Does expanding Women's NCAA Tournament create opportunity — or just more power?

AMELIA ISLAND, FL — Like it or not, the NCAA Tournament is expanding.

This upcoming season, March Madness for men’s and women’s basketball will grow to fields of 76 teams — an increase of eight at-large bids from the previous iteration of 68 teams. The NCAA is increasing the number of play-in games the week leading up to the Round of 64.

USA TODAY Sports caught up with a handful of women’s basketball coaches to see what they thought about this latest change to the sport.

“Does this help us grow the game? Does it give people more opportunities? And I think the answer to that is yes. More student athletes are going to have a positive experience,” Georgia Tech coach Karen Blair said. “There's nothing like on that Selection Sunday of having your name be called. So, for more teams to be able to have that opportunity, I think it's phenomenal.”

OPINION: NCAA Tournament expansion won't kill March Madness but will make it worse

Some, like longtime NC State coach Wes Moore, haven’t spent much time pondering the implications an expanded tournament. His Wolfpack — who went to the Final Four in 2024 and have won five ACC titles — are rarely in the bubble conversation.

“We're wired to be thinking, ‘OK, we need to finish in the top 16 in the country so we get to host.’ That's a big advantage in our sport and that's where the pressure comes,” Moore said. “I hadn't even thought about the bracket expanding. You know — 64, 68, 78 whatever — let's just try to compete at the top.”

2026: UCLA Bruins

2025: Connecticut Huskies

2024: South Carolina Gamecocks

2023: LSU Lady Tigers

2022: South Carolina Gamecocks

2021: Stanford Cardinal

2019: Baylor Lady Bears

2018: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

2017: South Carolina Gamecocks

2016: Connecticut Huskies

2015: Connecticut Huskies

2014: Connecticut Huskies

2013: Connecticut Huskies

2012: Baylor Bears

2011: Texas A&M Aggies

2010: Connecticut Huskies

2009: Connecticut Huskies

2008: Tennessee Lady Volunteers

2007: Tennessee Lady Volunteers

2006: Maryland Terrapins

2005: Baylor Lady Bears

2004: Connecticut Huskies

2003: Connecticut Huskies

2002: Connecticut Huskies

2001: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

2000: Connecticut Huskies

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NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2026: UCLA Bruins

1 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2026: UCLA Bruins

2 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2025: Connecticut Huskies

3 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2024: South Carolina Gamecocks

4 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2023: LSU Lady Tigers

5 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2022: South Carolina Gamecocks

6 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2021: Stanford Cardinal

7 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2019: Baylor Lady Bears

8 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2018: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

9 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2017: South Carolina Gamecocks

10 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2016: Connecticut Huskies

11 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2015: Connecticut Huskies

12 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2014: Connecticut Huskies

13 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2013: Connecticut Huskies

14 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2012: Baylor Bears

15 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2011: Texas A&M Aggies

16 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2010: Connecticut Huskies

17 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2009: Connecticut Huskies

18 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2008: Tennessee Lady Volunteers

19 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2007: Tennessee Lady Volunteers

20 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2006: Maryland Terrapins

21 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2005: Baylor Lady Bears

22 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2004: Connecticut Huskies

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NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2003: Connecticut Huskies

24 / 26

NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2002: Connecticut Huskies

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NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2001: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

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NCAA women's basketball tournament champions since 2000

2000: Connecticut Huskies

Louisville coach Jeff Walz isn’t often in a position where his team is fighting to get into the field either. Since 2007, the Cardinals missed the tournament once and has been a top 16 seed 11 times. But, Walz — who has taken Louisville to four Final Fours — has questions about which teams will benefit from the extra access to March Madness.

“I'm interested to see what direction they're going to go in,” Walz said. “You know, I’m kind of old school in the way of, if you don’t have a .500 record in-conference, should you make it? So, I'm interested to see, are we just going to have more Power 4 teams, or they're going to put in a team who's had a great year at the mid-major level?”

This past season, Richmond was the only mid-major to receive an at-large bid to the Women’s NCAA Tournament. Had the field included eight more teams, North Dakota State and Columbia also would have likely been awarded bids.

Before being hired at Virginia a few weeks ago, Aaron Roussell was the head coach at Richmond for seven seasons. His Spiders went dancing in each of the last three seasons, earning an at-large bid twice.

But while the selection committee looked fondly on Richmond, Roussell saw other strong mid-major teams get left out of the field.

“It's become so hard to reward good seasons, because of injuries or because of the opportunity of scheduling. It’s just been really hard to get some deserving teams into the tournament,” Roussell said. “George Mason this past year should’ve been in the tournament.”

Coached by Vanessa Blair-Lewis, the Patriots won the Atlantic 10’s regular-season title, but lost by two points to Rhode Island in the conference tournament title game. With a NET ranking of 61 and a Wins Above Bubble ranking of 67, they were relegated to the second-tier WBIT.

“Some of this just comes down to opportunity,” Roussell said. “You know, is the 76th team getting into the tournament going to have a chance to win a national championship? Maybe not. But I also don't think that's what the tournament is for. The tournament is to reward great seasons, to reward the efforts of players and coaches.”

Back in 2021, Adia Barnes led Arizona to an appearance in the national title game against Stanford. Back then, she says she probably would have been against expanding the tournament. Fast forward to now, entering her second season as the head coach at SMU, and her mind has changed for one big reason: money.

“Women's teams having more opportunities, especially now when money's involved, is good. More people in tournament, more units back to your programs, all those things are a factor,” Barnes said. “Money is the most important thing for the success of the ACC and our program. You have to make money. Anytime you can make money, you just have more leverage. And that's what it's all about.”

Money was also the thing UConn’s Geno Auriemma honed in on when he was asked about tournament expansion last week.

“To me, this is strictly a money grab for the Power 4 conferences to get teams that finish 6-10 in their conference to get into the tournament,” Auriemma said. “If that's not the plan to let more (mid-majors) in, then it doesn't make any difference. And that is not the plan, because this is the prequel to there only being 86 or 88 or 92 teams in the tournament and they all come from four conferences.”

Auriemma and Walz were two coaches who agreed automatic bids to the tournament should go to a conference's regular-season champion. Currently, the conference tournament winner gets the automatic qualifier.

"I personally think it's more impressive to win your regular season than your tournament," Walz said.

But back to the money, because as Barnes and Auriemma contend, that's what this is really about. And indeed, big dollars are stake.

The 2026 tournament was the second year that women’s teams could earn units during March Madness. A conference earns a unit for every game it plays in the NCAA Tournament, plus an additional one for the national champion. Then the pool of money is paid out to the school’s member institutions over the next three years. In the 2026 tournament, one unit was worth about $201,000. The Big Ten earned 32 units to equal a payout of about $6.4 million. The SEC earned about $5.8 million and the ACC was third with $4.8 million.

In the ACC though, those units are not evenly distributed thanks to the conference’s performance success initiatives. In an eat-what-you-kill type of set up, the teams that play in and win more NCAA Tournament games get a larger cut of those revenue sharing pies.

USA TODAY Sports also reached out to a few coaches in the SEC. After being one of the first eight teams excluded from this year’s field, Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell was in favor of expanding the field.

“I love it for multiple reasons. In today's college athletics, you're adding teams whose kids are dying to play in the tournament,” Purcell said. “... Adjustments needed to be made because conferences keep adding teams. The way we did things 20 years ago, they're not the same — especially with conferences. In the SEC, we added Texas and Oklahoma. Our conference has gotten better.”

Purcell’s Bulldogs are also proof teams among the last to make the field can have success. In 2023, Mississippi State won its First Four game and then upset No. 6 Creighton in the first round. The Bulldogs then lost to Notre Dame on the Irish’s home floor by five points.

In the first round of the 2025 tournament, Purcell’s Bulldogs upset a Cal team that had been ranked in the national poll for eight weeks.

“This year, Virginia was the play-in team and they made the Sweet 16. So there's teams that have shown that, guess what, if you get in the tournament, it's all about getting hot at the right time,” Purcell said. “When you talk about these Power 4 teams on the bottom end — when we're given the national stage, we’re beating teams that have had national recognition all year.”

Tammi Reiss took Rhode Island to the NCAA Tournament this season for the first time since 1996 and then was hired to be the new head coach at Florida. Unlike Purcell, she didn’t have a strong opinion on expansion.

“It was inevitable,” Reiss said. “I liked the old format, but I live in a constant state of fluidity.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why is Women's NCAA Tournament expanding? 'You have to make money'