The University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) men’s basketball team has officially earned a bid in the NCAA Division I Tournament or March Madness without even winning their conference tournament.
The NCAA offers automatic bids to teams that won their conference tournament at the end of the regular season and this rewards the smaller teams that don’t play the necessary competition to make the tournament.
Omaha advanced to the championship Saturday with an impressive 25 point win over South Dakota 100-75 and St. Thomas advanced with a 85-69 win over North Dakota. Because St. Thomas transitioned from DIII to DI in 2020, they are not yet eligible for the NCAA tournament, leaving Omaha as the automatic qualifiers.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected Mavericks facing off as a 16 seed against the 1 seed Houston Cougars in his latest Bracketology. The way UNO has been playing recently, they could have one of the best chances for a major upset in the whole tournament.
