What would an NCAA Tournament World Cup look like?

I personally love soccer; it is perhaps my favorite sport to both watch and play. Not everyone feels that way, but when you compare tournaments around the world, two usually come to mind: March Madness and the World Cup.

It got me thinking: What would it look like if we had an NCAA basketball tournament, World Cup-style?

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First, you would have qualifiers. In the different regions of the world (Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas), there are qualifiers; each team plays other teams in their region to get the chance to come to the World Cup every 4 years. Applying that logic to the NCAA brand means each conference would have every team play each other to gain points. The top teams then advance to the actual World Cup. I just took the top 4 finishers in each conference to use as the qualifying campaigns. Then added 4 teams that are highest ranked in the NET but outside of the top 4 of the conference standings.

America East Conference

American Conference

Atlantic 10 Conference

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Atlantic Coast Conference

Atlantic Sun Conference

Big 12 Conference

Big East Conference

Big Sky Conference

Eastern Washington Eagles

Big South Conference

Big Ten Conference

Big West Conference

Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors

Cal State Fullerton Titans

Cal State Northridge Matadors

Coastal Athletic Association

Conference USA

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

Horizon League

Ivy League

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Mid-American Conference

Kent State Golden Flashes

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

North Carolina Central Eagles

Missouri Valley Conference

Mountain West Conference

Northeast Conference

Long Island University Sharks

Central Connecticut Blue Devils

Ohio Valley Conference

Southeast Missouri State Redhawks

Patriot League

Boston University Terriers

Southeastern Conference

Southern Conference

East Tennessee State Buccaneers

Southland Conference

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders

Southwestern Athletic Conference

Summit League

St. Thomas-Minnesota Tommies

North Dakota…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ncaa-tournament-world-cup-look-111500076.html

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Publish date : 2026-06-12 11:15:00

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