March Madness 2022: How Many Teams Are In The NCAA Tournament Bracket?

College Basketball takes center stage over the next few weeks with the arrival of March Madness. While expansion has allowed more teams to make the bracket over the years, the majority of the sport will be watching the 2022 NCAA Tournament from home.

How many teams are in the 2022 NCAA Tournament? The March Madness bracket features 68 Division 1 schools that either earned an automatic or at-large bid.

The NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. An additional four spots were added in 2011, bringing the total to 68 teams.

Thirty-two teams earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament by winning their conference championship. The remaining 36 teams are determined by the Selection Committee, based on their performance in the regular season and conference tournaments.

Eight teams participate in March Madness before the first round officially begins. Those contests are known as the “First Four” and are considered to be part of the NCAA Tournament. Four teams are eliminated, leaving 64 at the start of the first weekend.

The March Madness bracket is split into four regions, each of which features 16 teams in the first round. The first round lasts two days and the field is cut in half to 32 teams. The teams that survive the two-day second round advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

It takes four victories for a team to win its NCAA Tournament region. The regional champions will meet in the Final Four, where college basketball’s national champion will be crowned.

Each team is seeded No. 1 through No. 16 in one of the regions. The 1985 Villanova Wildcats are the lowest seed to ever win a national title, doing so as a No. 8 seed. Four No. 8 seeds have reached the national championship game.

Eleven of the last 24 teams to reach the Final Four have been a No. 1 seed.