Since 2011, the NCAA tournament has kicked off with the First Four bracket to reduce the size from 68 teams to 64 teams. Four of these teams are the lowest out of the teams that automatically qualified and the other four are the last of the teams the tournament committee accepted. The First Four is a fairly new addition to the March Madness Tournament. Before 2011, the idea was to let four of the lowest-ranked teams into the tournament. But now, only two of the lowest-ranked teams make it in.
“When selecting the teams for the NCAA tournament, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee ranks every team from No. 1 through No. 68,” writer Daniel Wilco from NCAA.com said. “In its current format, the First Four consists of eight teams — the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams.”
The teams this year on the brink of making it to the round of 64 are Boise State, Colorado, Colorado State, Grambling State, Howard, Montana State, Virginia and Wagner. These teams participating in the First Four are on a different path than the other teams in the tournament. The odds are against these low-ranked teams but that makes the upsets that more satisfying.
“Anybody has a chance. Anything can happen, no matter what’s going on,” Donald Copeland, the coach of the Wagner team that goes against Howard in this First Four tournament, said. “Now our path is probably different, but it gives you motivation to want to hopefully achieve something like that.”
