What is the first four in March Madness? NCAA Tournament Play-In Games Explaining

The NCAA tournament expansion from 64 teams to 68 teams in 2011 expanded the bubble for teams hoping to capture a bigger bid. It also made the First Four and provided more basketball in March. Some questioned the need for more teams. Will a team that will not make a field of 64 be enough to advance to the tournament? VCU responded immediately to that question. Rams wrote a true Cinderella story and it began in the First Four and ended in the Final Four.

In the elite eight, VCU featured five highly prominent teams, including 1st seed Kansas. Ram is still the most successful team to be eliminated from the first four matches but is not the only team that has prospered. In each year of the First Four’s existence, at least one First Four team has survived until the round of 32. LaSalle, Tennessee and North Dakota State have all advanced to the Sweet 16 after debuting as the first four teams.

The teams at First Four were the last players to field the tournament, but March Madness is one of the most aptly named words in all sports. It doesn’t matter how you get because as long as you do, anything can happen.

MORE: Why does the NCAA tournament start on Friday?

What is the first four in March Madness?

In 1985 the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams. It continued to expand until it expanded to 65 teams in 2001, when the Mountain West Conference automatically bid for the Tourist for the first time, taking the number of automatic qualifiers to 31 in the NCAA tournament. The two lowest-seeded teams in the tournament faced off in the “opening round game”, with the winner facing the No. 1 seed in the first round after Sunday.

In 2011 the NCAA tournament expanded again. This time the field expanded to 68 teams, with 31 automatic qualifiers and 37 at-large bids. The winner of each of those first four games advanced to the round of -64. There were talks about expanding the field to 96 or 128 teams in 2011, but the 68-team field kept the format the same And

Provide basketball to be played on two additional days between selection Sunday and 64 games of the first round.

Who plays in the first four NCAA tournaments?

The eight teams playing in the first four games are comprised of four minimum seeded teams, automatically qualified, and the lowest seeded among the four largest teams. For the automatic-qualifier with the four lowest points, two games feature two 16 seeds, with 64-rounds for the winner to play the number-1 round. The big qualifying teams play each other as 11 or 12-seeds to advance to the round-of-64 as well.

MORE: Why Michigan State is the first four team in 2021?

First four 2021 schedule

The completion of the First Four will take place in early 2021 with four games at 5:10 pm ET on Thursday. Michigan State vs. UCLA is the final game of the night, which kicks off at 9:57 pm ET.

Where is the first four played?

The first four games have taken place in Dayton, Ohio since the field expansion in 2011. However, the first four games of this year are being held in Indiana due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Purdue’s McKay Arena and Indiana’s Assembly Hall will host two games – the first time all four games have not been played in Dayton.

Dayton has practical reasons for hosting these games every year, such as a relatively centralized location and a convenient eastern time zone. But more than anything, Dayton adopted college basketball. First Four is a big thing in Dayton and a constantly-packed arenas showcase. The city celebrates “Big hoopla“Every year when the First Four comes to town.

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