RULES
ESPN's Bracketology efforts are focused on projecting the NCAA Tournament field of play, just as we expect the NCAA Division I basketball committee to select the field of play in March. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme uses the same data points favored by the committee, including strength of schedule and other season-long indicators, including NET and team roster data similar to what is available to the NCAA, in his field of play projections. Visit the NCAA website for a more complete understanding of the field of play. NCAA Selection Criteria.
64-team table
The 64-team bracket is the standard version of the NCAA Tournament that has been in place since 1994. However, while the 2021 bracket is comprised of 64 teams, there will be some key differences from previous years.
The biggest change from a normal year is, of course, that the entire NCAA tournament will be played in one location. This eliminates the need to consider geography when seeding. Additionally, there will be at least one fewer automatic qualifier this season, as the Ivy League's decision to forgo the 2020-21 season reduces the number of AQ qualifying entrants to 31 for this season.
48-team draw
In this projection, a condensed selection process would narrow the field to eight at-large teams and eight automatic qualifiers (the latter of which would still receive one revenue unit). The top four seeds in each region would receive a bye to the second round, with four first-round games per region: 5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, and 8 vs. 9.
16-team draw
In this draft, the committee selects and ranks the top 16 available teams. There are no automatic qualifiers, although all non-competing conference champions receive the designated revenue unit.
To maintain national balance, conference participation is limited to four teams and no region may have more than one team from the same conference.
