Yahoo! Sports says NCAA Tournament expansion, if approved, will likely begin in 2026-27

NCAA Tournament expansion will have to wait at least another year until more teams are invited to dance. Ross Dellenger over at Yahoo! Sports reported on NCAA president Charlie Baker’s latest comments about tournament expansion, which confirmed that immediate changes would be “tough to do” ahead of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Baker’s comments align with Pete Thamel’s report on immediate expansion earlier this month.

Speaking at an event in Washington, D.C., Baker emphasized the logistical challenges associated with adding more teams and more play-in games, likely at a second play-in site, in addition to the traditional play-in site in Dayton, Ohio. Baker sees the field expanding to 72-76 participating schools, which allows more worthy teams into the postseason. He named Indiana State and St. John’s as recent snubs that would’ve made an expanded field.

Still, the changes to March Madness need time, so eyes are on the 2027 NCAA Tournament for the first Big Dance with more than 68 teams.

Dellinger writes, “The NCAA basketball selection committees — responsible, along with the basketball oversight committees, for making any expansion decision — met earlier this month where committee members learned that expansion, if approved, would most likely start in 2026-27, multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting told Yahoo Sports.”

[NCAA basketball tournament expansion growing more unlikely for 2025-26 season due to ‘logistics’]

Five-in-five rule for Division II

Also from Baker’s Thursday comments to the press club, there’s a new NCAA proposal to change Division II’s eligibility rules. On the table is a new five-in-five rule, which would allow DII athletes to play five seasons within five years, granting them one additional year of eligibility beyond the traditional four-year model.

Dellenger’s report quotes Bakers as saying that the proposal is “on the back burner” for Division I, but could come up in the future.