Belmont Bruins, Manhattan Jaspers And Others Have Gotten Into The NCAA Tournament

Photo © Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

The NCAA Tournament begins with the official bracket announcement on Sunday, March 15, but March Madness is currently underway as all the teams play for their conference’s automatic bid.

There are 68 spots in the NCAA Tournament and 32 of those are decided by conference winners: 31 out of the 32 conferences have tournaments at the beginning of March to determine the automatic bids — the Ivy League is the odd man out, as it chooses their champion through league play.

All of these tournaments start at the beginning of March and some finish on the day of the selection process: specifically, the AAC, Atlantic 10, Big Ten, SEC and Sun Belt end on March 15. But some have already ended, meaning eleven teams have currently punched their ticket and secured a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!

A week of sports news in your in-box.
We find the sports news you need to know, so you don't have to.

These teams include the Belmont Bruins (22-10) from the Ohio Valley Conference, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (24-9) of the Big South Conference, the Gonzaga Bulldogs (32-2) for the West Coast Conference, the Manhattan Jaspers (19-13) from the Metro Atlantic, Northeastern Huskies (19-13) of the Colonial Conference, the Northern Iowa Panthers (30-3) for the Missouri Valley Conference, the North Dakota State Bison (23-9) from the Summit Conference, the North Florida Ospreys (23-11) of the Atlantic Sun, Robert Morris Colonials (19-14) for the Northeast Conference, Valparaiso Crusaders (28-5) from the Horizon Conference and the Wofford Terriers (28-6) of the Southern Conference.

And tonight, expect to see two more tickets punched as the winners of the Northeast and Patriot conferences will be crowned. Also, today marks the beginning of ten other tournaments: most notably, the SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten and Big Twelve tournaments begin, so check local listings.