How Fairleigh Dickinson will make NCAA Tournament even if it loses NEC title game

Fairleigh Dickinson is the first school to make the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Making things even more intriguing for the Knights is the fact that they've done it without even winning their conference tournament. To be fair, they haven't played that game yet, but they won't even need to win it to get in.

If you're looking for a "Cinderella" team heading into March Madness, perhaps Fairleigh Dickinson out of Teaneck, N.J. will fit the bill.

Here's how it works for the Knights. 

They are part of the Northeast Conference, which features schools such as Saint Francis, Sacred Heart, Merrimack and Wagner, among a few others. It's not necessarily a powerhouse conference sports-wise, but there is, at least, an automatic bid into the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Merrimack, at 17-16 overall and 12-4 in the conference, actually won the Northeast regular-season title and was the top seed in the conference's tournament. The issue for the Warriors is that they are currently in the middle of a four-year reclassification process with the NCAA — moving from Division II to Division I — so they aren't even eligible for March Madness this season. The top-seeded Warriors were allowed to participate in their conference tournament, but it was announced last year that the championship game runner-up would be the school to advance to the NCAA Tournament in their place if they were to make it that far.

They did, and their opponent is Fairleigh Dickinson. 

The Knights don't even have to beat Merrimack to get in. They simply just had to make the title game.

Merrimack and Fairleigh Dickinson will still square off in the NEC Tournament title on Tuesday night, but because of this reclassification technicality, the Knights already know that they'll be dancing no matter what happens in that matchup. 

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.