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There were 30 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 27 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while two were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference (Big Ten and Ivy League ). Another 34 bids were awarded by the NCAA tournament committee at-large to the best teams in the nation not already qualified.
The West Coast Conference had intended to award its automatic bid to its tournament champion. However, after the conference's tournament was cancelled in the wake of the death of Hank Gathers , the automatic bid was awarded to regular-season champion Loyola Marymount .[ 1]
The American South [ 2] and Big South [ 3] both held a conference tournament, but their champions did not receive an automatic bid.
Automatic qualifiers [ edit ]
Five conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Coppin State (MEAC , Northern Iowa (Mid-Continent ), South Florida (Sun Belt ), Texas Southern (SWAC ), and Towson State (East Coast )
^ "Marymount's Gathers dies; Games halted" . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). Associated Press. March 5, 1990. p. 1D. Retrieved June 12, 2023 .
^ Wolff, Alexander (March 26, 1990). "Reaching for the Stars - Loyola Marymount played as if possessed, stunning Michigan with a record scoring barrage in the NCAA tournament's wild and woolly opening week" . Sports Illustrated . Retrieved June 12, 2023 .
^ McCann, Gary (May 17, 1990). "Despite losing automatic bid, MEAC will get money" . Greensboro News & Record . Retrieved June 12, 2023 .