76 NCAA Tournament Teams in 2026-27
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
All sports are becoming play-off centric.
Regular seasons becoming less relevant .
College BB ii poster child for this as NFL playoffs extend to mid- feb, eating into college BB season.
Only option for ncaa? Extend college BB playoffs to fill gap in programming from March til NBA playoffs start in april.
Inevitable continued dilution of regular season...sigh.
Regular seasons becoming less relevant .
College BB ii poster child for this as NFL playoffs extend to mid- feb, eating into college BB season.
Only option for ncaa? Extend college BB playoffs to fill gap in programming from March til NBA playoffs start in april.
Inevitable continued dilution of regular season...sigh.
Change things to just 6 OOC games, 12-ish conference games, make it mandatory that all conference teams participate in the conference tourneys and then make the NCAAT available to EVERYONE. Instead of 3 weekends, it'll be 6 to 8.
I mean, f*, it seems that they are trying to ultimately find that end point somewhere in the future.
Bunch of participation ribbons so feelings aren't bruised.
I mean, f*, it seems that they are trying to ultimately find that end point somewhere in the future.
Bunch of participation ribbons so feelings aren't bruised.
The tournament would start with 76 teams.
A 24 team 1st round (or play in) eliminates 12 teams & gets you to 64 teams.
A 24 team 1st round (or play in) eliminates 12 teams & gets you to 64 teams.
Start the tourney from the beginning of the season. Lost the opening game? Too bad, season's over.
You really mean it when you say 1 and done!
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 Dellenger.
The proposal would add eight games to the First Four, with 24 teams playing in an opening round before advancing into the second round.
Barring something unforeseen, “it will happen,” a high-placed source told Dellenger.
The proposal would add eight games to the First Four, with 24 teams playing in an opening round before advancing into the second round.
Yeah it'll be about like bowl games have become. I guess whatever but it's definitely watered down.
All this to get $2 more a month for 6-7 tv/streaming providers from 168 million of us. F them. F it, I have no other choice than to suck it up and pay it if I want to watch the Hawks.
I remember when the B10+ channel started and thought all game would be there. They sure suckered a lot of people.
Just another con to get your $9.99 a month to watch a couple pre conference games.
How many NCAA teams? Put them all in. Absolute Madness.....right?
More is always more.
Heck. All teams in a double elimination tournament... More games!
Just so dumb.
There are about 365 D-1 men's basketball teams.
BTW: It used to be that to make the NCAA basketball tournament you had to WIN your conference. That's the regular season conference title. There were no conference tournaments. Can you imagine that?! There were 16 teams in the NCAA tournament in those days.
Take 1968 for example. Iowa lost its final game of the season to fall into a tie for the Big Ten title with Ohio State, so Iowa had to travel to Columbus to face the Buckeyes to determine who would represent the Big Ten in the NCAA tournament. Iowa lost and finished second, so OSU went to the NCAA and Iowa stayed home. It was a different time. The regular season and conference titles mattered. Crazy, huh . . .
NIL made expansion of the tournament even more pointless.
Cinderella use to be a mid major. Now Cinderella is a low seed from a power conference with an athletics budget over $100 million.
Cinderella use to be a mid major. Now Cinderella is a low seed from a power conference with an athletics budget over $100 million.
A few thoughts, imo:
* At least it will still take just 3 weekends to complete the tournament
* There has always been a "first 4 out" and a "second 4 out." Now, those 8 teams make the NCAA Tournament. Hopefully the whining about teams not making the tourney will be a lot less.
* More games to watch.
* More TV revenue to go back to the schools.
You don't think the 77th, 78th, 79th, and 80th teams won't complain about being left out? LOL
So big ten or sec team with $100 million in revenue will get in with a losing conference record and a 30-1 from the MAC will be left out.
I think the extra bids should come from the mid majors, that had a really good season. For example, Belmont from the Missouri Valley. They went 26-6 and won the regular season title by 3 games and choked in the conference tourney. Indiana who went 18-14 with a losing record in the B1G didn't deserve a tourney invite, if it was this year.
Do the play in games count in my bracket? If I don't have to pick them, they aren't real games.
no you don't have to pick the play in games. at least it was like that for my online bracket this year
If that happens, it would be typical but despicable. I remember when you had to win your regular season conference title to earn an NCAA bid to what was a 16-team event. In 1968 Iowa tied OSU for the Big Ten title but lost to the Buckeyes in a tie-breaker game, so OSU went to the NCAA tourney and Iowa stayed home.
