2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament qualifying teams

This is a list of qualifying teams for the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. A total of 68 teams entered the tournament. Thirty of the teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. The automatic bid of the Ivy League, which did not conduct a postseason tournament, went to its regular season champion. The remaining 37 teams were granted at-large bids, which were extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. All teams were seeded 1 to 16 within their regionals, while the Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 68. For the first time ever, the Selection Committee disclosed each team's seed within the entire field following the announcement of the entire bracket.^[1]

2012 qualifying teams
Total teams	68
Automatic bids	31
At-large bids	37
Top seed	Kentucky
Champion	Kentucky
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
«2011 2013»

Automatic bids

Automatic bids to the tournament were granted for winning a conference championship tournament, except for the automatic bid of the Ivy League given to the regular season champion. Seeds listed were seeds within the conference tournaments. Runners-up in bold face were given at-large berths.

Automatic bids
Qualifying school	Record (Conf.)		Last app.	Conference regular season	Regular season second place	Second place record (Conf.)
Harvard	26–4 (12–2)		1946	Ivy League	Penn	19–12 (11–3)
Qualifying school	Record (Conf.)	Seed	Last app.	Conference tournament	Conf. finals runner-up	Runner-up record (Conf.)	Runner-up seed
Florida State	24–9 (12–4)	3	2011	ACC	North Carolina	29–5 (14–2)	1
Vermont	23–11 (13–3)	2	2010	America East	Stony Brook	22–9 (14–2)	1
St. Bonaventure	20–11 (10-6)	4	2000	Atlantic 10	Xavier	21–12 (10–6)	3
Belmont	26–7 (16–2)	1	2011	Atlantic Sun	Florida Gulf Coast	15–17 (18–10)	6
Missouri	30–4 (14–4)	2	2011	Big 12	Baylor	27-7 (12–6)	4
Louisville	26–9 (10–8)	7	2011	Big East	Cincinnati	24–9 (12–6)	4
Montana	25–6 (15–1)	1	2010	Big Sky	Weber State	24–6 (14–2)	2
UNC Asheville	24–9 (16–2)	1	2011	Big South	VMI	17–16 (8–10)	7
Michigan State	27–7 (13–5)	1	2011	Big Ten	Ohio State	27–7 (13–5)	3
Long Beach State	25–8 (15–1)	1	2007	Big West	UC Santa Barbara	20–10 (12–4)	3
VCU	28–6 (15–3)	2	2011	CAA	Drexel	27–6 (16–2)	1
Memphis	26–8 (13–3)	1	2011	C-USA	Marshall	21–13 (9–7)	6
Detroit Mercy	22–13 (11–7)	3	1999	Horizon	Valparaiso	22–11 (14–4)	1
Loyola (MD)	24–8 (13–5)	2	1994	MAAC	Fairfield	19–14 (12–6)	4
Ohio	27–7 (11–5)	3	2010	MAC	Akron	22–11 (13–3)	1
Norfolk State	25–9 (13–3)	2	Never	MEAC	Bethune-Cookman	18–17 (11–5)	4
Creighton	28–5 (14–4)	2	2007	Missouri Valley	Illinois State	20–13 (9–9)	4
New Mexico	27–6 (10–4)	2	2010	Mountain West	San Diego State	26–6 (10–4)	1
LIU-Brooklyn	25–8 (16–2)	1	2011	Northeast	Robert Morris	24–9 (13–5)	3
Murray State	30–1 (15–1)	1	2010	Ohio Valley	Tennessee State	20–12 (11–5)	2
Colorado	22–11 (11–7)	6	2003	Pac-12	Arizona	23-10 (12–6)	4
Lehigh	26–7 (11–3)	2	2010	Patriot	Bucknell	24–8 (12–2)	1
Vanderbilt	24–10 (11–6)	3	2011	SEC	Kentucky	32–2 (16–1)	1
Davidson	25–7 (16–2)	South 1	2008	Southern	Western Carolina	17–17 (8–10)	North 4
Lamar	23–11 (11–5)	3	2000	Southland	McNeese State	17–15 (10–6)	4
South Dakota State	27–7 (15–3)	2	Never	Summit	Western Illinois	18–14 (9–9)	4
Western Kentucky	15–18 (7–9)	East 4	2009	Sun Belt	North Texas	18–14 (9–7)	West 4
Mississippi Valley State	21–12 (17–1)	1	2008	SWAC	Texas Southern	15–18 (15–6)	2
New Mexico State	26–9 (10–4)	2	2010	WAC	Louisiana Tech	18–16 (6–8)	5
Saint Mary's	27–5 (14–2)	1	2010	West Coast	Gonzaga	25–6 (13–3)	2

At-large bids

Team	Conference	Last appearance	# of appearances
Alabama	SEC	2006	20
Baylor	Big 12	2011	7
BYU	West Coast	2011	27
California	Pac 12	2010	16
Cincinnati	Big East	2011	26
Colorado State	Mountain West	2003	9
Connecticut	Big East	2011	30
Duke	ACC	2011	36
Florida	SEC	2011	15
Georgetown	Big East	2011	28
Gonzaga	West Coast	2011	15
Indiana	Big Ten	2008	36
Iona	MAAC	2006	8
Iowa State	Big 12	2005	14
Kansas	Big 12	2011	41
Kansas State	Big 12	2011	26
Kentucky	SEC	2011	52
Marquette	Big East	2011	30
Michigan	Big Ten	2011	19
NC State	ACC	2006	21
North Carolina	ACC	2011	43
Notre Dame	Big East	2011	32
Ohio State	Big Ten	2011	24
Purdue	Big Ten	2011	25
Saint Louis	Atlantic 10	2000	7
San Diego State	Mountain West	2011	8
South Florida	Big East	1992	3
Southern Miss	Conference USA	1991	3
Syracuse	Big East	2011	35
Temple	Atlantic 10	2011	30
Texas	Big 12	2011	30
UNLV	Mountain West	2011	19
Virginia	ACC	2007	17
West Virginia	Big East	2011	25
Wichita State	Missouri Valley	2006	9
Wisconsin	Big Ten	2011	18
Xavier	Atlantic 10	2011	23

Tournament seeds (list by region)

East Regional – Boston, Massachusetts Seed School Conference Record Berth type Overall rank 1 Syracuse Big East 31–2 At-large 2 2 Ohio State Big Ten 27–7 At-large 7 3 Florida State ACC 24–9 Automatic 11 4 Wisconsin Big Ten 24–9 At-large 14 5 Vanderbilt SEC 24–10 Automatic 18 6 Cincinnati Big East 24–10 At-large 22 7 Gonzaga West Coast 25–6 At-large 27 8 Kansas State Big 12 21–10 At-large 32 9 Southern Miss C-USA 25–8 At-large 35 10 West Virginia Big East 19–13 At-large 38 11 Texas Big 12 20–13 At-large 43 12 Harvard Ivy League 26–4 Automatic 46 13 Montana Big Sky 25–6 Automatic 55 14 St. Bonaventure Atlantic 10 20–11 Automatic 58 15 Loyola MAAC 24–8 Automatic 59 16 UNC Asheville Big South 24–9 Automatic 64	Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Missouri Seed School Conference Record Berth type Overall rank 1 North Carolina ACC 29–5 At-large 3 2 Kansas Big 12 27–6 At-large 5 3 Georgetown Big East 23–8 At-large 12 4 Michigan Big Ten 24–9 At-large 13 5 Temple Atlantic 10 24–7 At-large 17 6 San Diego State Mountain West 26–7 At-large 24 7 Saint Mary's West Coast 27–5 Automatic 26 8 Creighton Missouri Valley 28–5 Automatic 29 9 Alabama SEC 21–11 At-large 33 10 Purdue Big Ten 21–12 At-large 37 11 NC State ACC 22–12 At-large 42 12* California Pac-12 24–9 At-large 45 South Florida Big East 20–13 At-large 47 13 Ohio MAC 27–7 Automatic 52 14 Belmont Atlantic Sun 27–7 Automatic 57 15 Detroit Mercy Horizon 22–13 Automatic 61 16* Lamar Southland 23–11 Automatic 65 Vermont America East 23–11 Automatic 66
South Regional – Atlanta, Georgia Seed School Conference Record Berth type Overall rank 1 Kentucky SEC 32–2 At-large 1 2 Duke ACC 27–6 At-large 6 3 Baylor Big 12 27–7 At-large 9 4 Indiana Big Ten 25–8 At-large 15 5 Wichita State Missouri Valley 27–5 At-large 19 6 UNLV Mountain West 26–8 At-large 21 7 Notre Dame Big East 22–11 At-large 25 8 Iowa State Big 12 22–10 At-large 30 9 Connecticut Big East 20–13 At-large 34 10 Xavier Atlantic 10 21–12 At-large 40 11 Colorado Pac-12 23–11 Automatic 44 12 VCU Colonial 28–6 Automatic 49 13 New Mexico State WAC 26–9 Automatic 54 14 South Dakota State Summit 27–7 Automatic 56 15 Lehigh Patriot 26–7 Automatic 60 16* Mississippi Valley State SWAC 21–12 Automatic 67 Western Kentucky Sun Belt 15–18 Automatic 68	West Regional – Phoenix, Arizona Seed School Conference Record Berth type Overall rank 1 Michigan State Big Ten 27–7 Automatic 4 2 Missouri Big 12 30–4 Automatic 8 3 Marquette Big East 25–7 At-large 10 4 Louisville Big East 26–9 Automatic 16 5 New Mexico Mountain West 27–6 Automatic 20 6 Murray State Ohio Valley 30–1 Automatic 23 7 Florida SEC 23–10 At-large 28 8 Memphis C-USA 26–8 Automatic 31 9 Saint Louis Atlantic 10 25–7 At-large 36 10 Virginia ACC 22–9 At-large 39 11 Colorado State Mountain West 20–11 At-large 41 12 Long Beach State Big West 25–8 Automatic 51 13 Davidson Southern 25–7 Automatic 53 14* BYU West Coast 25–8 At-large 48 Iona MAAC 25–7 At-large 50 15 Norfolk State MEAC 25–9 Automatic 62 16 LIU-Brooklyn Northeast 25–8 Automatic 63

*See First Four.

Conferences with multiple bids

Bids	Conference	Schools
9	Big East	Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, South Florida, Syracuse, West Virginia
6	Big Ten	Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin
6	Big 12	Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Texas
5	ACC	Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia
4	SEC	Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
4	Mountain West	Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV
4	Atlantic 10	St. Bonaventure, Saint Louis, Temple, Xavier
3	West Coast	Saint Mary's, Gonzaga, BYU
2	Pac-12	California, Colorado
2	Conference USA	Memphis, Southern Miss
2	MAAC	Iona, Loyola (MD)
2	Missouri Valley	Creighton, Wichita State

All other conferences have only one bid (see Automatic Bids)
NOTE: Teams in bold represent the conference's automatic bid.

Last four teams out

The Selection Committee also announced the last four teams out of the tournament as part of the Hardcore Brackets special following announcement of the teams. In order, they were Oral Roberts, Miami (Florida), Nevada, and Drexel. Oral Roberts, Nevada, and Drexel were automatically selected, as regular-season champions, for berths in the National Invitation Tournament, while Miami was also selected for a berth by the NIT Selection Committee.^[2]

Bids by state

Bids	State(s)	Schools
5	North Carolina	Davidson, Duke, North Carolina, NC State, UNC Asheville
4	California	California, Long Beach State, Saint Mary's, San Diego State
4	Kentucky	Kentucky, Louisville, Murray State, Western Kentucky
4	New York	Iona, Long Island, St. Bonaventure, Syracuse
4	Ohio	Cincinnati, Ohio, Ohio State, Xavier
3	Florida	Florida, Florida State, South Florida
3	Indiana	Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue
3	Kansas	Kansas, Kansas State, Wichita State
3	Michigan	Detroit, Michigan, Michigan State
3	Tennessee	Belmont, Memphis, Vanderbilt
3	Texas	Baylor, Lamar, Texas
3	Virginia	Norfolk State, Virginia, VCU
2	Colorado	Colorado, Colorado State
2	Mississippi	Mississippi Valley State, Southern Miss
2	Missouri	Missouri, Saint Louis
2	New Mexico	New Mexico, New Mexico State
2	Pennsylvania	Lehigh, Temple
2	Wisconsin	Marquette, Wisconsin
1	Alabama	Alabama
1	Connecticut	Connecticut
1	Iowa	Iowa State
1	Maryland	Loyola (MD)
1	Massachusetts	Harvard
1	Montana	Montana
1	Nebraska	Creighton
1	Nevada	UNLV
1	South Dakota	South Dakota State
1	Utah	BYU
1	Vermont	Vermont
1	Washington	Gonzaga
1	Washington, D.C.	Georgetown
1	West Virginia	West Virginia