REGULATE
ESPN’s bracketology efforts are focused on projecting the NCAA tournament field, just like we expect the NCAA Division I basketball committee to select the field in March. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi uses the same data points preferred by the committee in his projections, including strength of the schedule and other seasonal indicators, including the NET and team sheet data available to those of the NCAA. Visit the NCAA website for a more complete understanding of the NCAA selection criteria.
68 team bracket
The 68-man bracket is the standard version of the NCAA tournament field that has existed since 2011. If the field consists of 68 teams in 2021, however, there are some key differences from previous years.
The primary adjustment from a normal year is of course playing the entire NCAA tournament in one place. This eliminates geographical considerations when sowing. Additionally, there will be at least one less automatic qualifier this season as the Ivy League’s decision to forego the 2020-21 season reduces the number of AQ entries for that season to 31.
48 team bracket
In this projection, a shortened selection process would reduce the field by 10 large teams and 10 automatic qualifiers (the latter of which would still receive a unit of revenue). The top four seeds in each region would get a second round reunion, with four first round games per region – 5v12, 6v11, 7v10, and 8v9 – being played with no fans on the home court of the higher seed .
In order to minimize travel, the pairings in the first round are controlled geographically as much as possible. And the reduced field means that only 32 teams compete against each other at the central location. All attendees must post at least 500 conference recordings – the “Lunardi Rule” – for a full review.
16-team bracket
In this projection, the committee selects and fixes the 16 best available teams. There are no automatic qualifiers, although all non-competing conference champions receive the designated revenue unit.
To maintain some degree of national balance, conference attendance is limited to four teams. And no region can have more than one team from the same conference.
