What You Need to Know About the Expanded 76-Team NCAA Tournament Format
March Madness is getting supersized. The men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament fields are growing to 76 teams this season, up from 68. This marks the first time the men’s draw has expanded since 2011, when it went from 64 teams to 68. The women’s draw didn’t go from 64 to 68 teams until 2022. The idea of expanding the field has drawn mixed reviews from fans, but the overwhelming majority of coaches naturally favor it. Since there are more than 360 Division I programs in both the men’s and women’s divisions, the percentage of schools making the tournament remains relatively small, though that percentage goes up quite a bit if you limit it to power-conference schools. “In a nutshell, more I feel is always better,” Wisconsin men’s coach Greg Gard said. “We have one of the lowest in terms of participation percentages of total teams of almost any college sport, and if you look at the NFL, the…