As the 2025-26 college basketball season approaches, the Big East welcomed industry leaders to the Empire State Building in New York to discuss the state and future of the sport.
The roundtable included a one-on-one conversation with NCAA President Charlie Baker and additional panels featuring Big East administrators, athletic directors, former coaches, business executives and more.
There remains enormous uncertainty around many of the most pressing topics affecting college hoops, but the roundtable clearly showed how much — and how quickly — things are changing as a result of the House rule. Below you will find panelists’ insights on several current issues.
Federal bill
Baker expressed optimism that the NCAA can create a viable structure in the post-House world, but noted that “a little help from the federal government” would go a long way in clarifying some rules. In July, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee advanced the SCORE Act, the federal bill supported by the NCAA and major conferences. However, since loss of momentum and is now being challenged by the opposing SAFE Act, which is the bill favored by labor groups.
Asked about the general progress of a new law, Baker seemed hopeful that sports would get Congressional attention and that things would move in the right direction: “I think our chances of getting something more or less like the SCORE Act as it’s currently configured in the House, which deals with our three biggest issues — the rules, the kind of preemption of state laws where a lot of these laws are just designed to give schools in a particular state advantages over the schools in other states, and define once and for all the children who play. College sports are not employees – I think this thing has a good chance of reaching the House at some point.
NCAA tournament expansion
While the field will remain at 68 for the 2025-26 NCAA Tournament, Baker suggested expansion could happen by next season. “I don’t want to get ahead of the basketball committees on this, but I hope we can find a way to get there (by 2026-27),” he said.
Baker reiterated his overall support for the expansion, calling it “an opportunity to give a worthy group of schools a chance.” “When you award 32 automatic qualifiers every year out of a field of 68, that almost by definition means you’re going to leave out of the tournament a number of teams that are probably top 65,” he added. “If you increase the size of the tournament a little bit, you can pretty much guarantee that this won’t be a problem in the future.”
The projected expansion model would increase the number of teams to 76. It would reduce the First Four play-in tournament and introduce a new “opening round” of 24 programs, a mix of the lowest ranked at-large and automatic qualifiers. The 12 winners would qualify for the round of 16.
In a separate panel, Craig Robinson, executive director of the National Basketball Coaches Association, said coaches’ comments on the topic were predictably mixed. “The coaches in the conferences that would benefit from having more teams are the ones that want to have more teams,” Robinson said. “Coaches in conferences that would suffer from having more teams don’t want more teams. But everyone says they want what’s best for student-athletes, which is more teams.”
Transfer Portal Window
With the number of transfers skyrocketing in today’s landscape, there has been a lot of talk about When the portal opens. The date was moved back a week in 2025 — from March 18 to March 24 — but still landed in the middle of the NCAA Tournament, giving teams that failed to make it or were eliminated an advantage over those remaining in the field.
It seemed unlikely that the 30-day window would be drastically changed in the near future, as Baker highlighted the challenges that would entail. “There’s no time that it’s going to be ideal, because you’re trying to find a way to set a specific time that works from an academic calendar and a seasonal calendar, which is very difficult,” he said. “The number of children playing now when the gate opens is quite small. But the conversations, who knows when they will start?”
Recruit/retain players
During a panel on “Campus and Coaching Climate,” former Villanova head coach Jay Wright shed light on the nature of recruiting in the modern era. Coaches would spend hours at players’ homes, discussing topics such as college, internship opportunities, and the professional networks their institutions could offer. “There’s no conversation about that right now,” Wright said. “Most coaches don’t do house calls anymore. They just have a meeting with the agent and the student-athlete and they talk about how much playing time I have, where I’m going to be on the roster and how much you’re going to pay me. That’s what the decision is based on.” These drastic changes have left coaches scrambling to adjust their strategies.
Robinson also highlighted how difficult it has been for coaches to retain players in the current chaotic climate. “It’s a full-time job now from the middle of the season, because the guys are getting calls from their agents,” he said. “So you’re talking about January until the portal is finished.”
UConn athletic director David Benedict discussed how coaches Dan Hurley and Geno Auriemma have found success in player retention, beyond fundraising efforts. “I think part of it is the work they do up front to figure out who fits into their programs, because not everyone is going to make it,” he said. “As far as Dan and Geno are concerned, they haven’t lost their identity. They know who they are and they’re not willing to stray to find someone who some might think is the next best thing.”
Final Four combined men and women
Along with many other sports leaders, Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman has spoken out in favor of holding the men’s and women’s Final Fours in the same city, rather than at two separate sites. According to Baker, the concept was discussed at length by the men’s and women’s basketball committees over the years, but was not pursued for various reasons. At a minimum, committees must honor their existing contracts – host cities have been selected until 2031.
“So far, I think they’ve been happy with the experience they’ve had as owners of the cities they each operate in,” Baker said. “I understand where Val is coming from. I talk to him about it a lot. But I think it’s something that the committees struggle with, but generally speaking, both of them feel pretty good about the trajectory of each of their tournaments.”
