NCAA basketball tournament reportedly expanding to 76 teams: What to know

Is NCAA Tournament expansion a forgone conclusion? Yes, at least according to the major figureheads involved in the process. 

A report by Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger on Thursday went into great detail about how both the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments will be growing by eight to 76 teams very soon.    

"Soon after the completion of this year’s NCAA tournament, NCAA leadership and members of the association’s basketball committees — both the selection and oversight groups — are expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams," Dellenger wrote. "Barring something unforeseen, “it will happen,” says one high-placed source."

One of the biggest pieces to all of this is added TV revenue from additional games. Eight games would be added to the current “First Four” played over Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week of the event. This means 24 teams playing in 12 games over the two days at two sites (Dayton and TBD). 

The NCAA currently has Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS as TV partners and that's not expected to change. 

"The 12 winners of the opening-round games — likely six games pitting lower-seeded automatic qualifiers and six pitting at-large teams — advance to an awaiting 52 teams in the original bracket," Dellenger added. "Under this concept, eight teams are extracted from the main bracket, plus the eight new at-large selections from expansion." 

This will change what makes a "bubble team" 

The highest seed to ever make the championship is a No. 8, which has happened four times. The first came in the first NCAA tournament under the modern format, when No. 8 Villanova beat powerhouse No. 1 Georgetown for the 1985 championship. It also happened in 2011 (Butler), 2014 (Kentucky) and 2022 (North Carolina). Villanova is the only one from that group to win the title, according to the NCAA. 

To say any expansion would change the outcome is unknown. But given the history of the tourney, this creates more excitement to start before the round of 64 starts. 

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