- NCAA. How Selection Sunday works: Everything on the gateway to March Madness
- NCAA. What time is Selection Sunday for March Madness 2025? Date, schedule and how to watch
Only one week separates us from 'Selection Sunday', which will mark the future of the 68 teams that will compete for this tournament. Many might think that it is just an exhibition championship, but it is not
It also covers the meticulous process that the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball committees go through to determine which teams will compete in the tournaments.
It's a whole process, which ultimately helps to give more organization and somehow even transparency in a championship where many things are at stake, the prestige of being the best in college basketball.
March Madness Selection Process: Who makes up the committee?
The 12-member NCAA Men's Basketball Committee follows a rigorous process to select and seed the 68 teams for March Madness, selecting the 37 best teams not automatically ranked and ensuring competitive balance by region
This NCAA committee selects the 37 teams not automatically classified according to the strength of the schedule, key victories and statistics, in addition to ranking them and putting together the tournament bracket.
The committee's mandates would be as follows:
- Mitch Barnhart
- Tom Burnett
- Janet Cone
- Bernadette McGlade
- Michael O'Brien
- Jim Phillips
- Chris Reynolds
- Craig Thompson
- Kevin White
What are metrics about?
Metrics are just statistics that the committee can use to make its comparisons and evaluations. They are based on many aspects that we will explain below
WAB: Compares actual wins to expected wins of a "bubble" team on their schedule.
KPI: Values each match (+1.0 to -1.0), adjusts for opponent and location, and averages the total.
Record strength: Probability that the #25 team will achieve the same record in that schedule; lower probability = greater strength.
NET: This is the most important metric. The NET is better in March than in December, when it is published on demand. It has more basis at the beginning because there is little data, without using preseason or previous years.