NCAA Tournament Automatic Bids
- Thread starter JavaMan
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It's always the tourney champion that gets the automatic bid.
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Correct. That's how the Huskies men made it into the NCAA tournament in 2016, despite Temple being the regular-season AAC champions. Who could ever forget the 60-foot buzzer beater that Adams hit against the Bearcats in the quarterfinal to send it into a 4th OT! The Huskies ultimately prevailed in that game, and went on to win the conference championship.
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Phil
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The answer given is correct but it may be worth noting a comment on terminology.
This should never be any confusion if one refers to the regular-season champion or the conference tournament champion, but they can be some confusion if you simply use the unqualified term "conference champion". My understanding is that this term almost always refers to the tournament champion. SEC makes a point of saying SEC champion is the regular-season champion.
This should never be any confusion if one refers to the regular-season champion or the conference tournament champion, but they can be some confusion if you simply use the unqualified term "conference champion". My understanding is that this term almost always refers to the tournament champion. SEC makes a point of saying SEC champion is the regular-season champion.
Phil
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The other caveat is no longer an issue. There was a time when some conferences did not have postseason tournaments. The Ivy League is the last one to institute a postseason tournament. Prior to that, the NCAA invitation would go to the regular-season champion. In other words, the NCAA invitation goes to the conference tournament champion unless there is no conference tournament in which case it goes to the regular-season champion. It's a moot point now but if you're looking at history it's useful to remember.