Tourney time nears

We're less than three weeks from Selection Monday, and tournament questions abound.

In Division III, there is one NCAA Tournament slot allotted for every 6.5 teams, which currently gives men's basketball a 59-team tournament and women's basketball a 63-team field. There are 38 men's conferences with automatic bids. Four bids are set aside (called Pool B) for teams that aren't in one of those 38 leagues. The remaining 17 bids (called Pool C) are at-large selections.

For the women's tournament, there are 39 conferences with automatic bids. Three bids are set aside in Pool B, for teams not in one of those conferences. The remaining 21 bids are the at-large selections in Pool C.

&&b-boxr&&Unfortunately, in Division III, Selection Sunday has gone away. Last year the NCAA split up the announcement into two phases, selecting the teams on Sunday night and bracketing them Monday morning. This year, the entire bracket and field will be announced Monday morning, March 3, scheduled for approximately 9 a.m. ET. We'll have the field for you as soon as it's announced, as we have every year since 1998.

The NCAA uses regional winning percentage, strength of schedule (using opponents' winning percentage -- OWP -- and opponents' opponents winning percentage -- OOWP), regional head-to-head results, common opponents, and results against regionally ranked teams.

Regional rankings are released by the NCAA three times prior to Selection Monday, starting late Wednesday afternoon. We have calculated the OWP and OOWP through Sunday's games, the same games the NCAA will be ranking on. Here are the men's and women's strength of schedule numbers.

The first-round games are held March 5-7, second-round games March 8, Sweet 16 games on March 14, Elite 8 on March 15 and the Final Four is on March 21-22.

Do you have more questions about the Division III basketball NCAA Tournament? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.