2023 men's NCAA Tournament automatic bids: Who has secured spots in March Madness?

March Madness is officially upon us. 

The first tickets to the 2023 men's NCAA Tournament were punched Saturday night. Southeast Missouri State defeated Tennessee Tech 89-82 in a dramatic overtime game to win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, earning the OVC's automatic NCAA Tournament bid with the victory. Fairleigh Dickinson also earned the Northeast Conference's spot by advancing to the league championship game. The schools will soon be joined by 66 other squads who will fill out the March Madness bracket, several punching their tickets in conference tournaments to be played over the next week and the rest earning their spots on Selection Sunday (March 12).

Here's a quick refresher on how the NCAA Tournament's automatic bids are handed out and a quick glance at who has already put on their dancing shoes: 

How is the NCAA Tournament field filled? 

There are two ways to make the NCAA Tournament: Win your conference tournament or earn an at-large bid. There's good news and bad news. The good? Unless banned from March Madness due to NCAA violations or if the team is in a transition period between divisions – Fairleigh Dickinson's spot was secured because NEC title game opponent Merrimack is not yet eligible – if you win the conference tournament you earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Every team (with few exceptions) is entered in its conference tourney, no matter how bad the regular season went. The bad news? For the so-called "one-bid" leagues where an at-large bid is realistically out of the question, it doesn't matter how good your regular season was. If you don't win the conference tournament, you're not going dancing. 

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How many automatic bids are there? 

There are 32 conference tournaments that produce 32 automatic bids. The other 36 at-large teams selected to the field will be announced on Selection Sunday. 

Who has secured automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament? 

Alabama: Southeastern Conference tournament champion

Arizona: Pac-12 Conference tournament champion

Charleston: Colonial Athletic Association tournament champion 

Colgate: Patriot League tournament champion

Drake: Missouri Valley tournament champion

Duke: ACC tournament champion

Fairleigh Dickinson: Earns Northeast Conference bid due to title game opponent Merrimack's ineligibility

Florida Atlantic: Conference USA tournament champion

Furman: Southern tournament champion

Gonzaga: West Coast Conference tournament champion

Grand Canyon: WAC tournament champion

Howard: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament champion

Iona: MAAC tournament champion

Kennesaw State: Atlantic Sun tournament champion

Kent State: MAC tournament champion

Louisiana-Lafayette: Sun Belt tournament champion

Marquette: Big East Conference tournament champion

Memphis: American Athletic Conference tournament champion

Montana State: Big Sky tournament champion   

North Carolina-Asheville: Big South tournament champion

Northern Kentucky: Horizon League tournament champion

Oral Roberts: Summit League tournament champion

Princeton: Ivy League tournament champion

Purdue: Big Ten Conference tournament champion

San Diego State: Mountain West Conference tournament champion

Southeast Missouri State: Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion 

Texas: Big 12 Conference tournament champion

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: Southland Conference tournament champion

Texas Southern: SWAC tournament champion

UC Santa Barbara: Big West Conference tournament champion

Vermont: America East tournament champion

Virginia Commonwealth: Atlantic 10 Conference tournament champion