March Madness 2017 Predictions: What Teams Will Make The NCAA Tournament? Conference Championships To Determine 68-Team Field

Selection Sunday is still a few days away, but teams have already begun punching their tickets to the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Four teams are in the field of 68 as of Monday morning after winning their conference tournaments, and more automatic bids will be determined shortly.

Jacksonville State became the first team to find its way into the bracket, winning the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Saturday night. After the Gamecocks made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, they were joined by Wichita State, Winthrop and Florida Gulf Coast University.

That leaves 28 automatic bids and 64 total spots in the tournament with less than a week to go. Some teams are obviously on their way to the Big Dance, no matter what happens in their conference tournaments. Others still have some work to do.

Many of the smaller conferences will only send one team to the NCAA Tournament, but the No.1 seeds in the major conferences will get in the Big Dance with or without a conference title. That’s the case for North Carolina (ACC), Kansas (Big 12) and Villanova (Big East), all of whom ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects as No.1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga, who is favored to win the WCC, is the fourth projected No.1 seed.

Many of the traditional college basketball powerhouses are all but officially in the field. Louisville and Kentucky both have a chance to get a top seed in one of the four regions, while Duke and UCLA might be headed for a No.3 or a No.4 seed. Oregon and Purdue are favored to win the Pac-12 and Big Ten tournaments, respectively, and Lunardi has Baylor projected to be a No.2 seed.

Wisconsin, who has made the Final Four in two of the last three years, will make the field, as well. Other apparent guarantees to compete in March Madness include Virginia, Notre Dame, Florida, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Minnesota, Butler and Arizona.

Tom Izzo and Michigan State are usually a staple of March Madness and probably in the field, though a first-round loss in the Big Ten Tournament could make things dicey on Selection Sunday. Providence, Marquette, Syracuse and Vanderbilt are among other teams that could be tempting fate with a first-round exit.

Lunardi projects Xavier, Wake Forest, USC and Illinois State as the final four teams that will make the tournament without an automatic bid. Rhode Island, Kansas State, Illinois and Iowa are the first four out of the Big Dance, though that can change with a strong showing this week.

The ACC will have the largest presence in March Madness, according to Lunardi. He has 10 teams from the conference making the tournament, including Wake Forest, Syracuse and Miami, all of whom have at least 10 losses. The Big Ten and Big East are each projected to get seven teams in.

Twenty-three conferences sent just one team to the field of 68 in 2016, and that number could be just about the same in 2017. Vermont (America East), SMU (AAC), Middle Tennessee (Conference USA), Princeton (Ivy League) and Bucknell (Patriot League) are among the teams that are expected to be the lone representatives of their leagues.

Click here to see Lunardi’s entire projected field of 68.