2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

Updated on Dec 15, 2023

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Season 2016–17		Teams 68

Finals site University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, Arizona

The 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament will involve 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It is scheduled to begin on March 14, 2017, and will conclude with the championship game on April 3 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The championship game will be the first contested in a Western state since 1995 when Seattle, Washington was the host of the Final Four for that year.

Tournament procedure

A total of 68 teams will enter the 2017 tournament, with all 32 conferences tournament winners receiving an automatic bid. The Ivy League, which previously granted its automatic tournament bid to its regular season champion, will host a postseason tournament to determine a conference champion. In previous years, had the Ivy League had two schools tied for first in the standings, a one-game playoff (or series as was the case in the 2002 season) determined the automatic bid. On March 10, 2016, the Ivy League's council of presidents approved a four-team tournament where the top four teams in the regular season would play on March 11 and 12 at Philadelphia's Palestra.

The remaining 36 teams will receive "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. On January 24, 2016, the NCAA announced that the Selection Committee would, for the first time, unveil in-season rankings of the top four teams in each division on February 11, 2017.

Eight teams—the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams—will play in the First Four (the successor to what had been known as "play-in games" through the 2010 tournament). The winners of these games advance to the main draw of the tournament.

The Selection Committee also seeds the entire field from 1 to 68.

2017 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2017 tournament

First Four

March 14 and 15

UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

First and Second Rounds

March 16 and 18

KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York (Host: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Host: Marquette University)

Amway Center, Orlando, Florida (Hosts: University of Central Florida and Stetson University)

Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah)

March 17 and 19

Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina (Hosts: Southern Conference and Furman University) Note: Greensboro, North Carolina originally was awarded First and Second Round games, but the games were relocated due to NCAA objections over North Carolina's passage of HB2.

Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Horizon League and IUPUI)

BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Host: University of Tulsa)

Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California (Host: California State University, Sacramento)

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

March 23 and 25

Midwest Regional, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 12 Conference)

West Regional, SAP Center, San Jose, California (Host: Pac-12 Conference)

March 24 and 26

East Regional, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Hosts: St. John's University and Big East Conference)

South Regional, FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee (Host: University of Memphis)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)

April 1 and 3

University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University)

Notes

Qualification and selection

Seven out of 351 Division I teams are ineligible to participate in the 2017 tournament due to failing to meet APR requirements, self-imposed postseason bans, or reclassification from a lower division.^[1]