How to Make the NCAA Tournament
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament is arguably the second-most popular sporting event in the United States after the Super Bowl. Unlike in college football, the NCAA awards its basketball championship in a tournament, not through a vote of coaches, sports writers and through a compilation of computer information. In order to be one of the 65 teams named to compete in the tournament, a college basketball team needs to win during the season consistently or get hot and win its conference championship.
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Instructions
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Win games consistently during the season against good to excellent competition. College basketball teams start their regular season in November and continue to play through the end of February. Most teams play a nonconference schedule until mid-December and then begin playing conference games. By winning consistently against out-of-conference opponents, you will demonstrate that you are one of the more competitive teams in the nation.
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Compete hard against teams in your conference and finish with at least a .500 record if you are playing in one of the major conferences. Those conferences include the ACC, Big Ten, Atlantic 10, Big 12, Pac-10, Southeastern Conference and Big East. If you are playing in a mid-major or low major conference, you need to dominate during the regular season.
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Win your conference's postseason tournament at the end of the regular season. In many conferences, all teams get to participate. This means that you may have finished last in a conference such as the Big West, but if you can string together four wins you'll win the conference championship and get a berth in the NCAA tournament.
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Stay away from injuries in the second half of the season. The NCAA tournament committee finalizes the roster for the tournament. If your team is "on the bubble"--or the fringes of the projected tournament teams--but you have suffered a few injuries in the second half of the season, the tournament committee may bypass your team for a similar team that is healthier. The committee will go with a team that has a better chance to compete if all other factors are equal.
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Play strong opponents when competing outside the conference. One of the factors taken into account is strength of schedule. If you are facing teams that have been among the best in the nation for years while another school is facing weak teams (known as "cupcakes"), your school will have the edge when the NCAA tournament committee is making its final decisions about whom to invite to the tournament.
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