How to Follow the NCAA Seeding System

The NCAA seeding system ranks the 16 teams in each of the 4 regions of the 64-team tournament bracket. Basing each seeding on several criteria that rank a team's regular-season performance, the field is then rearranged into single elimination brackets.

Instructions

  1. Understand How Teams Are Seeded

    • 1

      Learn how the NCAA Selection Committee determines what teams are invited to take place in the tournament. Well-performing teams and teams that rank in competitive conferences are entitled to automatic bids under NCAA rules. At-large bids are allotted to teams chosen by the Selection Committee on the basis of their performances, and the Ivy League automatically sends its regular-season conference champion.

    • 2

      Start by watching the play-in game. In this game, two low-ranked teams (sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth in the nation) square off to receive a blank slot in a number 16 seed in one of the four regional tournament brackets.

    • 3

      Follow the Rating Percentage Index (RPI) system throughout the basketball season. It is released beginning in February, and is one of the three key statistical measures used to determine a team's seeding. In general, the higher a team's RPI, the higher its seeding will be.

    • 4

      Check each team's conference and national ranking. Where a team finished in its conference and how highly it was ranked nationally also go a long way in helping the NCAA Selection Committee determine its regional ranking. If a team is in the top 10 nationally, it stands an excellent chance of landing at least a number 3 seed, if not a number 2. To get a number 1 seed, it is generally necessary to rank in the top 5 nationwide.

    • 5

      Follow your team all year long and hope they compile the best win-loss record they possibly can. The third criterion the NCAA uses to seed its teams in the March Madness tournament is winning percentage. While the RPI takes technicalities like road wins versus home wins and wins against strong opponents into consideration, winning percentage does not.

    • 6

      Plan to follow the March Madness tournament while knowing that the NCAA's pod system, which subdivides each region, ensures a bracketed single-elimination format. Teams are not re-seeded in subsequent rounds until the Final Four.