March Madness 2018: All the conference tournament winners earning automatic bids

The road to March Madness begins with conference tournament automatic bids.

There’s been an awakening, have you felt? March Madness is gearing up, with the NCAA  tournament selection show is just hours away. However, the “madness” is already full-throttle, with conference tournaments providing college basketball fans with an appetizer of sorts.

The action’s come at us at a lightspeed pace, so we have you covered on all of the automatic bids for the 2018 NCAA tournament field. For those of you new to the party or if you need a refresher, here’s how the process works:

The committee selects a total of 68 tournament teams, with 36 at-large selections and 32 automatic bids.

Here’s a breakdown of each team who’s earned a bid to the March Madness field with a conference tournament automatic bid.

List of Conference tournament winners:

America East: UMBC

(2) UMBC (24-10) beat (1) Vermont 65-62. Second NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2008

American Athletic: Cincinnati

(1) Cincinnati (29-4) vs. (3) Houston (26-6), 56-55.

Atlantic 10: Davidson

(3) Davidson (21-11) beat (1) Rhode Island 58-57. 14th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2015

ACC: Virginia

(1) Virginia (31-2) beat (6) North Carolina 71-63. 22nd NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: (2017)

Atlantic Sun: Lipscomb

(2) Lipscomb (23-9) beat (1) FGCU 108-96.

First NCAA tournament bid in school history.

Big 12: Kansas

(1): Kansas (27-7)  beat (3) West Virginia 81-70. 47th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: (2017)

Big East: Villanova

(1) Villanova (30-4) beat (3) Providence 86-76 (OT). 38th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: (2017)

Big Sky: Montana

(1) Montana (26-7) beat E. Washington (3) 82-65. 11th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2013

Big South: Radford

(2) Radford (22-12) beat (5) Liberty 55-52. Third NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2009

Big Ten: Michigan

(5) Michigan (28-7) beat (2) Purdue 75-66. 28th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

Big West: Cal State Fullerton

(4) Cal State Fullerton beat (2) UC Irvine 71-55. Third NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2008

Colonial: Charleston

Charleston (26-7) beat (2) Northeastern 83-76. Fifth NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 1999

Conference USA: Marshall

(4) Marshall (24-10) beat (3) Western Kentucky 67-66. Sixth NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 1985

Horizon League: Wright State

(2) Wright State (25-9) beat (8) Cleveland State 74-57. Third NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2007

Ivy League: Penn

(2) Penn (24-8) beat (1) Harvard 68-65. 24th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2007

Metro Atlantic Athletic: Iona

(4) Iona (20-13) beat (6) Fairfield 83-71. 13th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

Mid-American (MAC): Buffalo

(1) Buffalo (26-8) beat (2) Toledo 76-66. Third NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2016

Mid-Eastern Athletic: NC Central

(6) NC Central (19-15) beat (1) Hampton 71-63. Third NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

Missouri Valley: Loyola

(1) Loyola (28-5) beat (3) Illinois State 65-49. Sixth NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance:1985

Mountain West: San Diego State

(4) San Diego State (22-10) beat (3) New Mexico 82-75. 12th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2015

Northeast: LIU Brooklyn

(4) LIU Brooklyn (18-16) beat (1) Wagner 71-61. Seventh NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2013

Ohio Valley: Murray State

(1) Murray State (26-5) beat Belmont 68-51. 16th NCAA tournament bid

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2012

Pac-12: Arizona

(1) Arizona (27-7) beat USC 75-61. 35th NCAA tournament appearance

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

Patriot League: Bucknell

(1) Bucknell (25-9) beat Colgate 83-54. Eight NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

SEC: Kentucky

(4) Kentucky (24-10) beat (1) Tennesee 77-72. 58th NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

Southern: UNC Greensboro

(1) UNC Greensboro (27-7) beat (2) E. Tennesee State 62-47. Third NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2001

Southland: Stephen F. Austin

(3) Stephen F. Austin (28-6) beat (1) SE Louisiana 59-55. Fifth NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2016

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/972683848545955840

Southwestern Athletic: Texas Southern

(3) Texas Southern (15-19) beat (1)Arkansas- Pine Bluff 84-69. Eight NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

Summit League: South Dakota State

(1) South Dakota State (28-6) beat (2) South Dakota 97-87. Fifth NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

Sun Belt: Georgia State

(2) Georgia State (24-10) beat (4) UT-Arlington 74-61. Fourth NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2015

West Coast: Gonzaga

(1) Gonzaga (30-4) beat (3) BYU 74-54. 21st NCAA tournament bid.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

WAC: New Mexico State

(1) New Mexico State beat (3) Grand Canyon 72-58.

Last NCAA tournament appearance: 2017

As you can see, much has gone down in the past two weeks in college basketball, leading up to March Madness.

Next: Final college basketball Bracketology report

With the March Madness automatic bids taking up 32 of the 68 NCAA tournament teams, tune in this evening to see who else is joining to party. The Selection Show will air Sunday evening at 6 p.m. ET on TBS.