First Four

The First Four is a play-in round of the NCAA Division I NCAA [Division I men's basketball tournament|men's] and women's basketball tournament|women's] basketball tournaments. It consists of two games contested between the four lowest-ranked teams in the field, and two games contested between the four lowest-seeded "at-large" teams in the field, which determine the last four teams to qualify for the 64-team bracket that plays the first round.
In 2001, the champion of the recently formed Mountain West Conference began to receive an automatic bid to the men's tournament. The NCAA did not wish to reduce the number of at-large teams in the tournament, which therefore expanded the field to 65 teams; to preserve a 64-team bracket for the first round, an Opening Round game would be played between the two lowest-seeded automatic qualifying teams, with the winner of this play-in game advancing to the first round.
In 2011, the men's tournament expanded to 68 teams, resulting in the expansion of the opening round to four games. Upon the adoption of this format, the opening round games were now referred to as the "first round games", and the round of 64—the tournament's first round proper—was now referred to as the "second round". However in 2016, the NCAA officially rebranded the games as the "First Four", and returned to referring to the round of 64 as the "first round".
All of the Opening Round games and current-format men's First Four games, with the exception of 2021, have been played at the [UD Arena|University of Dayton Arena] in Dayton, Ohio. In 2022, the 68-team format and the First Four was extended to the Division I women's tournament for the first time.

History

Opening round (2001–2010)

The game was conceived after the Mountain West Conference, which had been formed in 1999 following the split of the Western Athletic Conference, was given an automatic bid for its conference champion, which made it the 31st conference to receive an automatic berth into the men's tournament. Unlike the women's tournament, which accommodated this change by eliminating an at-large bid to keep their field at 64 teams, the organizers of the men's tournament elected to keep their at-large entries at 34. In order to eliminate one of the teams to have a 64-team bracket, it became necessary for another game to be played between the two lowest-ranked teams among the automatic bid leagues.
Florida A&M and Winthrop were the only teams to appear in the game more than once. The 2003 game was the only one to end in overtime.

First Four (2011–present)

[Image:UD_Arena_First_Four.jpg|thumb|right|Court used for First Four in the 2017 tournament]
On April 22, 2010, as part of a new broadcast rights deal for the tournament between CBS Sports and Turner Sports, the NCAA announced that the men's tournament would expand to 68 teams beginning in 2011. The previous opening round game was replaced by a new "first round" of four games, consisting of:

Two games played between the four lowest-ranked teams
Two games played between the four lowest-ranked at-large seeds

The winners of these games would advance to the 64-team bracket for the first round proper.
From 2011 to 2015, the NCAA officially referred to these games as the "first round" of the tournament; it believed that the use of terms such as "play-in game" would diminish their stature, since they are considered official tournament games. Concurrently, the round of 64 was renamed the "second round", a change that would lead to confusion among the media and viewers. Some media outlets colloquially referred to the new round as the "First Four", in reference to the tournament's semi-final having historically been branded as the "Final Four". In November 2014, the NCAA announced that it would officially rebrand the round as the "First Four" beginning in 2016, and reinstate the traditional usage of "first round" as referring to the round of 64.
In November 2021, as part of the implementation on recommendations to address inequalities between the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments, the NCAA announced that the women's tournament would expand to 68 teams in 2022, adopting the same format as the men's event.

Criticism

Although analysts' initial reactions to the concept were skeptical, the first game, played on March 13, 2001, was a success, and few complaints were lodged. The games are prominent by attracting viewers on nights on which no other NCAA games are played. Prior to the proposal of expansion, Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim had advocated for an expansion of the tournament from 64 to 76 teams, which would include four opening round games for all of the 16th and also added opening-round games for the 14th- and 15th-seeded teams. The expansion of play in games faced logistical challenges and lukewarm acceptance from then-NCAA President Myles Brand and the corporate and media partners of the NCAA. However, on April 22, 2010, the NCAA announced, as part of a new 14-year, US$10.8 billion agreement between CBS Sports and Time Warner's Turner Sports division, that the tournament would add three more play-in games, which in total came to be known as the "First Four."
The opening-round games have also been criticized as a handicap for teams among the historically black colleges and universities. In every game from 2002 to 2010, one team was an HBCU, and at least one HBCU has participated in every First Four. However, the two conferences which are made up of HBCUs, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference, are often two of the lowest-rated conferences in the Ratings Percentage Index and its successor since 2018–19, the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Since each win in an opening round game is treated the same as a win in any other game for purposes of sharing in NCAA tournament revenue, athletic directors and commissioners of HBCU-heavy conferences often welcome the exposure and money gained. However, other HBCU officials argue that First Four games for conference tournament champions are unfair since they played their way into the tournament, and look at placing HBCU teams in the opening round as a sign of disrespect of HBCU programs.
Since its inception, the First Four games have been held at the University of Dayton Arena for every tournament except in 2021, when the entire tournament was moved to the state of Indiana due to COVID-19 concerns. Other than First Four games held at a fixed location, the NCAA does not allow the scheduling of home games for teams in the tournament. In 2015, the Dayton Flyers were selected to the First Four, resulting in the team playing on its home court; it was the first time any team played on its home court in the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 28 years. Leon Rice, head coach of their opponent, the Boise State Broncos, said he felt media made more of an issue about Dayton playing at home than Boise State did. Boise State went on to lose to Dayton, 56–55.

Broadcasters

The first Opening Round Game in 2001 was broadcast by cable network TNN—a sibling to tournament broadcaster CBS—with Tim Brando and Rick Pitino as commentators.
ESPN, which had not shown NCAA Tournament games since the early rounds of the 1989 tournament, then signed a deal to show the Opening Round game beginning in 2002. ESPN continued to cover this game through 2010, as the only one of 64 NCAA Tournament games not to be shown on a CBS network.
With the transition to the new CBS/Turner contract and the new First Four format in 2011, the round has been broadcast exclusively by TruTV. In 2021, TBS joined in with TruTV because of the First Four being played in a single day as opposed to two days.

Format

Opening Round

The winner of the game was awarded the No. 16 seeded position in one of four regions of the tournament and next played the No. 1 seeded team of that region on the following Friday. Three of the top seeds to beat the opening game winner advanced to the national championship game and all three won the national championship. North Carolina was the only No. 1 seeded team matched against the opening round winner more than once.
Despite the term play-in being used colloquially, the loser of the opening round game was still considered to have been in the tournament, as both teams met the qualifications for "automatic tournament entry" as stated in the NCAA bylaws. At first, only the loser received credit for being in the game for purposes of its conference receiving a share of the NCAA Division I "basketball fund"; however, starting with the 2008 tournament, both teams received credit for playing. There was an actual "play-in" round in 1991, with six teams playing each other before the tournament bracket was announced; these games are not considered part of the 1991 tournament. Consequently, in 2001, Northwestern State technically became the first No. 16 seeded team to win a game in the men's NCAA tournament by virtue of the team's opening round victory.

First Four

The teams are not the eight lowest-ranked teams in the field; the four lowest-ranked at-large teams usually have higher rankings among the entire field of 68 than several of the automatic-bid teams coming from the smaller conferences. The four games are held to determine which teams will assume a place in the first round. Unlike other early games in the tournament, the teams are not matched with disparity intended. Rather, equality governs match-ups.
While most NCAA tournament games are played Thursday through Sunday, the First Four games are played earlier in the first week, between Selection Sunday and the First Round on Thursday and Friday. As of 2017, two games are played on the Tuesday following Selection Sunday, and the remaining two are played on Wednesday. Once the First Four games are played, the four winning teams assume their places in the bracket of 64 teams, and must play again later that week, with little rest. The two Tuesday winners are paired with their next opponent on Thursday; and, the Wednesday winners play on Friday. With the Second Round being played on Saturday and Sunday, this scheduling allows for six consecutive days of competition during the first week of the tournament.
With the exceptions of 2019 and 2025, at least one of the men's First Four winners has advanced past the First Round of the tournament every year since the format's inception. Five teams have advanced to the second weekend and the Sweet 16. VCU and UCLA are the only two First Four teams to reach either the Elite Eight or the Final Four.
All winners in the inaugural women's First Four in 2022 lost their First Round games. The only First Four team to date that has advanced past the first round is Mississippi State in 2023, which defeated Creighton in the first round before losing to Notre Dame.

Results

The below tables list the results of all "play-in" games, along with how each winning team fared in subsequent games.
Subsequent game results are listed with: round, score, opponent, and opponent's seed.
Round is noted as:

R64 – Round of 64
R32 – Round of 32
S16 – Sweet 16
E8 – Elite Eight
F4 – Final Four
NC – National Championship Game

Bold font indicates a win in the main tournament bracket by a team that advanced from the First Four.
indicates overtime.

Men's tournament

2001–2010

For these 10 tournaments, a single play-in game was contested, between the two lowest-ranked teams that had received automatic bids. The winning team then played the top-seeded team in their regional bracket. In each instance, the play-in winner lost to the top-seeded team by at least 13 points.

Year	Winner	Score	Loser	Subsequent games for winner
2001	Northwestern State	71–67	Winthrop	R64 54–96 Illinois
2002	Siena	81–77	Alcorn State	R64 70–85 Maryland
2003	UNC Asheville	92–84	Texas Southern	R64 61–82 Texas
2004	Florida A&M	72–57	Lehigh	R64 76–96 Kentucky
2005	Oakland	79–69	Alabama A&M	R64 68–96 North Carolina
2006	Monmouth	71–49	Hampton	R64 45–58 Villanova
2007	Niagara	77–69	Florida A&M	R64 67–107 Kansas
2008	Mount St. Mary's	69–60	Coppin State	R64 74–113 North Carolina
2009	Morehead State	58–43	Alabama State	R64 54–74 Louisville
2010	Arkansas–Pine Bluff	61–44	Winthrop	R64 44–73 Duke

denotes a team that went on to win the national championship

2011–present

Tournament results for First Four teams since the men's tournament expanded to 68 teams are shown in the table below.
Unless noted otherwise, the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio, has hosted all games. To date, 2019 and 2025 are the only years in which none of the First Four winners advanced past the next round.

Year	Seed	Winner	Score	Loser	Subsequent games for winner
2011	11	VCU	59–46	USC	R64 74–56 Georgetown
2011	11	VCU	59–46	USC	R32 94–76 Purdue
2011	11	VCU	59–46	USC	S16 72–71 Florida State
2011	11	VCU	59–46	USC	E8 71–61 Kansas
2011	11	VCU	59–46	USC	F4 62–70 Butler
2011	12	Clemson	70–52	UAB	R64 76–85 West Virginia
2011	16	UNC Asheville	81–77	Arkansas–Little Rock	R64 51–74 Pittsburgh
2011	16	UTSA	70–61	Alabama State	R64 46–75 Ohio State
2012	12	South Florida	65–54	California	R64 58–44 Temple
2012	12	South Florida	65–54	California	R32 56–62 Ohio
2012	14	BYU	78–72	Iona	R64 68–88 Marquette
2012	16	Vermont	71–59	Lamar	R64 58–77 North Carolina
2012	16	Western Kentucky	59–58	Mississippi Valley State	R64 66–81 Kentucky *
2013	11	Saint Mary's	67–54	Middle Tennessee	R64 52–54 Memphis
2013	13	La Salle	80–71	Boise State	R64 63–61 Kansas State
2013	13	La Salle	80–71	Boise State	R32 76–74 Ole Miss
2013	13	La Salle	80–71	Boise State	S16 58–72 Wichita State
2013	16	James Madison	68–55	LIU	R64 62–83 Indiana
2013	16	North Carolina A&T	73–72	Liberty	R64 48–79 Louisville **
2014	11	Tennessee	78–65	Iowa	R64 86–67 Massachusetts
2014	11	Tennessee	78–65	Iowa	R32 83–63 Mercer
2014	11	Tennessee	78–65	Iowa	S16 71–73 Michigan
2014	12	NC State	74–59	Xavier	R64 80–83 Saint Louis
2014	16	Albany	71–64	Mount St. Mary's	R64 55–67 Florida
2014	16	Cal Poly	81–69	Texas Southern	R64 37–64 Wichita State
2015	11	Dayton	56–55	Boise State	R64 66–54 Providence
2015	11	Dayton	56–55	Boise State	R32 66–72 Oklahoma
2015	11	Ole Miss	94–90	BYU	R64 57–76 Xavier
2015	16	Hampton	74–64	Manhattan	R64 56–79 Kentucky
2015	16	Robert Morris	81–77	North Florida	R64 56–85 Duke *
2016	11	Michigan	67–62	Tulsa	R64 63–70 Notre Dame
2016	11	Wichita State	70–50	Vanderbilt	R64 65–55 Arizona
2016	11	Wichita State	70–50	Vanderbilt	R32 57–65 Miami (FL)
2016	16	Florida Gulf Coast	96–65	Fairleigh Dickinson	R64 67–83 North Carolina
2016	16	Holy Cross	59–55	Southern	R64 52–91 Oregon
2017	11	Kansas State	95–88	Wake Forest	R64 61–75 Cincinnati
2017	11	USC	75–71	Providence	R64 66–65 SMU
2017	11	USC	75–71	Providence	R32 78–82 Baylor
2017	16	Mount St. Mary's	67–66	New Orleans	R64 56–76 Villanova
2017	16	UC Davis	67–63	North Carolina Central	R64 62–100 Kansas
2018	11	St. Bonaventure	65–58	UCLA	R64 62–77 Florida
2018	11	Syracuse	60–56	Arizona State	R64 57–52 TCU
2018	11	Syracuse	60–56	Arizona State	R32 55–53 Michigan State
2018	11	Syracuse	60–56	Arizona State	S16 65–69 Duke
2018	16	Radford	71–61	LIU	R64 61–87 Villanova *
2018	16	Texas Southern	64–46	North Carolina Central	R64 83–102 Xavier
2019	11	Arizona State	74–65	St. John's	R64 74–91 Buffalo
2019	11	Belmont	81–70	Temple	R64 77–79 Maryland
2019	16	Fairleigh Dickinson	82–76	Prairie View A&M	R64 49–87 Gonzaga
2019	16	North Dakota State	78–74	North Carolina Central	R64 62–85 Duke
2021	11	UCLA	86–80	Michigan State	R64 73–62 BYU
2021	11	UCLA	86–80	Michigan State	R32 67–47 Abilene Christian
2021	11	UCLA	86–80	Michigan State	S16 88–78 Alabama
2021	11	UCLA	86–80	Michigan State	E8 51–49 Michigan
2021	11	UCLA	86–80	Michigan State	F4 90–93 Gonzaga
2021	11	Drake	53–52	Wichita State	R64 56–72 USC
2021	16	Norfolk State	54–53	Appalachian State	R64 55–98 Gonzaga
2021	16	Texas Southern	60–52	Mount St. Mary's	R64 66–82 Michigan
2022	11	Notre Dame	89–87	Rutgers	R64 78–64 Alabama
2022	11	Notre Dame	89–87	Rutgers	R32 53–59 Texas Tech
2022	12	Indiana	66–58	Wyoming	R64 53–82 Saint Mary's
2022	16	Texas Southern	76–67	Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	R64 56–83 Kansas *
2022	16	Wright State	93–82	Bryant	R64 70–87 Arizona
2023	11	Pittsburgh	60–59	Mississippi State	R64 59–41 Iowa State
2023	11	Pittsburgh	60–59	Mississippi State	R32 73–84 Xavier
2023	11	Arizona State	98–73	Nevada	R64 70–72 TCU
2023	16	Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	75–71	Southeast Missouri State	R64 75–96 Alabama
2023	16	Fairleigh Dickinson	84–61	Texas Southern	R64 63–58 Purdue
2023	16	Fairleigh Dickinson	84–61	Texas Southern	R32 70–78 Florida Atlantic
2024	10	Colorado	60–53	Boise State	R64 102–100 Florida
2024	10	Colorado	60–53	Boise State	R32 77–81 Marquette
2024	10	Colorado State	67–42	Virginia	R64 44–56 Texas
2024	16	Wagner	71–68	Howard	R64 62–90 North Carolina
2024	16	Grambling State	88–81	Montana State	R64 50–78 Purdue
2025	11	North Carolina	95–68	San Diego State	R64 64–71 Ole Miss
2025	11	Xavier	86–80	Texas	R64 73–86 Illinois
2025	16	Alabama State	70–68	Saint Francis	R64 63–83 Auburn
2025	16	Mount St. Mary's	83–72	American	R64 49–93 Duke

† Played at Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana
‡ Played at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana
Denotes a team that went on to win the national championship
Denotes a team that went on to win the national championship that was later vacated by the NCAA

Women's tournament

Beginning in 2022, First Four games are also contested in the women's tournament.

Year	Seed	Winner	Score	Loser	Subsequent games for winner
2022	16	Howard	55–51	Incarnate Word	R64 21–79 South Carolina
2022	11	Dayton	88–57	DePaul	R64 54–70 Georgia
2022	16	Longwood	74–70	Mount St. Mary's	R64 68–96 NC State
2022	11	Missouri State	61–50	Florida State	R64 56–63 Ohio State
2023	16	Sacred Heart	57–47	Southern	R64 49–92 Stanford
2023	11	Mississippi State	70–56	Illinois	R64 81–66 Creighton
2023	11	Mississippi State	70–56	Illinois	R32 4853 Notre Dame
2023	16	Tennessee Tech	79–69	Monmouth	R64 47–77 Indiana
2023	11	St. John's	66–64	Purdue	R64 59–61 North Carolina
2024	16	Presbyterian	49–42	Sacred Heart	R64 39–91 South Carolina
2024	11	Arizona	69–59	Auburn	R64 69–74 Syracuse
2024	16	Holy Cross	72–45	UT Martin	R64 65–91 Iowa
2024	12	Vanderbilt	72–68	Columbia	R64 63–80 Baylor
2025	16	Southern	68–56	UC San Diego	R64 46–84 UCLA
2025	11	Iowa State	68–63	Princeton	R64 74–80 Michigan
2025	16	William & Mary	69–63	High Point	R64 Texas
2025	11	Columbia	63–60	Washington	R64 59–78 West Virginia

The women's First Four games have been played at neutral sites. However, unlike the men's First Four, the women's version does not use a single site, instead holding those games at home courts of four of the top 16 national seeds.