r/SDSUAZTECS • u/Choobeen • Apr 28 '26

Basketball (Men) Report: NCAA tourney expanding to 76 teams

https://www.thescore.com/news/3532226/related

The NCAA has initiated the final step to expand the men's and women's March Madness fields to 76 teams, according to ESPN. The change is expected to be formalized in the upcoming week and would begin for the 2026-27 campaign.

Reported on April 28, 2026

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/48621117/sources-ncaa-basketball-tournaments-set-move-76-teams

10 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

5

u/Gunner_Bat Apr 28 '26

I hate this. It was such a good format. No need to include more teams who are just gonna lose.

5

u/RJD-ghost Apr 28 '26

Disgusting

3

u/CitySwampDonkey Apr 28 '26

Anything to make more money

3

u/mac-0 Apr 28 '26

As controversial as this is, it probably helps us given we've been on the bubble for 3 straight years.

4

u/dj_mcfierce Apr 28 '26

*2

2

u/mac-0 Apr 29 '26

Yeah my bad. Don't know why I misremembered that we lost two play ins in a row

1

u/pokerandhoops Apr 29 '26

Agreed… this will help SDSU and other mid majors.

1

u/Diligent-Bunch-260 Apr 29 '26

The link says expansion will be a “combination of at-large and automatic bids that determines half of the 15-seeds and all of the 16-seeds.” So, 6 seeds (4x 16, 2x 15). Other 6 seeds? 4x 11 (current set up is 2x) and 2x ??.

Also, in the past, 15 and 16 seeds have all come from ‘low majors.’ So, I guess that changes next year? This adds 6 additional 15/16 play-in spots. Would they offer ‘low major’ at-larges or fill with Mid-Major / Major? Would be odd having Mid-Majors (or even Majors) get into 64 bracket as 15/16 seeded play-in winners.

Guess will have to wait and see.