FOR NOW, the NCAA Tournament will remain at 68 teams, although that is still subject to change in future years.
After meeting this week, the men’s and women’s basketball committees met to discuss possible expansion, but no decisions or recommendations were adopted. ESPN’s Peter Thamel reports that while nothing has been agreed upon, all options remain on the table and discussions are continuing.
In a statement, Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of basketball, said: “Outcomes that are still viable include tournaments remaining at 68 teams or expand the fields to 72 or 76 teams before the 2026 or 2027 championships.”
Field expansion is always a popular topic during tournaments and it was talked about even more when NCAA President Charles Baker spoke this year about the possible benefits of adding more teams.
In 2011, the NCAA Field went from 64 to 68 teams with the creation of the First Four. The NCAA women’s tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2022.
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There is no deadline for making this important decision. In a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Baker said a decision on whether to expand tournaments for 2026 should be made by mid-August.
This story originally appeared on our sister site Pittsburgh Sports Now.
For a related story, EA Sports is working on a new college basketball video game.
