The NCAA basketball season is fast approaching. In fact, teams already began practice on September 28th and the season tips off on November 6th! As a huge hoops fan, I for one cannot wait for the year to begin. While the beginning of the year is always a great chance to see your favorite team finally back in action, it also gives you a chance to see some of the year’s top contenders for a coveted spot in the Final Four.
Obviously, not every team can make the Final Four, let alone the NCAA Tournament. With only 68 slots reserved for the tournament, there will be a lot of upset teams ending their seasons on a low note. The simple fact of the matter is that Division 1 basketball consists of several hundreds of teams all looking for success on different levels. For some, it may be trying to end the season with a winning record, for others the Final Four is there only measure on whether or not they had a productive season.
But exactly how many Division 1 college basketball teams are there? The number is pretty staggering and even I, as a self-proclaimed die-hard fan, was surprised at the total.
353 Total NCAA Division 1 Basketball Teams
Yes, you read that right, 353!
These 353 teams are broken up in 32 total conferences with an average of 11 teams per conference playing to both win their conference regular season championship – an honor given to the team with the best in-conference record at the end of the year – and to try and win their conference tournament championship for a trip to the “Big Dance”, the NCAA Tournament. NCAA basketball has come a long way from their first season in 1924, when there were only 8 conferences total!
Let’s take a brief trip down memory lane, shall we? I want to take a look at the number of conferences at the beginning of each decade to show you the rapid growth of the sport over the years. Keep in mind, the first year of NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball was 1924:
1930: 9 conferences
1940: 11 conferences
1950: 17 conferences
1960: 18 conferences
1970: 19 conferences
1980: 29 conferences
1990: 34 conferences
2000: 32 conferences
2010: 33 conferences
2019: 32 conferences
One of the most attractive aspects NCAA Division 1 Basketball that draws in so many fans is that each of the 351 teams has a chance at making the NCAA Tournament at the beginning of each year. Yeah, they may not win it all but how many other college sports give their teams the right to play, and sometimes beat, some of the best teams in the country for a chance to win it all.
NCAA Division 1 Football gives what they call the Power Conferences (5 conferences total) the opportunity to play for a national title.
While it would be next to impossible to list all 351 schools, I still wanted to give you, the reader, a chance to do some research on this topic. So below is a link to each conference homepage, with a list of all of the conference champions from last season, so you can see all 351 of the teams somewhere in there and each respective conference champion.
Conference: 2018-19 Conference Tournament Champion
America East – Vermont Catamounts
American – Cincinnati Bearcats
Atlantic 10 – Saint Louis Billikens
ACC – Duke Blue Devils
Atlantic Sun – Liberty Flames
Big South – Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs
Big 12 – Iowa State Cyclones
Big East – Villanova Wildcats
Big Sky – Montana Grizzlies
Big 10 – Michigan State Spartans
Big West – UC Irvine Anteaters
Colonial – Northeastern Huskies
Conference USA – Old Dominion Monarchs
Horizon League – Northern Kentucky Norse
Ivy League – Yale Bulldogs
MAAC – Iona Gaels
Mid-American – Buffalo Bulls
MEAC – North Carolina Central Eagles
Missouri Valley – Bradley Braves
Mountain West – Utah State Aggies
Northeast – Fairleigh Dickinson Knights
Ohio Valley – Murray State Racers
Pac 12 – Oregon Ducks
Patriot League – Colgate Raiders
SEC – Auburn Tigers
Southern – Wofford Terriers
Southland – Abilene Christian Wildcats
Southwestern – Prairie View A&M Panthers
Summit League – North Dakota State Bison
Sun Belt – Georgia State Panthers
West Coast – Saint Mary’s Gaels
WAC – New Mexico State Aggies
As we mentioned at the beginning of the piece, the only way for a lot of these teams to make it to the NCAA Tournament is to win their conference tournaments. So while a team like Duke could technically lose their conference tournament, if they still have a good enough year otherwise, the tournament voters can reward them with what is called an “at-large bid” or a spot in the tournament based on the rest of their season resume. This can include different measurable aspects like strength of schedule, key wins, overall wins, etc.
Unfortunately, a team like North Dakota State from the Summit League just isn’t going to have enough opportunity to earn their spot in the tournament through any other way but to win their conference and earn an “automatic bid” which is given to each conference tournament winner prior to the tournament. A lot of teams live by the motto, “win and you’re in”, literally.
If you have a favorite team, what is their likelihood of making it to the NCAA Tournament each year? Are you a part of a tortured college basketball fanbase? Drop a comment below!
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