2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament explained

Year:2024
Teams:68
Finalfourarena:State Farm Stadium
Finalfourcity:Glendale, Arizona
Champions:UConn Huskies
Titlecount:6th
Champgamecount:6th
Champffcount:7th
Runnerup:Purdue Boilermakers
Gamecount:2nd
Runnerffcount:3rd
Semifinal1:Alabama Crimson Tide
Finalfourcount:1st
Semifinal2:North Carolina State Wolfpack
Finalfourcount2:4th
Coach:Dan Hurley
Coachcount:2nd
Mop:Tristen Newton
Mopteam:UConn Huskies
Attendance:713,877
Topscorer:Zach Edey
Topscorerteam:Purdue Boilermakers
Points:177

The 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2023–24 season. The 85th annual edition of the tournament began on March 19, 2024, and concluded with the UConn Huskies successfully defending their title to become the first repeat champion since Florida in 2007, defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 75–60 in the championship game on April 8, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

ASUN champion Stetson and SWAC champion Grambling State made their NCAA tournament debuts. Additionally, Duquesne made its first appearance since 1977, Samford made its first appearance since 2000, McNeese made its first appearance since 2002, and Wagner made its second-ever appearance, its first since 2003.

The first round of the tournament saw the Southeastern Conference (SEC) struggle, with only three out of the initial eight teams advancing to the next round.[1] [2] Three SEC teams suffered first-round upsets. On the other hand, the Pac-12 Conference saw all four of their teams advance to the second round, though Arizona was the only team in the conference to make the Sweet Sixteen.[3]

This was the first NCAA tournament since 2019 to not see a 15-seed defeat a 2-seed. All the 1 and 2-seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, marking only the fifth time it has happened and the first since 2019.[4] Also, with No. 11 seeded NC State advancing to the Sweet Sixteen, this marked the 16th consecutive tournament where a double-digit seed made the regional semifinals. The Wolfpack eventually became the sixth 11-seed to reach the Final Four.

The Final Four consisted of UConn (second consecutive appearance), Alabama (their first Final Four appearance in program history), NC State (first appearance since 1983), and Purdue (first appearance since 1980).

With No. 1 overall seed UConn winning the championship, this was the first time that the top overall seed won the tournament since Kentucky in 2012.

Tournament procedure

A total of 68 teams entered the 2024 tournament. A total of 32 automatic bids are awarded to each program that won a conference tournament. The remaining 36 bids are issued "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The Selection Committee also seeds the entire field from 1 to 68.

Eight teams (the four-lowest seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams) played in the First Four. The winners of those games advanced to the main tournament bracket.

2024 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2024 tournament:[5]

First Four

First and Second Rounds (Subregionals)

Regional Semi-Finals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four)

Glendale hosted the Final Four for the second time, having previously hosted in 2017.

Qualification and selection of teams

The 68 teams came from 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Automatic qualifiers

Teams who won their conference championships automatically qualify.

Automatic qualifiers in the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
ConferenceTeamAppearanceLast bid
America EastVermont10th2023
AmericanUAB17th2022
Atlantic 10Duquesne6th1977
ACCNC State29th2023
ASUNStetson1st
Big 12Iowa State23rd2023
Big EastUConn36th2023
Big SkyMontana State6th2023
Big SouthLongwood2nd2022
Big TenIllinois34th2023
Big WestLong Beach State7th2012
CAACharleston7th2023
CUSAWestern Kentucky26th2013
HorizonOakland4th2011
Ivy LeagueYale7th2022
MAACSaint Peter's5th2022
MACAkron6th2022
MEACHoward4th2023
Missouri ValleyDrake7th2023
Mountain WestNew Mexico16th2014
NECWagner2nd2003
Ohio ValleyMorehead State9th2021
Pac-12Oregon18th2021
PatriotColgate7th2023
SECAuburn13th2023
SouthernSamford3rd2000
SouthlandMcNeese3rd2002
SWACGrambling State1st
Summit LeagueSouth Dakota State7th2022
Sun BeltJames Madison6th2013
WCCSaint Mary's13th2023
WACGrand Canyon3rd2023
Seeds

The tournament seeds and regions were determined through the NCAA basketball tournament selection process and were published by the selection committee after the brackets were released on March 17.

valign=top
East Regional – TD Garden, Boston, MA
SeedSchoolConferenceRecordOverall SeedBerth typeLast bid
1UConnBig East31–31Automatic2023
2Iowa StateBig 1227–78Automatic2023
3IllinoisBig Ten26–812Automatic2023
4AuburnSEC27–715Automatic2023
5San Diego StateMountain West24–1018At Large2023
6BYUBig 1223–1021At Large2021
7Washington StatePac-1224–926At Large2008
8Florida AtlanticAmerican25–831At Large2023
9NorthwesternBig Ten21–1136At Large2023
10DrakeMissouri Valley28–640Automatic2023
11DuquesneAtlantic 1024–1146Automatic1977
12UABAmerican23–1150Automatic2022
13YaleIvy22–952Automatic2022
14Morehead StateOhio Valley26–857Automatic2021
15South Dakota StateSummit22–1261Automatic2022
16StetsonASUN22–1264AutomaticNever
valign=top
West Regional – Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA
SeedSchoolConferenceRecordOverall SeedBerth typeLast bid
1North CarolinaACC27–74At Large2022
2ArizonaPac-1225–86At Large2023
3BaylorBig 1223–109At Large2023
4AlabamaSEC21–1116At Large2023
5Saint Mary'sWCC26–720Automatic2023
6ClemsonACC21–1122At Large2021
7DaytonAtlantic 1026–728At Large2017
8Mississippi StateSEC21–1332At Large2023
9Michigan StateBig Ten19–1433At Large2023
10NevadaMountain West26–737At Large2023
11New MexicoMountain West26–944Automatic2014
12Grand CanyonWAC29–447Automatic2023
13CharlestonCAA27–754Automatic2023
14ColgatePatriot25–958Automatic2023
15Long Beach StateBig West21–1459Automatic2012
16*HowardMEAC18–1667Automatic2023
WagnerNEC16–1568Automatic2003
valign=top
South Regional – American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
SeedSchoolConferenceRecordOverall SeedBerth typeLast bid
1HoustonBig 1230–42At Large2023
2MarquetteBig East25–97At Large2023
3KentuckySEC23–911At Large2023
4DukeACC24–813At Large2023
5WisconsinBig Ten22–1319At Large2022
6Texas TechBig 1223–1023At Large2022
7FloridaSEC24–1125At Large2021
8NebraskaBig Ten23–1029At Large2014
9Texas A&MSEC20–1434At Large2023
10*Boise StateMountain West22–1038At Large2023
ColoradoPac-1224–1039At Large2021
11NC StateACC22–1445Automatic2023
12James MadisonSun Belt31–348Automatic2013
13VermontAmerica East28–651Automatic2023
14OaklandHorizon23–1155Automatic2011
15Western KentuckyC-USA22–1160Automatic2013
16LongwoodBig South21–1363Automatic2022
valign=top
Midwest Regional – Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
SeedSchoolConferenceRecordOverall SeedBerth typeLast bid
1PurdueBig Ten29–43At Large2023
2TennesseeSEC24–85At Large2023
3CreightonBig East23–910At Large2023
4KansasBig 1222–1014At Large2023
5GonzagaWest Coast25–717At Large2023
6South CarolinaSEC26–724At Large2017
7TexasBig 1220–1227At Large2023
8Utah StateMountain West27–630At Large2023
9TCUBig 1221–1235At Large2023
10*VirginiaACC23–1041At Large2023
Colorado StateMountain West24–1042At Large2022
11OregonPac-1223–1143Automatic2021
12McNeeseSouthland30–349Automatic2002
13SamfordSouthern29–553Automatic2000
14AkronMAC24–1056Automatic2022
15Saint Peter'sMAAC19–1362Automatic2022
16*Montana StateBig Sky17–1765Automatic2023
Grambling StateSWAC20–1466AutomaticNever
*See First Four
Source:[6]

Tournament bracket

All times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)

First Four – Dayton, Ohio

The First Four games involve eight teams: the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams.

East regional – Boston, Massachusetts

East regional all-tournament team

West regional – Los Angeles, California

West regional all-tournament team

South regional – Dallas, Texas

South regional final

Related article: Tobacco Road (rivalry)

South regional all-tournament team

Midwest regional – Detroit, Michigan

Midwest regional all-tournament team

Final Four – Glendale, Arizona

National championship

See main article: article and 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game.

Final Four all-tournament team

Source:[7]

Record by conference

Overview of conference performance in the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
ConferenceBidsRecordWin %
Big East3 10–2 .833 3 3 3 1 1 1 1
Big Ten6 10–6 .625 6 4 2 2 1 1
Atlantic Coast5 12–5 .705 1 4 4 4 3 1
Southeastern8 8–8 .500 8 3 2 2 1
Big 128 7–8 .467 8 5 2
Pac-124 6–4 .600 1 4 4 1
West Coast2 2–2 .500 2 1 1
Mountain West6 4–6 .400 2 5 2 1
Atlantic 102 2–2 .500 2 2
Horizon1 1–1 .500 1 1
Ivy League1 1–1 .500 1 1
Sun Belt1 1–1 .500 1 1
WAC1 1–1 .500 1 1
Northeast1 1–1 .500 1 1
SWAC1 1–1 .500 1 1
American2 0–2 .000 2
America East1 0–1 .000 1
ASUN1 0–1 .000 1
Big South1 0–1 .000 1
Big West1 0–1 .000 1
CAA1 0–1 .000 1
CUSA1 0–1 .000 1
MAAC1 0–1 .000 1
MAC1 0–1 .000 1
Missouri Valley1 0–1 .000 1
Ohio Valley1 0–1 .000 1
Patriot1 0–1 .000 1
Southern1 0–1 .000 1
Southland1 0–1 .000 1
Summit1 0–1 .000 1
Big Sky1 0–1 .000 1
MEAC1 0–1 .000 1

Game summaries and tournament notes

Tournament upsets

Per the NCAA, an upset occurs "when the losing team in an NCAA tournament game was seeded at least five seed lines better than the winning team."[8]

The 2024 tournament saw a total of 9 upsets, with seven in the first round, one in the Sweet Sixteen and one in the Elite Eight.

Round!scope="col"
WestMidwestSouthEast
Round of 64No. 12 Grand Canyon defeated No. 5 Saint Mary's, 75–66No. 11 Oregon defeated No. 6 South Carolina, 87–73No. 14 Oakland defeated No. 3 Kentucky, 80–76
No. 11 NC State defeated No. 6 Texas Tech, 80–67
No. 12 James Madison defeated No. 5 Wisconsin, 72–61
No. 11 Duquesne defeated No. 6 BYU, 71–67
No. 13 Yale defeated No. 4 Auburn, 78–76
Round of 32NoneNoneNoneNone
Sweet 16NoneNoneNo. 11 NC State defeated No. 2 Marquette, 67–58None
Elite 8NoneNoneNo. 11 NC State defeated No. 4 Duke, 76–64None
Final 4None
National Championship None

Media coverage

Television

See main article: NCAA March Madness (TV program). CBS Sports and TNT Sports have US television rights to the tournament.[9] [10] As part of a cycle that began in 2016, TBS televised the 2024 Final Four and the National Championship Game.

This was the first tournament with Ian Eagle as the lead play-by-play announcer.

For the first time since 1997, longtime studio host Greg Gumbel was not part of this year's March Madness coverage due to family health issues.[11]

Beginning this tournament, Max will be streaming all of its games airing on its networks (TNT, TBS and TruTv) on its Bleacher Report Sports Add-On.[12]

CBS will continue to stream all of its games on Paramount+ and for free on March Madness Live.

Television channels

Studio hosts

Studio analysts

Broadcast assignments

Most watched tournament games

Rank Round Date and Time (ET) Matchup Network data-sort-type="number"Viewers (millions) !data-sort-type="number"TV rating[13] [14]
1 Elite Eightdata-sort-value="9" March 31, 2024, 5:10 p.m. (11 S) NC State76–64 (4 S) Duke15.146.4
2 National Championshipdata-sort-value="10" April 8, 2024, 9:09 p.m. (1 MW) Purdue60–75 (1 E) UConnTBS14.826.5
3 Final Fourdata-sort-value="2" April 6, 2024, 8:39 p.m. (4 W) Alabama72–86 (1 E) UConn14.186.7
4 Final Fourdata-sort-value="1" April 6, 2024, 6:09 p.m. (11 S) NC State50–63 (1 MW) Purdue11.455.3
5 Elite Eightdata-sort-value="4" March 31, 2024, 2:20 p.m. (2 MW) Tennessee66–72 (1 MW) PurdueCBS10.394.4
6 Second Rounddata-sort-value="5" March 23, 2024, 5:36 p.m. (9 W) Michigan State69–85 (1 W) North Carolina10.025.0
7 Second Rounddata-sort-value="8" March 23, 2024, 3:15 p.m. (5 MW) Gonzaga89–68 (4 MW) Kansas8.284.38
8 Second Rounddata-sort-value="6" March 24, 2024, 2:40 p.m. (8 MW) Utah State67–106(1 MW) Purdue8.084.34
9 Second Rounddata-sort-value="7" March 24, 2024, 5:15 p.m. (12 S) James Madison55–93 (4 S) Duke7.804.03
10 Elite Eightdata-sort-value="3" March 30, 2024, 9:44 p.m. (6 W) Clemson82–89 (4 W) AlabamaTBS 7.803.80

Radio

Westwood One will have exclusive coverage of the entire tournament.

First Four

First and second rounds

Regionals

Final Four and national championship

Internet

Video

Live video of games is available for streaming through the following means:[15]

For the app this year, a multiview which showed all games airing simultaneously was available for the second straight year.[16]

In addition, the March Madness app will offer Fast Break, whiparound coverage of games similar to NFL RedZone on the First weekend of the tournament (First and Second rounds).

Audio

Live audio of games is available for streaming through the following means:

The March Madness app also supported Apple CarPlay and Android Auto through a native app.[18]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Disaster performance by SEC in first round of 2024 NCAA Tournament. March 22, 2024. April 7, 2024. College Sports Wire. Patton, Andy.
  2. Web site: Alabama defeats Charleston 109-96, becomes third SEC team to advance in NCAA tournament . March 23, 2024. Collins, Mackenzie. wtvm.com.
  3. Web site: March Madness winners and losers: Pac-12 riding high after perfect first round . 2024-03-24 . USA TODAY . en-US.
  4. Web site: Teresa . Walker . Houston gives top 8 seeds clean sweep to Sweet 16, holding off Aggies 100-95 . March 25, 2024 . March 25, 2024 . AP . en-US.
  5. Web site: Future Dates & Sites. March 30, 2012. NCAA.
  6. Web site: Cameron. Salerno. March Madness 2024: Committee reveals official NCAA Tournament bracket seed list from 1-68. CBS Sports. March 17, 2024. March 17, 2024.
  7. News: Emily. Horos. Jason. Wolf. UConn repeats with second men's basketball national title. April 8, 2024. Arizona Republic. April 10, 2024.
  8. Web site: Wittry . Andy . March 15, 2023 . Here's how to pick March Madness men's upsets, according to the data . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230312204528/https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/bracketiq/2018-03-13/heres-how-pick-march-madness-upsets-according-data . March 12, 2023 . 2023-03-12 . NCAA.
  9. News: Bonesteel. Matt. CBS and Turner Sports lock down NCAA tournament through 2032. The Washington Post. April 12, 2016. April 12, 2016.
  10. Web site: CBS Sports and TNT Sports Announce 2024 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Commentator Teams NCAA.com . 2024-03-12 . www.ncaa.com . en. March 12, 2024.
  11. News: Greg Gumbel missing CBS' March Madness coverage due to 'family health issues'. New York Post. Ryan. Glasspiegel. March 12, 2024. March 12, 2024.
  12. Web site: Roth . Emma . 2023-09-19 . Max will start offering a live sports tier in October . 2023-09-25 . The Verge . en-US.
  13. Web site: NCAA men's viewership up slightly through first weekend . March 26, 2024 .
  14. Web site: Lewis . Jon . NC State-Duke hops to five-year high, 15 million, on Easter Sunday . sportsmediawatch.com . April 2, 2024 . 2 April 2024.
  15. Web site: Maiman . Beth . March Madness TV schedule: How to watch and live stream every game in the NCAA men's basketball tournament . NCAA . March 9, 2017 . March 8, 2017 . March 9, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170309203801/http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/march-madness-2017-tv-schedule-how-watch-and-live-stream . live .
  16. Web site: Costa . Brandon . 2023-03-16 . March Madness Live Returns with Four-Game Multiview on Desktop; Greater Focus on Discoverability Across Devices . 2023-03-17 . Sports Video Group . March 17, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230317042041/https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/03/16/march-madness-live-returns-with-four-game-multiview-on-desktop-greater-focus-on-discoverability-across-devices/ . live .
  17. Web site: 2024-03-18 . Roundup: March Madness, Irish Dancing, BMS Science Olympiad ... . 2024-03-21 . 06880 . en-US.
  18. Web site: Miller . Chance . 2023-03-10 . NCAA March Madness app will support Live Activities, CarPlay, and more this year . 2023-03-17 . 9to5Mac . March 17, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230317042036/https://9to5mac.com/2023/03/10/stream-march-madness-app-live-activites/ . live .