Thirty-two NCAA Division I men’s basketball conferences will crown champions over a nine-day stretch that begins Saturday, March 4, with the Ohio Valley Conference tournament final and comes to an end on March 12 with five leagues: the Ivy League, Atlantic 10, SEC, American and Big Ten.
Who will earn the automatic bid in each conference? Will it be the regular-season champions or a team with an upset up its sleeve? ESPN’s men’s college basketball experts Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Joe Lunardi have picked their choice for each league below.
Leagues are listed in the order in which tickets will be punched. Keep track of the projected tournament teams with Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology and the teams with at-large hopes via John Gasaway’s Bubble Watch. Find all the dates, venues and schedules for the 2023 NCAA tournament here. And don’t forget to sign up for ESPN’s Tournament Challenge.
Consensus picks:
American: Houston (unanimous)
ACC: No consensus (Miami, Duke)
America East: Vermont (unanimous)
Atlantic 10: Dayton
ASUN: Liberty
Big East: UConn
Big Sky: Eastern Washington
Big South: Longwood
Big 12: No consensus (Baylor, Kansas)
Big Ten: No consensus (Purdue, Indiana)
Big West: UC Santa Barbara
CAA: Charleston
Conference USA: No consensus (UAB, Florida Atlantic)
Horizon: Youngstown State (unanimous)
Ivy: Yale (unanimous)
MAAC: Iona (unanimous)
MAC: Kent State (unanimous)
MEAC: No consensus (North Carolina Central, Norfolk State)
Missouri Valley: Drake
Mountain West: San Diego State (unanimous)
Northeast: No consensus (St. Francis [PA], Merrimack, Fairleigh Dickinson)
Ohio Valley: No consensus (Tennessee State, Morehead State)
Pac-12: UCLA
Patriot: Colgate (unanimous)
SEC: Alabama
Southern: Furman
Southland: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (unanimous)
Summit: Oral Roberts (unanimous)
Sun Belt: No consensus (South Alabama, Marshall)
SWAC: Grambling (unanimous)
WAC: Sam Houston State
West Coast: No consensus (Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s)