Understanding ESPN’s Bracketology

ESPN’s Bracketology, led by expert Charlie Creme, aims to predict the NCAA basketball tournament field by mirroring the selection methods employed by the NCAA Division I basketball committee.
Creme utilizes various metrics that the committee values, such as strength of schedule and the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), to make informed projections about the potential tournament field. To dive deeper into the selection criteria, interested individuals can visit the NCAA’s official website.

The 64-Team Format

The standard bracket featuring 64 teams has been the foundation of the NCAA tournament since 1994.
However, recent years have introduced significant changes to traditional tournament practices.
Most notably, the entire tournament was held at a single location during the 2021 season, which removed geographical considerations typically factored into seeding.

Additionally, the Ivy League opted not to participate in the 2020-21 season, resulting in a reduction of automatic qualifiers (AQs) to 31 for that year.

Alternative Formats: 48-Team Bracket

A condensed version of the selection process features a 48-team bracket, which decreases the number of at-large bids by eight and similarly reduces the automatic qualifiers by eight.
Under this format, the top four seeds in each region gain a first-round bye. The opening round includes matchups between:

• 5 vs. 12
• 6 vs. 11
• 7 vs. 10
• 8 vs. 9

The 16-Team Bracket Model

This streamlined format involves selecting and seeding only the 16 best available teams, with no automatic qualifiers considered.
However, non-competing conference champions still receive a designated revenue unit.

To promote national balance within the tournament, there is a cap of four teams from a single conference allowed in the tournament, ensuring that regions do not feature more than one team from the same conference.