An 11-seed and a 12-seed will be knocked out of the NCAA tournament before it really starts thanks to how the bracket is built

• The NCAA basketball tournaments start Tuesday (men) and Wednesday (women) with the First Four games.
• The games include 16-seeds, 12-seeds, and 11-seeds, while 13-, 14-, and 15-seeds are given byes.
• The First Four teams include the lowest automatic bids and the lowest ranked at-large teams.

The NCAA basketball tournaments start this week, with First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday for the men and Wednesday and Thursday for the women.

Two of the First Four games are used to determine lowly No. 16 seeds, while the other games will be competed by a pair of 11-seeds and a pair of 12-seeds on the men's side ...

and four 11-seeds on the women's side.

So while some 12-seeds and all teams seeded 13-15 are given a pass into the main portions of the tournaments, a handful of 11- and 12-seeds will have their March Madness dreams vanquished before the real action starts later in the week.

Half of the First Four teams must come from the at-large schools

The reason for the cruel fate of the 11-and 12-seeds is not bad luck. It is based simply on how the tournament selection committee fills out the bracket.

There are three steps for the committee in filling out the NCAA tournament bracket:

1. Select the 36 at-large teams.
2. Seed every team 1-68.
3. Place those teams in the bracket.

Once the 68 teams are seeded, the bottom four teams (Seeds 65-68 overall) get placed in the First Four. Those generally go to the lowest-seeded teams to receive automatic bids to the Big Dance by winning their conference tournaments.

The other First Four teams consist of the four lowest-seeded teams from among the teams receiving at-large bids. Those teams (typically seeded 11th or 12th) will face each other, with the winners getting to meet 5- or 6-seeds in the next round.

In other words, the First Four games are played by the four lowest-seeded automatic bids and the four lowest-seeded at-large bids.

It's that simple.

By doing this, the selection committee is hoping not to punish too many smaller schools, which typically earn their way in by winning a conference tournament. 

Interestingly, how the actual match-ups in the First Four are determined is not as you would assume. From the NCAA:

The last four at-large teams on the overall seed list, as well as teams seeded 65 through 68, will be paired to compete in the First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday following the announcement of the field. (If allowed, the last at-large team on the seed list will be paired with the second-to-last at-large team on the seed list. The other First Four games will consist of the third-to-last at-large team on the seed list playing the fourth-to-last at-large team on the seed list, as well as seed 65 versus 66; and seed 67 versus 68).

That is, if you rank the First Four teams, No. 1 plays No. 2, No. 3 plays No. 4, for both the at-large teams and the overall bottom seeds. 

Being a First Four team is not always a bad way to start. A team playing in the First Four has advanced to at least the Round of 32 in nine of the 10 men's tournaments since first introduced in 2011. That includes Virginia Commonwealth, which went to the Final Four in 2011, and UCLA, which reached the national semis in 2021.

This is the first year that the women's side will hold First Four games.