There are 43 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. (You can use my 2026 NCAA Tournament automatic bid tracker for more info on that.)
However, a handful 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.
Queens, the 2026 Atlantic Sun tournament champion, has just become the latest team to extricate itself from this list. The Royals made the NCAA Tournament in the first year they were eligible after completing their transition from Division II.
A few days later, Cal Baptist removed itself from this list by winning the WAC tournament.
Teams With Zero NCAA Tournament Appearances
| Team | Conference |
|---|---|
| Army | Patriot |
| Bellarmine | Atlantic Sun |
| Bethune-Cookman | SWAC |
| 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 |
| New Haven* | NEC |
| NJIT | America East |
| North Alabama | Atlantic Sun |
| Presbyterian | Big South |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Horizon |
| 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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