WBB Coaches Poll: NCAA Tournament expansion

Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s Senior Vice President of Basketball, announced Monday that expansion of the men’s and women’s basketball tournament will not be occurring for the 2025-26 season. But while it won’t happen this year, it’s still on the table for future seasons.

There are plenty of coaches who are excited about the increased opportunity to make the postseason, but not everyone is sold. 

On3 polled more than 50 NCAA women’s basketball coaches (half assistant coaches and half head coaches) on their thoughts regarding the possible expansion. Here’s the breakdown:

• 61% of polled coaches would prefer the NCAA Tournament remain at a 68-team field
• 39% of polled coaches noted that they’d like to see the NCAA Tournament expand

The Case For:

• More opportunity for student-athletes
• The game’s parity is growing each season
• More mid-majors in the tournament

Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff: “I would say I’m for [expansion]. I just think it’s a great experience and the more student-athletes that get the chance to get there, then I think the better.”

TCU head coach Mark Campbell: “I would lean towards expanding the tournament. After being at the mid-major level, to earn an at-large bid into March Madness is almost impossible. Your margin for error is close to zero. I don’t know if I’d expand to 72 or 76, but I do think it should be expanded to allow a little more opportunity.” 

Seton Hall head coach Tony Bozzella: “I don’t know why it wouldn’t be 100% wanting to expand the tournament if you’re a coach. Why wouldn’t we want to give ourselves as many opportunities to play in the NCAA Tournament, if it’s possible? This is as coaches, not as fans. As a fan, you do worry about it getting watered down or too many preliminary games. As a coach, my job is to get my team to an NCAA Tournament.”

Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell: “Two of my three years, we were in the NCAA Tournament as one of the bottom-end SEC teams, and we were good enough to be a second-round NCAA Tournament team…We should expand it. The conferences are getting bigger and the talent within our conference is so strong that my kids deserve to be rewarded with that opportunity.”

Belmont head coach Bart Brooks: “I think the tournament is great how it is, but I also think there’s probably 20 deserving teams every year that don’t get a chance to play in it. I think it would be really good if they expand. I don’t know how the format or details will be…I think the talent and the parity is there. There are teams that are good enough to win games in the tournament that are left out of it, so as a mid-major, I’m a big fan of it. I don’t think the tournament will suffer by adding teams, because I think the teams are good enough.”

The Case Against:

• The tournament will be watered down
• What’s best for the men’s game isn’t always best for the women’s game
• Fear that TV ratings will go down
• Maintaining exclusivity
• The first teams out will always be unhappy

Louisville head coach Jeff Walz: “I want to keep it at 68. If we expand, does it water it down? There’s always going to be somebody, whether it’s the 73rd or 77th team that’s unhappy – and just because the men decide something doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best thing for us. I like our tournament where it is now.” 

Florida State head coach Brooke Wyckoff: “I would prefer it to stay at 68 [teams]. First of all, the timing of it – I don’t see how that works. It’s already really packed. It’s already a quick turnaround for teams, so that’s the first thing. The quality of the product needs to stay high, so if we expand, will it still stay high? We don’t need 60-point blowouts and we’re already having them.”

USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb: “I don’t have a clear answer on it… I think if I had to make a decision, I’d say why mess with it? I understand that things got to where they are now by making changes… I don’t think it would be bad if at the end of the day, they added four teams, but I like things the way they are.”