NCAA men's, women's basketball tournaments expand to 76 teams - ESPN

The men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments are expanding to 76 teams, the NCAA announced Thursday.

It is the first time the men's tournament has expanded since 2011, and the first time the women's tournament has expanded since 2022.

«Expanding the Division I men's and women's basketball championships is the right decision for the student-athletes and programs that will now have access to the greatest events in college sports,» said Tim Sands, chair of the Division I board of directors and the president at Virginia Tech. «As NCAA leaders, we are especially excited to provide additional, highly competitive games for fans who look forward to March Madness every year.»

The expansion from 68 teams to 76 teams marks the men's tournament's largest increase since it moved to 64 teams in 1985. It went from 64 to 65 in 2001 and then added three more teams in 2011 to form the First Four.

With the increase to 76, the First Four — doubleheaders on back-to-back days in Dayton — will be replaced by a 12-game Opening Round. The Tuesday and Wednesday of the men's tournament will feature 12 games played by 24 teams in two different cities. There will now be three games each day in Dayton and three games each day in a second city yet to be determined, with sources telling ESPN's Pete Thamel that the second site is expected to be west of the Eastern time zone to help with logistics.

On the women's side, the 12 Opening Round games will be played on the Wednesday and Thursday between Selection Sunday and the beginning of the round of 64 on Friday — and across 12 of the campus sites designated as first- and second-round hosts.

Half of the 24 Opening Round teams will be the lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers; the others will be the