Report: College basketball regular season expanding to 32-game limit

According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, the number of college basketball games played in a season is set to increase. Norlander reports beginning with the 2026-2027 season, teams can play on 32 occasions. They will not be required to but the move allows programs to schedule more nonconference matchups any given year.

“College basketball’s regular season is set to expand,” Norlander said. “Barring an unexpected and extremely unlikely motion to vote against, the NCAA Division I Council will approve on Wednesday an increase from 31 to 32 games, beginning with the 2026-27 season, sources told CBS Sports.”

***UPDATE*** – Later Wednesday evening, Norlander confirmed the deal was done. The change will apply to both men’s and women’s college basketball.

Norlander added that multiple team events (MTEs) are in the middle of the decision to expand. Events such as the Player’s Festival in Las Vegas can produce as many as four games in the later portion of November. Adding a game to the overall total gives schools more flexibility.

Finding some better high-profile nonconference matchups appears to be another goal, especially in the later portion of the regular season. Norlander said, “The additional game should also enable more teams to bring back nonconference opportunities in January or February.” Duke facing Illinois last year is an example, as is the Blue Devils recently agreeing to a matchup against Michigan in 2026.

As of now, no mention of expanding the calendar as to when the season begins. Early November appears to still be the target date. For example, this season’s opening night will take place on Nov. 4, spanning all the way to the first Monday in April for the national championship game.

Decision on NCAA Tournament expansion expected soon

Will the NCAA Tournament expand beyond the current format to include more teams? We should know soon enough.

According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the decision or whether to expand the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments for 2026 “is expected to come in the next few weeks.” Thamel notes that the expansion would be to no more than 76 schools, which would be a maximum increase of eight new teams from the current format.

Thamel also notes that the NCAA remains engaged in talks with its media partners over any potential changes. That’s no surprise, as the primary driver in any decision is likely to be maximizing viewership and revenue.

The last major expansion to the NCAA Tournament field came in 2011. At that point, the field expanded from 64 teams to 68 teams. That brought about the advent of the play-in game.

On3’s Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this report