What the new 76-team NCAA Tournament will look like

Mar 22, 2026; San Diego, CA, USA; A general overall view of the March Madness logo on the video board during a second round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Viejas Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In the NCAA’s latest move to give us things that nobody wants, the 76-team NCAA Tournament is now official for both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The NCAA made the move a while back to expand from 64 to 68 teams, giving us a ‘First Four’ to open the tournament. Now we’ll have 12 teams in what they’re calling the ‘Opening Round.’

The men’s tournament will feature three games each on Tuesday and Wednesday. Dayton will remain a host site for three of the games with second host city to be named later.

The tournament will be structured as follows — an 11-11 matchup, two 12-12 matchups (at-large teams), a 15-15 game and two 16-16 games (AQ teams). The winners will advance to the traditional 64-team bracket.

So the NCAA will move from 37 at-large bids to 44. 32 automatic bids will be handed out to conference champions with the return of the Pac-12.

As for the “why” behind all of this? You already know.

So the bubble will now be even more open to average to below-average big-conference teams like Auburn, Oregon, Marquette, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Indiana, etc. from this season. At least they’ll have to play their way into the actual 64-team bracket early in the week, I guess.

The NCAA is also seemingly headed towards a 24-team bracket in football, once again chasing the money. It worth asking at this point — where does it end?