The talk around college basketball’s March Madness tournament expansion has been gaining steam in recent years.
According to ESPN, it was a recent topic of conversation amongst NCAA executives for the upcoming 2025-2026 season for both the men’s and women’s game.
But, at least for now, expansion isn’t happening. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t in the future, though.
“Expanding the tournament fields is no longer being contemplated for the 2026 men’s and women’s basketball championships,” NCAA Senior VP of Basketball Dan Gavitt said in a statement on Monday, according to ESPN. “However, the committees will continue conversations on whether to recommend expanding to 72 or 76 teams in advance of the 2027 championships.”
The current format of the beloved basketball tournament is at 68 teams, with 31 automatic qualifiers and 37 at-large bids. The format is set to where eight teams, comprised of the last four AQs and the last four at-large bids, play in the First Four games before the tournament to get it down to a workable 64 teams for the bracket. Then it gets down to business.
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With the revenue generated by the tournament becoming so massive and continuing to grow in recent years, it makes some sense why executives would try to push for an expansion. But, according to NCAA president Charlie Baker, the logistics on the table are just too much to get through at the current time.
“The tournament has to start after the conference championships are over,” Baker said, via ESPN. “And right now Selection Sunday happens like two hours after the last tournament game ends and has to finish by the Tuesday before the Masters. There’s not a lot of room there. Any expansion, we’re going to have to figure out how to put it in and then logistically how to make it work.”
Heading into his 11th season on Rocky Top, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes is looking to take his team to a seventh straight NCAA Tournament appearance (the 2020 tournament was cancelled). The Vols have made back-to-back runs to the Elite Eight, but haven’t quite cracked the Final Four spot under Barnes.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi recently put out an update to his way-too-early bracketology rankings, with Tennessee once again thought of favorably despite losing key pieces such as Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack, Chaz Lanier, and Jordan Gainey. Lunardi currently has Tennessee slotted as a three-seed in the Midwest Region, in a quadrant that includes several familiar faces, including Houston, Illinois, Alabama, Texas A&M, Texas, and Ole Miss.
Check out Lunardi’s latest bracket projections here.
