SIU Edwardsville Cougars guard Brian Taylor II (11) drives past Illinois Fighting Illini guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (2). Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

First three men's NCAA Tournament auto-bids make school history

By Austen Bundy | Last updated Mar 10, 2025 11:55 AM ET

We're exactly one week away from Selection Sunday where college basketball fans will find out which 68 teams are going to participate in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

This weekend, however, the first three automatic bids to March Madness were clinched.

All three early conference tournament champions made school history by lifting their respective trophies.

Ohio Valley Conference champions Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), Summit League champions Omaha and Big South champions High Point will all be dancing for the first time ever.

SIUE (21-11) defeated top-seeded Southeastern Missouri, 69-48, on Saturday night, prompting Cougars head coach Brian Barone to break out a special pair of scissors on the ESPN broadcast he saved from six years ago for this very occasion.

SIUE head coach Brian Barone put scissors in a case six years ago and refused to open the case until making the NCAA tournament.

Today he broke them out to cut down the nets pic.twitter.com/Uj4oL2lahX
— ESPN (@espn) March 9, 2025

Omaha (21-12) clinched its bid by virtue of conference tournament final opponent St. Thomas being ineligible for the postseason due to its NCAA Division I transitionary period.

High Point (29-5) rallied from down 15 points on Sunday to defeat Winthrop 81-69, sending the North Carolina-based school into the NCAA history book.

HIGH POINT IS DANCING FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ‼️

The Panthers rallied from 15 down to win the Big South tourney pic.twitter.com/mse0WiiJxl
— ESPN (@espn) March 9, 2025

They will represent the 333rd, 334th and 335th teams to participate in the NCAA Tournament all-time.

Later Sunday, the Lipscomb Bisons conquered the Atlantic Sun Conference, becoming the fourth team into March Madness and earning their second-ever bid.

All four programs will likely find themselves as 15 or 16 seeds considering they're all ranked outside the Top 68 in the all-important KenPom and NET rankings.

But college basketball fans are well aware what kind of noise unknown programs can do in March Madness. They're quite literally the origin of the tournament's nickname.

Austen Bundy

Austen Bundy is a journalist and sports junkie from the Washington, D. C. area

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