2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the men's National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college basketball national champion for the 2017–18 season. The 80th annual edition of the tournament began on March 13, 2018, and concluded with the championship game on April 2, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
During the first round, UMBC became the first 16-seed to defeat a 1-seed in the men's tournament by defeating Virginia 74–54. For the first time in tournament history, all four top-seeded teams in a single region failed to make the Sweet 16. The tournament also featured the first regional final matchup of a 9-seed and an 11-seed.
Villanova, Michigan, Kansas, and Loyola–Chicago, all reached the Final Four. Villanova defeated Michigan in the championship game, 79–62.
The 2018 tournament was the first time since 1978 that none of the six Division I college basketball-playing schools based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area – American, Georgetown, George Mason, George Washington, Howard, and Maryland – made the NCAA tournament.
Atlantic Sun Conference champion Lipscomb made its NCAA tournament debut.

Tournament procedure

A total of 68 teams entered the 2018 tournament. 32 automatic bids were awarded, one to each program that won their conference tournament. The remaining 36 bids were "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.
Eight teams played in the [|First Four]. The winners of these games advanced to the main draw of the tournament.
The Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.

Schedule and venues

The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2018 tournament:
First Four

March 13 and 14
*University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio

First and second rounds

March 15 and 17
* PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas
* American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
* Taco Bell Arena, Boise, Idaho
March 16 and 18
* Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina
* Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
* Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
* Viejas Arena, San Diego, California

Regional semifinals and finals

March 22 and 24
*West Regional, Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
*South Regional, Philips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
March 23 and 25
*East Regional, TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
*Midwest Regional, CenturyLink Center Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska

National semifinals and championship

March 31 and April 2
*Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas

The state of North Carolina was threatened with a 2018-2022 championship venue boycott by the NCAA, due to the HB2 law passed in 2016. However, the law was repealed days before the NCAA met to make decisions on venues in April 2017. At that time, the NCAA board of governors "reluctantly voted to allow consideration of championship bids in North Carolina by our committees that are presently meeting". Therefore, Charlotte was eligible and served as a first weekend venue for the 2018 tournament.

Qualification and selection

Four teams, out of 351 in Division I, were ineligible to participate in the 2018 tournament due to failing to meet APR requirements: Alabama A&M, Grambling State, Savannah State, and Southeast Missouri State. However, the NCAA granted the Savannah State Tigers a waiver which would have allowed the team to participate in the tournament, but the team failed to qualify.

Automatic qualifiers

The following 32 teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2018 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's automatic bid.

Conference	Team	Record	Appearance	Last bid
America East	UMBC	24–10	2nd	2008
American	Cincinnati	30–4	32nd	2017
Atlantic 10	Davidson	21–11	14th	2015
ACC	Virginia	31–2	22nd	2017
ASUN	Lipscomb	23–9	1st
Big 12	Kansas	27–7	47th	2017
Big East	Villanova	30–4	38th	2017
Big Sky	Montana	26–7	11th	2013
Big South	Radford	22–12	3rd	2009
Big Ten	Michigan	28–7	28th	2017
Big West	Cal State Fullerton	20–11	3rd	2008
CAA	Charleston	26–7	5th	1999
Conference USA	Marshall	24–10	6th	1987
Horizon League	Wright State	25–9	3rd	2007
Ivy League	Penn	24–8	24th	2007
MAAC	Iona	20–13	13th	2017
MAC	Buffalo	26–8	3rd	2016
MEAC	North Carolina Central	19–15	3rd	2017
Missouri Valley	Loyola–Chicago	28–5	6th	1985
Mountain West	San Diego State	22–10	12th	2015
Northeast	LIU Brooklyn	18–16	7th	2013
Ohio Valley	Murray State	26–5	16th	2012
Pac-12	Arizona	27–7	35th	2017
Patriot League	Bucknell	25–9	8th	2017
SEC	Kentucky	24–10	58th	2017
Southern	UNC Greensboro	27–7	3rd	2001
Southland	Stephen F. Austin	28–6	5th	2016
SWAC	Texas Southern	15–19	8th	2017
Summit League	South Dakota State	28–6	5th	2017
Sun Belt	Georgia State	24–10	4th	2015
West Coast	Gonzaga	30–4	21st	2017
WAC	New Mexico State	28–5	24th	2017

Tournament seeds

The tournament seeds were determined through the NCAA basketball tournament selection process. The seeds and regions were determined as follows:

Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Overall rank
1	Virginia	ACC	31–2	Auto	1
2	Cincinnati	American	30–4	Auto	8
3	Tennessee	SEC	25–8	At-large	10
4	Arizona	Pac-12	27–7	Auto	16
5	Kentucky	SEC	24–10	Auto	17
6	Miami	ACC	22–9	At-large	22
7	Nevada	Mountain West	27–7	At-large	27
8	Creighton	Big East	21–11	At-large	30
9	Kansas State	Big 12	22–11	At-large	34
10	Texas	Big 12	19–14	At-large	39
11	Loyola–Chicago	Missouri Valley	28–5	Auto	46
12	Davidson	Atlantic 10	21–11	Auto	48
13	Buffalo	MAC	26–8	Auto	51
14	Wright State	Horizon	25–9	Auto	57
15	Georgia State	Sun Belt	24–10	Auto	60
16	UMBC	America East	24–10	Auto	63

Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Overall rank
1	Xavier	Big East	28–5	At-large	4
2	North Carolina	ACC	25–10	At-large	5
3	Michigan	Big Ten	28–7	Auto	11
4	Gonzaga	WCC	30–4	Auto	15
5	Ohio State	Big Ten	24–8	At-large	20
6	Houston	American	26–7	At-large	23
7	Texas A&M	SEC	20–12	At-large	25
8	Missouri	SEC	20–12	At-large	32
9	Florida State	ACC	20–11	At-large	38
10	Providence	Big East	21–13	At-large	35
11	San Diego State	Mountain West	22–10	Auto	45
12	South Dakota State	Summit League	28–6	Auto	49
13	UNC Greensboro	Southern	27–7	Auto	52
14	Montana	Big Sky	26–7	Auto	56
15	Lipscomb	Atlantic Sun	23–9	Auto	59
16*	North Carolina Central	MEAC	19–15	Auto	67
16*	Texas Southern	SWAC	15–19	Auto	68

Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Overall rank
1	Villanova	Big East	30–4	Auto	2
2	Purdue	Big Ten	28–6	At-large	7
3	Texas Tech	Big 12	24–9	At-large	12
4	Wichita State	American	25–7	At-large	14
5	West Virginia	Big 12	24–10	At-large	18
6	Florida	SEC	20–12	At-large	21
7	Arkansas	SEC	23–11	At-large	26
8	Virginia Tech	ACC	21–11	At-large	31
9	Alabama	SEC	19–15	At-large	36
10	Butler	Big East	20–13	At-large	33
11*	St. Bonaventure	Atlantic 10	25–7	At-large	42
11*	UCLA	Pac-12	21–11	At-large	41
12	Murray State	Ohio Valley	26–5	Auto	50
13	Marshall	Conference USA	24–10	Auto	54
14	Stephen F. Austin	Southland	28–6	Auto	58
15	Cal State Fullerton	Big West	20–11	Auto	61
16*	LIU Brooklyn	NEC	18–16	Auto	66
16*	Radford	Big South	22–12	Auto	65

Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Overall rank
1	Kansas	Big 12	27–7	Auto	3
2	Duke	ACC	26–7	At-large	6
3	Michigan State	Big Ten	29–4	At-large	9
4	Auburn	SEC	25–7	At-large	13
5	Clemson	ACC	23–9	At-large	19
6	TCU	Big 12	21–11	At-large	24
7	Rhode Island	Atlantic 10	25–7	At-large	28
8	Seton Hall	Big East	21–11	At-large	29
9	NC State	ACC	21–11	At-large	37
10	Oklahoma	Big 12	18–13	At-large	40
11*	Arizona State	Pac-12	20–11	At-large	43
11*	Syracuse	ACC	20–13	At-large	44
12	New Mexico State	WAC	28–5	Auto	47
13	Charleston	CAA	26–7	Auto	53
14	Bucknell	Patriot	25–9	Auto	55
15	Iona	MAAC	20–13	Auto	62
16	Penn	Ivy League	24–8	Auto	64

*See First Four