March has arrived, and with it comes the most dramatic stretch of the college basketball calendar.
Across the country, conference tournaments are underway as teams battle for a chance to reach the NCAA Tournament. For some programs, the path to March Madness is already secure thanks to strong regular seasons. For many others, however, the only way in is to win their conference tournament.
The 2026 NCAA Tournament will feature 68 teams. Thirty-one of those spots are reserved for conference tournament champions who earn automatic bids. The remaining 37 teams will be selected by the NCAA Selection Committee as at-large teams.
Over the next several days, championship games from Las Vegas to Nashville to Kansas City will determine which teams punch their ticket to the Big Dance.
Selection Sunday is scheduled for March 15 at 6 p.m. ET on CBS, when the full bracket will be revealed. Until then, the NCAA Tournament field will begin to fill up as conference champions are crowned across the country.
Below is a full tracker of each conference tournament championship game, where it will be played, and the defending champion from last season.
Currently, there are two teams locked into the tournament:
2026 NCAA Tournament automatic bid tracker
Ohio Valley Conference
Game: March 7
Championship location: Evansville, Indiana
Last year’s champion: SIU Edwardsville
2026 champion: Tennesee State
ASUN Conference
Game: March 8
Championship location: Campus sites
Last year’s champion: Lipscomb
2026 champion: TBD
Big South Conference
Game: March 8
Championship location: Johnson City, Tennessee
Last year’s champion: High Point
2026 champion: TBD
Missouri Valley Conference
Game: March 8
Championship location: St. Louis, Missouri
Last year’s champion: Drake
2026 champion: TBD
Summit League
Game: March 8
Championship location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Last year’s champion: Omaha
2026 champion: TBD
Southern Conference
Game: March 9
Championship location: Asheville, North Carolina
Last year’s champion: Wofford
2026 champion: TBD
Sun Belt Conference
Game: March 9
Championship location: Pensacola, Florida
Last year’s champion: Troy
2026 champion: TBD
Colonial Athletic Association
Game: March 10
Championship location: Washington, D.C.
Last year’s champion: UNC Wilmington
2026 champion: TBD
Horizon League
Game: March 10
Championship location: Campus sites
Last year’s champion: Robert Morris
2026 champion: TBD
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Game: March 10
Championship location: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Last year’s champion: Mount St. Mary’s
2026 champion: TBD
Northeast Conference
Game: March 10
Championship location: Campus sites
Last year’s champion: Saint Francis (PA)
2026 champion: LIU Sharks
West Coast Conference
Game: March 10
Championship location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Last year’s champion: Gonzaga
2026 champion: TBD
Patriot League
Game: March 11
Championship location: Campus site (highest seed)
Last year’s champion: American
2026 champion: TBD
Southland Conference
Game: March 11
Championship location: Lake Charles, Louisiana
Last year’s champion: McNeese State
2026 champion: TBD
Big Sky Conference
Game: March 11
Championship location: Boise, Idaho
Last year’s champion: Montana
2026 champion: TBD
Atlantic Coast Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Washington, D.C.
Last year’s champion: Duke
2026 champion: TBD
America East Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Campus sites
Last year’s champion: Bryant
2026 champion: TBD
Big 12 Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Kansas City, Missouri
Last year’s champion: Houston
2026 champion: TBD
Big East Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: New York City, New York
Last year’s champion: St. John’s
2026 champion: TBD
Big West Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Henderson, Nevada
Last year’s champion: UC San Diego
2026 champion: TBD
Conference USA
Game: March 14
Championship location: Huntsville, Alabama
Last year’s champion: Liberty
2026 champion: TBD
Mid-American Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Cleveland, Ohio
Last year’s champion: Akron
2026 champion: TBD
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Norfolk, Virginia
Last year’s champion: Norfolk State
2026 champion: TBD
Mountain West Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Last year’s champion: Colorado State
2026 champion: TBD
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Atlanta, Georgia
Last year’s champion: Alabama State
2026 champion: TBD
Western Athletic Conference
Game: March 14
Championship location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Last year’s champion: Grand Canyon
2026 champion: TBD
American Athletic Conference
Game: March 15
Championship location: Fort Worth, Texas
Last year’s champion: Memphis
2026 champion: TBD
Atlantic 10 Conference
Game: March 15
Championship location: Washington, D.C.
Last year’s champion: VCU
2026 champion: TBD
Big Ten Conference
Game: March 15
Championship location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Last year’s champion: Michigan
2026 champion: TBD
Ivy League
Game: March 15
Championship location: Providence, Rhode Island
Last year’s champion: Yale
2026 champion: TBD
Southeastern Conference
Game: March 15
Championship location: Nashville, Tennessee
Last year’s champion: Florida
2026 champion: TBD
March is where the chaos begins
Conference tournament week has a way of producing unforgettable moments.
Top seeds fall. Underdogs get hot. And programs that looked finished suddenly find themselves celebrating a championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Some of the sport’s biggest Cinderella runs have started this exact way. A team gets hot for three or four days, wins its conference tournament, and suddenly the entire country learns its name during March Madness.
Over the next week, 31 different champions will emerge. Each one will earn the same reward.
A ticket to the 2026 NCAA Tournament.