Forty-four current Division-I men’s basketball programs that have never qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Most of them are eligible for inclusion in March Madness this year (or any other year), as long as they win the automatic bid that’s awarded to the winner of each conference tournament.
However, about 20% of the teams on the current list are ineligible for the NCAA Tournament as part of a recent Division I reclassification action. These teams are denoted in the table below with an asterisk.
SIU Edwardsville, High Point, and Nebraska-Omaha all removed themselves from this list in 2025 by winning their conference tournaments and punching their first-ever NCAA Tournament tickets.
Teams With Zero NCAA Tournament Appearances
| Team | Conference |
|---|---|
| Army | Patriot |
| Bellarmine | Atlantic Sun |
| Bethune-Cookman | SWAC |
| Cal Baptist | WAC |
| UC-Riverside | Big West |
| UC-San Diego | Big West |
| Central Arkansas | Atlantic Sun |
| Chicago State | WAC |
| The Citadel | SoCon |
| Denver | Summit |
| East Texas A&M* | Southland |
| Elon | Colonial |
| Incarnate Word | Southland |
| Le Moyne* | NEC |
| Lindenwood* | Ohio Valley |
| UMKC | Summit |
| Maine | America East |
| Maryland Eastern Shore | MEAC |
| UMass Lowell | America East |
| Mercyhurst* | NEC |
| Merrimack | NEC |
| New Hampshire | America East |
| NJIT | America East |
| North Alabama | Atlantic Sun |
| Presbyterian | Big South |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Horizon |
| Queens* | Atlantic Sun |
| Quinnipiac | MAAC |
| Sacramento State | Big Sky |
| Sacred Heart | NEC |
| St. Thomas* | Summit |
| Stonehill* | NEC |
| South Dakota | Summit |
| Southern Indiana* | Ohio Valley |
| USC Upstate | Big South |
| Tarleton | WAC |
| Tennessee-Martin | Ohio Valley |
| Texas-Rio Grande Valley | WAC |
| Utah Tech | WAC |
| Utah Valley | WAC |
| West Georgia* | Atlantic Sun |
| Western Illinois | Summit |
| William & Mary | Colonial |
| Youngstown State | Horizon |
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