The chatter has arisen, and will again, by those who want to expand the NCAA Tournament. My advice? Don’t.
Division I men’s college basketball is one of the largest leagues you will see anywhere. As of 2025 (and not every team is eligible for the tournament), there are 364 teams. Your favorite North American professional sports league probably has about 30, plus or minus a few.
Keeping track of every program on a daily basis is almost impossible; even if it were, why would anyone want to condemn their life to such an endeavor? I’m sure there are some perfectly fine programs out in the WAC and Horizon League, but all the details are not necessary for this website to function. Hell, event the major conference teams are not all consequential every day.
We do not need any more teams in the Big Dance, and here, Bracket Yard will rant as to why.
Don’t Expand the NCAA Tournament: The Video
Key Points
Division I college basketball has 68 teams in its tournament at present, which is a low percentage of teams (19) relative to major pro sports leagues, but it’s a lot more teams. When baseball has 12 teams in its postseason, it may be 40 percent of the league, but the majority of these 12 teams are good and/or respectable. In a 68-team field, many of them are not going to realistically compete for a title. Should they expand the NCAA Tournament to 96 or 128 teams, they are not adding championship caliber: They are increasing the number of teams who will not be genuine contenders.
The metrics will bear out these findings. As of today, there are teams with NET rankings in the 60s and 70s who are in bubble contention. Increasing the tournament by 28 (96 total) or 60 (128 total) would mean there would be teams with NET rankings surpassing 100 who make the field. Despite 364 teams, the quality disparity between #1 and #100 is vast.
Lower seeds (if one is high and 16 is low) do not win the tournament, anyway, and even if they have some success, it tends to be tempered. Just seven double-digit seeds in almost 40 years have gotten to the Final Four. All seeds one through 16 have won at least one tournament game historically, but success for teams below a nine seed has serious limitations in a broad scope. Dozens more teams in the field would not change this to any major degree.
Why Expand the NCAA Tournament?
Money, probably. It is not for increasing the quality of the tournament; that’s for sure. It just increases the tournament itself.
