In the long history of the men’s NCAA tournament, a field that has now grown to 68 teams, there are still a surprising number of programs waiting to participate in their first March Madness.

If you go back to the tournament’s inception in 1939, there have been thousands of total spots available. Yet, of the hundreds of men’s basketball teams currently in Division I, some eligible programs have never played in the NCAA tournament. Note that more programs will be eligible after completing their transition to DI.

SIUE, Omaha, High Point and UC San Diego are the most recent teams to make it out of this club. They all secured an NCAA tournament bid for the first time in 2025.

Below is the full list of teams that have never reached the men’s NCAA tournament. A reminder, winning a conference tournament grants an eligible team an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

School
CONFERENCE

Army
Patriot

Bellarmine
ASUN

Bethune-Cookman
SWAC

Cal Baptist
WAC

Central Arkansas
ASUN

Chicago State
NEC

The Citadel
SoCon

Denver
Summit League

East Texas A&M*
Southland

Elon
CAA

Incarnate Word
Southland

Kansas City
Summit League

Lindenwood*
Ohio Valley

Maine
America East

Maryland Eastern Shore
MEAC

Merrimack
NEC

New Hampshire
America East

NJIT
America East

North Alabama
ASUN

Presbyterian
Big South

Purdue Fort Wayne
Horizon League

Queens*
ASUN

Quinnipiac
MAAC

Sacramento State
Big Sky

Sacred Heart
MAAC

South Dakota
Summit League

Southern Indiana*
Ohio Valley

Stonehill*
NEC

St. Thomas*
Summit League

Tarleton State
WAC

UC Riverside
Big West

UMass Lowell
America East

USC Upstate
Big South

UT Martin
Ohio Valley

UTRGV
Southland

Utah Tech
WAC

Utah Valley
WAC

Western Illinois
Ohio Valley

William & Mary
CAA

Youngstown State
Horizon League

*Eligible for the first time for the 2025-26 season after completing transition to DI

NOTE: Le Moyne, Mercyhurst, New Haven and West Georgia are not eligible for the 2026 tournament, as they are still completing transition into DI.

The tournament has grown from an initial eight teams, moving to 16 in 1951 and then growing steadily until 1985, when it reached its familiar format of 64. 

Play-in games have made appearances throughout the years, but became a permanent fixture in 2001, when the total number of teams was bumped to 65. In 2011, the play-in was expanded to create the First Four, an opening round that helped fill out the Round of 64. Thus, since 2011, 68 teams have made the NCAA tournament every year.

Two teams have made the NCAA tournament but haven’t been part of the bracket as most of us know it. Houston Baptist made the preliminary round in 1984, when there were 53 teams in the tournament, but lost to Alcorn State. Alabama A&M won the SWAC in 2005, earning the school’s lone automatic bid, but fell to Oakland 79-69 in the tournament’s play-in game. 

There is another small, but more impressive group included in this list — the four teams that have been eligible for every NCAA tournament but have failed to make it to one.

In 2017, Northwestern gained plenty of attention as the Wildcats — previously one of the five original teams to never make the tournament — not only qualified for their first ever tournament, but actually picked up a win, and gave eventual runner-up Gonzaga a run for its money in the second round.

The other four teams to have been eligible for every tournament and not been dancing once are Army, William & Mary and The Citadel.

In 1968, Army actually did qualify for the NCAA tournament, but coach Bobby Knight thought the Black Knights would have a better shot in the NIT and turned down the invite. Army lost its first game in the NIT to Notre Dame.