ST BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — St. Bonaventure, Alabama, and Colgate locked up automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament by winning conference championships a few hours before the field of 68 was revealed.
Selection Sunday featured five conference tournament title games as an undercard to the main event, unveiling of the NCAA bracket.
The Bonnies earned the No. 9 seed in the East Region and will play No. 8 seed LSU in the first round.
Michigan is the top seed in the East Region, giving the Big Ten two No. 1s in the field of 68 teams along with Illinois.
The region also includes a marquee matchup in the First Four involving two of the biggest names in college basketball: Michigan State and UCLA play Thursday.
Gonzaga earned the No. 1 overall seed, with Baylor, Illinois and Michigan also earning the top seeds in their regions.
Louisville, Colorado State, Saint Louis and Mississippi were the first four teams left out, and those teams will be on standby to replace any team from a multi-bid league that has to withdraw because of COVID-19 issues.
St. Bonaventure beat VCU to win the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid as the top seed in the conference. The Rams went into the game expected to be on the right side of the bubble no matter the result, but they’ll have to wait a few hours to make it official.
No. 6 Alabama won the Southeastern Conference by beating LSU, but the Tigers are in good shape to earn an at-large bid. The Crimson Tide made their case for a No. 1 seed with an 80-79 victory.
Colgate earned the Patriot League’s automatic bid by beating Loyola Maryland.
