2026 March Madness: Cinderella Casting – Ivy League and Atlantic 10 Auto-Bids

The last of the small and mid-major auto bids were snatched up on Sunday afternoon.

It has been a lot of fun projecting who may wear the glass slipper in this year’s NCAA Tournament, but the work isn’t done yet!

Around The Corn will provide coverage of the Big Dance leading up to the first tipoff on Thursday as well.

Here are the profiles of the Ivy League and Atlantic 10’s automatic bid recipients.

Ivy

Automatic Bid: Penn

Seed: 14

Cinderella Probability: Unlikely

It feels like the Quakers stole the Ivy League bid from a more deserving Yale squad that could have fared better in the Big Dance, but often times that’s how this sport works and it’s part of the magic of March. It’s also difficult to deny a team’s capability when it has a player that can go off for 44 points in a game like forward TJ Power did to secure the team’s berth in the Tournament.

The Quakers will likely look to make Illinois uncomfortable by trying to speed up the pace and hope that enough shots from outside go down to hang with one of the most efficient offensive squads in the country. It won’t be an easy task, but this is the wrong conference to underestimate. That said, from a practical point of view the Quakers wouldn’t be Around The Corn’s first pick in a Cinderella Draft this year.

Atlantic 10

Automatic Bid: VCU

Seed: 11

Cinderella Probability: Decent

Other teams receiving bids from the conference: Saint Louis

Keith Gill said during the Selection Show that had VCU not won the A-10 Tournament, the Rams wouldn’t be a participant in this year’s Big Dance. The margins were thin for this team but the potential is high, especially with a seemingly favorable First Round matchup that sees Phil Martelli’s team take on a depleted North Carolina squad.

The Rams are a balanced squad that plays enough defense to hang with every team in its Tournament pod and can be dangerous offensively when they shoot well from behind the arc. They’re hot, too, having won 16 of their last 17 games, the only loss being to fellow Tournament participant Saint Louis. It would hardly be a shock to see the Rams win a game or two in this year’s Tournament.