ESPN broadcaster Jay Bilas says NCAA tournament expansion to 76 teams was not necessary

Dan Dakich tackles the controversial NCAA Tournament expansion to 76 teams, featuring unfiltered reactions from coaching legends like Tom Izzo, Mark Few, and John Calipari.

ESPN college basketball broadcaster Jay Bilas said that the NCAA’s decision to expand the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments to 76 teams was unnecessary.

Bilas, 62, said that while he is indifferent to the NCAA’s decision to expand, no one was clamoring for it.

"I don't want to say I don't care, but I'm not bothered by it. It's not a decision I would have chosen for the NCAA because -- I'm not one of those 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' guys, because nobody ever says, 'if it's not broke, don't improve it or or don't maintain it.' But I don't think it was necessary," Bilas told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

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Sports broadcaster Jay Bilas plays golf during the first practice round at the ACC Celebrity Golf Championship 2025 at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nev., on July 9, 2025. (David Calvert/Getty Images for American Century Investments)

"Nobody was clamoring to see a .500 team from a major conference making the tournament."

Bilas noted that had the tournament been expanded for this past season’s tournament, there would have been .500 teams in the tournament.

In the new expanded tournament, the first two days of the tournament would look drastically different. On that Tuesday and Wednesday, there would be 12 games played between 24 teams due to the eight added at-large bids. The games would be played at two different sites.

Bilas said it might be "a little bit confusing" for the average fan to fill out their bracket. He called the added play-in games