March Madness: What is a Bid-Stealer?

With Champ Week in full swing, bid-stealers are looking to win conference tournaments and shrink the bubble. This begs the question, what exactly is a bid-stealer?

It’s March, and you know what that means! College basketball is in its prime season.

With only days until Selection Sunday, the bubble continues to shrink on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. The number of at-large spots essentially shrinks when bid-stealers become a part of the mix.

What is a bid-stealer in college basketball?

A bid-stealer is a team typically from a smaller conference represented by one, sometimes two, at-large teams, that wins the conference tournament, clinching a guaranteed spot in the NCAA Tournament. In this situation, the teams that are “locks” for the at-large spots lose in the conference tournament, and a different team that would not otherwise make the NCAA Tournament, wins it.

Bid-stealers have an effect on the bubble because it takes one spot away from teams that are fighting for those final at-large spots. For those teams that are right on the bubble with a lot to play for this week, bid-stealers are their worst nightmare.

These bid-stealers can also come from major conferences and have in recent years. Such as Oregon State winning the Pac-12 Tournament in 2021, Georgetown winning the Big East Tournament in 2021, and Virginia Tech winning the ACC Tournament in 2022. This can happen in any major conference but it’s more likely in smaller conferences.

An example of a situation where this could take place comes this season is in Conference USA. Florida Atlantic has established itself as an at-large team, regardless of what happens in this week’s conference tournament. Joe Lunardi currently has the Owls as an 8-seed, well into the field. This means, if any other team wins the conference tournament, they would be a bid-stealer. The team that has the best opportunity to do is UAB, who was picked as the pre-season conference champion.

Other opportunities for bid-stealers are present in other smaller conferences, such as the American, where if anyone besides Houston or Memphis wins the tournament, they would be a bid-stealer. A similar situation is unfolding in the Mountain West as well, where the only team guaranteed a spot at the moment is San Diego State. Utah State and Nevada are both currently in the “Last Four In” but do not have spots secured. If any team outside of these three wins the conference tournament, they would be a bid-stealer and could cost a fellow conference member a shot at taking part in the NCAA Tournament.

Every year, bid-stealers cost at-large teams a chance of playing in the NCAA Tournament. The only question is: who will it be this year?