NCAA Tournament expanding to 76 Teams is all about the money, not inclusion or madness

Dan challenges the pushback that the NCAA received for their plans to expand the NCAA tournament from 68 teams to 76 teams. He recalls times when playoffs expanded and thinks they have been overwhelmingly positive. Dan calls for more tournament basketball and is one of the few praising the move

After a year of pandering, the NCAA Tournament will be expanding to 76 teams next season, with the almighty dollar at the forefront of this new postseason adventure.

I hope you didn’t actually think the NCAA was going to pass on adding teams to a tournament that was already popular enough that ratings soared this past season to record highs. 

This move has been the play, as members of the college football playoff committee were already looking to add spots after just one season of 12 teams.

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The formal announcement should come from the NCAA and its television partners sometime next month, as all the final details are hammered out, which include advertisers that fund this massive tournament.

Nebraska Cornhuskers fans react during the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament against the Troy Trojans at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on March 19, 2026. (Shane Bevel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

One of the questions I asked on social media centered around which teams that were left out this past season actually deserved a spot in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. 

Interestingly enough, only Belmont was sincerely suggested. Not Auburn, who went on a southern revival over a two-day period in hopes of convincing the tournament committee to select them over others.

Sure, there have been plenty of conference commissioners, coaches and athletic directors that