Cincinnati had an opportunity to join Georgetown from the Big East and Oregon State from the Pac-12 in the category of NCAA Tournament "bid stealers" on Sunday. But the Bearcats fell a game short of reaching the Big Dance by losing 91-54 to Houston in the AAC Tournament final.
That means the AAC's automatic bid will go to a Cougars team that was already a lock to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. That's good news for teams that are on the bubble and trying to steal one of the final spots in the field of 68. But, of course, many of those spots will in fact be occupied by teams who won their conference tournament titles.
From Rick Pitino's Iona squad to a pair of first-time NCAA Tournament teams in Grand Canyon and Fairfield, the wave of conference tournaments have produced some thrilling games and interesting storylines heading into the Big Dance.
Start a bracket pool to compete against friends or fill out your bracket for a chance to win a brand new Nissan Rogue and a college basketball dream trip. Get in the action today!
We've kept up with the various tournament schedules and automatic qualifiers. Below is the complete list of conference tournament winners and teams that earned automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.
2021 conference tournaments
| Conference | Tournament site | Dates | Champion |
| AAC | Fort Worth, Texas | March 11-14 | Houston (24-3) |
| ACC | Greensboro, N.C. | March 9-13 | Georgia Tech (17-8) |
| America East | Campus sites | Feb. 27-28, March 6,13 | Hartford (15-8) |
| Atlantic 10 | Richmond,/Dayton | March 3-6, 14 | St. Bonaventure (16-4) |
| ASUN | Jacksonville, Fla. | March 3-7 | Liberty (23-5) |
| Big East | New York | March 10-13 | Georgetown (13-12) |
| Big Sky | Boise, Idaho | March 10-13 | Eastern Washington (16-7) |
| Big South | Campus sites | Feb. 27, March 1,4,7 | Winthrop (23-1) |
| Big Ten | Indianapolis | March 10-14 | Illinois (22-6) |
| Big 12 | Kansas City | March 10-13 | Texas (19-7) |
| Big West | Anaheim | March 9, 11-13 | UC Santa Barbara (22-4) |
| Colonial | Washington D.C. | March 6-9 | Drexel (12-7) |
| Conference USA | Frisco, Texas | March 9-13 | North Texas (17-9) |
| Horizon League | Indianapolis | Feb. 25, March 2, 8-9 | Cleveland State (19-7) |
| Ivy League | | | No Tournament in 2021 |
| MAAC | Atlantic City, N.J. | March 9-13 | Iona (12-5) |
| MAC | Cleveland, Ohio | March 11-13 | Ohio (16-7) |
| MEAC | Norfolk, Va. | March 11-13 | Norfolk State (13-7) |
| Missouri Valley | St. Louis | March 4-7 | Loyola Chicago (24-4) |
| Mountain West | Las Vegas | March 10-13 | San Diego State (23-4) |
| Northeast | Campus sites | March 6 & 9 | Mount St. Mary's (12-10) |
| Ohio Valley | Evansville, Ind. | March 3-6 | Morehead State (23-7) |
| Pac-12 | Las Vegas | March 10-13 | Oregon State (17-12) |
| Patriot | Campus sites | March 3, 6, 10 & 14 | Colgate (14-1) |
| SEC | Nashville, Tenn. | March 10-14 | Alabama (24-6) |
| Southern | Asheville, N.C | March 5-8 | UNCG (21-8) |
| Southland | Katy, Texas | March 9-13 | Abilene Christian (23-4) |
| Summit | Sioux Falls, S.D. | March 6-9 | Oral Roberts (16-10) |
| Sun Belt | Pensacola, Fla. | March 5-8 | Appalachian State (17-11) |
| SWAC | Birmingham, Ala. | March 10-13 | Texas Southern (16-8) |
| WAC | Las Vegas | March 10-13 | Grand Canyon (17-6) |
| West Coast | Las Vegas | March 4-6 & 8-9 | Gonzaga (26-0) |
SportsLine's proven model simulates every college basketball game 10,000 times. It absolutely crushed its March Madness picks in the last tournament, beating nearly 90 percent of all CBS Sports brackets one year after finishing in the top five percent. Get winning college basketball picks right here.
