The 2018 NCAA 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. The 78th edition of the tournament is scheduled to begin on March 15, 2018, and will conclude with the championship game on April 4 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
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.