User:Fuzzy510/sandbox

Teams
There were 30 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 27 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while two were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference (Big Ten and Ivy League). Another 34 bids were awarded by the NCAA tournament committee at-large to the best teams in the nation not already qualified.

The West Coast Conference had intended to award its automatic bid to its tournament champion. However, after the conference's tournament was cancelled in the wake of the death of Hank Gathers, the automatic bid was awarded to regular-season champion Loyola Marymount.

The American South and Big South both held a conference tournament, but their champions did not receive an automatic bid.

Automatic qualifiers
Five conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Coppin State (MEAC, Northern Iowa (Mid-Continent), South Florida (Sun Belt), Texas Southern (SWAC), and Towson State (East Coast)