March Madness men's, women's not expanding this season - ESPN

The men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments will not be expanding this season, NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt announced Monday.

«Expanding the tournament fields is no longer being contemplated for the 2026 men's and women's basketball championships,» Gavitt said in a statement. «However, the committees will continue conversations on whether to recommend expanding to 72 or 76 teams in advance of the 2027 championships.»

NCAA president Charlie Baker said last month that the biggest challenge for tournament expansion — particularly one that would take place in less than eight months — is logistics.

«The tournament has to start after the conference championships are over,» he said. «And right now Selection Sunday happens like two hours after the last tournament game ends and has to finish by the Tuesday before the Masters. There's not a lot of room there. Any expansion, we're going to have to figure out how to put it in and then logistically how to make it work.»