The 2018 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament will involve 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It is scheduled to begin on March 15, 2018, and will conclude with the championship game on April 4 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
A total of 68 teams will enter the 2016 tournament. 31 of the 32 automatic bids teams will be given to the program that wins their conferences tournament. The remaining automatic bid will go to the Ivy League regular season champion since they do not hold a conference tournament. The remaining 36 teams will be granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.
Eight teams-the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams-will play in the First Four (the successor to what had been popularly known as "play-in games" through the 2010 tournament). The winners of these games advance to the main draw of the tournament. The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 68.