VCU was supposed to be a footnote. A team that didn’t even belong, jammed into the bracket through a controversial at-large bid and shipped off to Dayton to play a game nobody cared about. The 2011 Rams won that game, then won four more, and suddenly the First Four wasn’t an afterthought anymore. It was the starting line for one of the tournament’s most improbable runs.
Ten years later, UCLA did it again. Down 11 at halftime against Michigan State in Dayton, the Bruins clawed back, won in overtime, and ripped through the bracket all the way to the Final Four. Two teams, separated by a decade, both proving the same thing: the First Four isn’t a participation trophy. It’s a doorway.
Tonight, four more teams walk through it.
How the First Four Became March Madness’ Biggest Stage for
The First Four exists because of math. When the Mountain West Conference received its first automatic bid in 2001, it pushed the tournament to 65 teams, and someone had to go. A single play-in game handled the problem for a decade. Then, in 2011, the NCAA expanded to 68 teams and created the four-game format that’s been the tournament’s official opening act ever since.
Two of the games pit the final four automatic qualifiers against each other, 16-seeds fighting for the right to face a No. 1 seed on Thursday. The other two feature the last four at-large teams, typically seeded 11th or 12th, playing for a much more favorable draw in the 64-team bracket.
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That distinction matters. The automatic qualifier games are often mismatches on paper, small-conference champions who earned their spot but face long odds against the tournament’s top seeds. The at-large games are different. Those are bubble teams, programs with legitimate NCAA tournament pedigrees, playing a de facto first-round game two days early.
Since 2011, at least one at-large First Four winner has advanced past the first round in 12 of 14 tournaments. The only exceptions were 2019 and 2025. NCAA Five First Four teams have reached the Sweet 16. Two made the Final Four. One, Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023, pulled off what might be the greatest upset in tournament history.
The Knights came into that tournament as the 68th and final team in the field. They hadn’t even won their conference tournament, losing to Merrimack in the NEC championship game. But Merrimack was ineligible due to its transition from Division II, so FDU backed into the field. They beat Texas Southern in Dayton, then shocked top-seeded Purdue 63-58 two days later. FDU was a 23.5-point underdog, the largest upset by point spread since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
That’s what makes the First Four dangerous. The games matter. The pressure is real. And every team in Dayton knows someone before them turned these two days into three weeks of madness.
Tonight’s First Four Matchups Set Up Intriguing Opening-Round Storylines
The action starts at 6:40 p.m. ET with UMBC facing Howard, two 16-seeds fighting for the right to play top-seeded Michigan in the Midwest Region. NCAA UMBC knows something about making history against blue bloods; the Retrievers became the first 16-seed to beat a 1-seed when they stunned Virginia in 2018. That team didn’t come through the First Four, but the memory lingers.
NCAA GAMEDAY! It’s time to lock-in as we face Howard in the First Four in Dayton at 6:40 p.m.#RetrieverNation
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📈: https://t.co/pZS3toFZgy pic.twitter.com/rgKglR2maL
UMBC Men’s Basketball (@UMBC_MBB) March 17, 2026
The nightcap at 9:15 p.m. brings Texas and NC State, a pair of 11-seeds who both stumbled down the stretch. University of Texas Athletics Texas lost five of its last six games, including a 10-point loss to Ole Miss in their SEC Tournament opener. NC State lost six of its final seven regular-season games but managed a blowout win over North Carolina along the way. The winner gets sixth-seeded BYU in the West Region, a matchup either team can win.
MORE: NIT Bracket 2026: Tournament Schedule, Times as No. 1 Seed Auburn Leads Tuesday Action
Wednesday brings two more games: Prairie View A&M versus Lehigh (16-seeds) and Miami (Ohio) versus SMU (11-seeds). By Thursday morning, the field will be 64, and the real bracket will be set.
But the teams playing tonight understand something the casual fan might miss. VCU was the only team to go from the First Four to the Final Four until UCLA overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to beat Michigan State in overtime in 2021. That set up a run where the Bruins knocked off BYU, Abilene Christian, Alabama, and Michigan to reach the Final Four, where they lost in overtime to top-seeded Gonzaga.
Both of those teams were 11-seeds. Both played in the at-large First Four games. Both proved that starting in Dayton doesn’t mean you can’t finish in the Final Four.
Texas and NC State have the talent. They have the experience. What they don’t have is momentum, and the First Four is a brutal place to find it. The atmosphere at UD Arena is unique; small enough to feel intimate, loud enough to feel like a tournament game, and filled with fans from four different schools plus locals who treat the First Four like a local holiday.
Dayton has hosted every First Four since its inception, except for 2021, when COVID-19 moved the entire tournament to Indiana. The city knows what it’s doing. The arena knows what it’s for. And every team that walks out of here with a win knows they’ve already done something most of the bracket hasn’t: survive an elimination game.
The First Four isn’t just a warm-up. VCU proved that. UCLA proved that. Fairleigh Dickinson proved that. Tonight, four more teams get their chance to prove it again.
