The NCAA is expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams soon after the completion of this year’s March Madness tournament, per Yahoo Sports' @RossDellenger.

Barring something unforeseen, “it will happen,” a high-placed source told… pic.twitter.com/qBQKdfR9Q7

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) April 3, 2026

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Absolute stupidity

Just awful.

Your 2027 NCAA tournament bubble!

—Last 4 in—
LSU (13-20)
Va Tech (15-19)
Northwestern (16-18)
Ga Tech (14-19)

—First 4 out—
Wichita St (30-3)
Toledo (28-4)
VCU (26-6)
UNLV (25-8)

— Auburn Blazer (@AuburnBlazer) April 3, 2026

Have to go 30-2 or better vs D1B to move back up😉

— T3 (@T3Bracketology) April 4, 2026

I dislike this so much. It's like they didn't see the bubble this year. I don't want this years Auburn team ever in the tournament

Was really hoping the date on that tweet was two days earlier.

Everyone wanted to pay the players so these are the types of consequences we get. Cant have it both ways.

Mikeyshooter said:

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Everyone wanted to pay the players so these are the types of consequences we get. Cant have it both ways.

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The two aren't related.

Let's just put all of D1 in there.

Right? 76 of roughly 360 D1 schools in the post season. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Why don't they expand the NIT for their money grab and leave the Big Dance alone?

Why are they doing it then?

They are going to ruin the best sporting event in the world

64 was perfect.

68 was stupid but did t really change it much

76 is going to freakin suck

Just making the dance will no longer be an accomplishment and they are going to make 24 teams play an extra round


I ****in hate the ncaa

I hope those 24 teams don't just include at large teams. All those auto qualifiers that are seeded 12 and down should be a part of those games other wise you'll have 8 and 9 seeds in an extra round

Exactly. Schools are scrambling to find new revenues streams to pay players. I don't see how they aren't related.

NyAggie said:

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They are going to ruin the best sporting event in the world

64 was perfect.

68 was stupid but did t really change it much

76 is going to freakin suck

Just making the dance will no longer be an accomplishment and they are going to make 24 teams play an extra round


I ****in hate the ncaa

I hope those 24 teams don't just include at large teams. All those auto qualifiers that are seeded 12 and down should be a part of those games other wise you'll have 8 and 9 seeds in an extra round

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You can hate the NCAA all you want, but the driver of all this, other than money, are the fans and commentators that take the committee to task for leaving out what they consider a "deserving" team. You know, the 18-win team that didn't match up well against other bubble teams or the 23-win mid-major who arguably had the goods to get in but, like the other one, just fell short.

I'm not saying the committee NEVER gets it wrong; hell, they get it wrong most every year. But knock-down, drag-out arguments over who should fill in the last 4 slots is ridiculous. The way to fix this for good is to come up with something that makes some sense for overall seeding, especially the last few slots, keep it consistent every year, and publish it. But even absent that, just realize that folks on the committee are not always going to see things the way you or I do, and certainly not the way fans of programs that get left out do.

The fact is, there ARE NO deserving teams that are in the last 8 seeking the last 4 spots. Only 3 teams seeded 5-8 have won a title (Kansas, a 6 in '88/UConn, a 7 in '14/Villanova, an 8 in '85); NO seed between 9 and 16 have ever won a title or even been to the final. We don't need to worry about the last 4 teams in RIGHT NOW (i.e. at 68); we certainly don't need to expand the tournament to include EVERYONE'S last 4 in.

If you aren't a 1-4 seed, you almost certainly aren't winning the tournament. That doesn't mean we go back to 16 teams, but it does mean that 64 is WAY more than enough.

Ag1188 said:

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Lol. 64 was awesome but 78 sucks so bad? Lmao. More smaller schools in should be a result. Does a lot for those schools.

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I care more about putting the best teams in the tourney than I do about getting a 4th MAC team in the mix.

Let's simply skip the regular season, begin the tournament immediately

Ag1188 said:

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Lol. 64 was awesome but 78 sucks so bad? Lmao. More smaller schools in should be a result. Does a lot for those schools.

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This is going to result in more mediocre power conference schools getting in, like Auburn and Indiana this year, not mid-majors.

Results in a more watered down version of the Big Dance.

Ag1188 said:

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Lol. 64 was awesome but 78 sucks so bad? Lmao. More smaller schools in should be a result. Does a lot for those schools.

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It sucks because teams that would otherwise just be in now have to play an extra game just because they want to include more teams that probably really don't deserve to be in

Expansion would have robbed me of the opportunity to see Steven Pearl with the NIT champ net tied into his cap.

NyAggie said:

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They are going to ruin the best sporting event in the world

64 was perfect.

68 was stupid but did t really change it much

76 is going to freakin suck

Just making the dance will no longer be an accomplishment and they are going to make 24 teams play an extra round


I ****in hate the ncaa

I hope those 24 teams don't just include at large teams. All those auto qualifiers that are seeded 12 and down should be a part of those games other wise you'll have 8 and 9 seeds in an extra round

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68 has grown on me, at least for the 16/16 matchups. Dayton crowds are usually pretty enthusiastic and it's cool to see smaller schools get to say they won a March madness game, especially as in recent years the winners have given their 1-seed matchup a decent showing (at least for a half, see Michigan-Howard this year).

But this is all being done to give power conferences more crappy squads in the field. There's only ever maaaaaaybe 1-2 teams who get left out that deserve a shot, and no, Auburn this year wasn't one of them. Try just winning more conference games, ya morons.