherwise deserving of a bid may be ineligible for the tournament due to an NCAA post-season ban, applied only as a punishment for egregious violations of NCAA rules in that school's program in that sport.
With a 68-team field (64 for women), and 31 automatic berths, the Selection Committee must pick the 37 (men's) or 33 (women's) most deserving teams that are left, which ends up being a long difficult process, which culminates in one of the most intense days in U.S. sports, Selection Sunday. Selection Sunday is a televised event where the brackets are revealed. There are almost always interesting arguments about who should be in and who should be out because there are often more than 34 teams that could be considered deserving of a bid. Many final teams that make it, and final teams that are cut are often thought of as interchangeable. This ends up resulting, sometimes, in major surprises of who makes the tournament as at-large teams. At-large teams often will win the tournament.
The conferences that are known for many at-large bids are generally the six BCS conference
BCS conference
An Automatic Qualifying conference is an athletic conference in NCAA Division I FBS whose champion receives an automatic berth in one of the five Bowl Championship Series bowl games...
s: the ACC
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
, Big Ten
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
, Big 12
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
, Big East
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
, Pac-12, and SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
. ("BCS" refers to Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
, the current system used to determine the championship of Division I-A football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
.) Those conferences, which contain most of the marquee schools in college basketball, typically receive many at-large berths. They usually get at least four at-large bids, despite the lack of an official rule requiring this allocation. While these schools often win their conference tournament, they equally often do not, and therefore usually make the NCAA Tournament via at-large berths.
Other conferences that receive multiple at-large bids on a regular basis are the Atlantic 10
Atlantic Ten Conference
The Atlantic 10 Conference is a college athletic conference which operates mostly on the United States' eastern seaboard. It also has two member schools in Ohio: Dayton and Xavier, located in Dayton and Cincinnati, respectively. Another member, Saint Louis is located in St. Louis, Missouri...
, Missouri Valley
Missouri Valley Conference
The Missouri Valley Conference is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the midwestern United States...
, Mountain West
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...
, WAC
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
and Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...
(although since the loss of many of that conference's top teams to the Big East and A-10, this may change). In recent years, the Horizon League
Horizon League
The Horizon League is a ten school, NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located in five of the Midwestern United States....
, Mid-American Conference
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...
and West Coast Conference
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
have also received more than just the automatic berth several times.
Certain conferences have never, and probably will not in the near future, get an at-large bid, simply because no team in the conference can ever be one of the best 68 teams in the country, and even if one does, two at the same time would be virtually unheard of. Therefore, it is also often argued that these very small conferences do not even deserve their one automatic bid and it should be given to a more deserving large conference team. Most argue that this would take away from the point of the 68-team large tournament style, that always gives the underdog
Underdog (competition)
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, frequently in electoral politics, sports and creative works, who is popularly expected to lose. The party, team or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the rare case where an underdog wins, the outcome is an upset. These...
the chance for an upset
Upset
An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win , is defeated by an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom...
. These conferences include the Big Sky Conference
Big Sky Conference
The Big Sky Conference is an intercollegiate college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I, with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. The BSC was founded in 1963. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the states of Arizona,...
, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. MAAC teams compete in the NCAA's Division I. Most of the members are Catholic or formerly Catholic institutions; the only exception is the private but secular Rider...
, and the Southwestern Athletic Conference
Southwestern Athletic Conference
The Southwestern Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black universities in the Southern United States...
. One of these conferences recently made an argument for their best team to make the tournament, even though it lost in the conference tourney. Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts University
Oral Roberts University , based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the United States, is an interdenominational, Charismatic Christian, comprehensive university with an enrollment of about 3,790 students from 49 U.S. states along with a significant number of international students from 70 countries...
of the Mid-Continent Conference blew through their conference in the regular season but lost in the conference tournament, ending with a conference record of 17-1. They did not make the tournament, and Oakland University
Oakland University
Oakland University is a public university co-founded by Matilda Dodge Wilson and John A. Hannah whose campus is located in central Oakland County, Michigan, United States in the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills. It is the only major research university in Oakland County, from which OU...
won the bid. Utah State
Utah State University
Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....
and Holy Cross
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
also had arguments like this recently. A new way to solve the problem is to attempt to switch to a more prominent conference, which Utah State did in 2005 (Big West to the Western Athletic), or Central Florida
University of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...
did in 2005 (Atlantic Sun Conference
Atlantic Sun Conference
The Atlantic Sun Conference is a college athletic conference operating in the Southeastern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I; it does not sponsor football. The conference was established in 1978 as the Trans America Athletic Conference...
to the C-USA).
Arguments such as this continue and there will always be much controversy surrounding at-large bids.