The NCAA is looking to extend March Madness, and a decision is coming soon. As Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reports, NCAA leadership and members of the association’s basketball committees are expected to expand the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to 76 teams.
If successful, eight games would be added to the existing “First Four” played on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the original first round. The new “Preliminary Round” will see 24 teams play 12 games at two host venues on Tuesday and Wednesday. After this, the 12 winners will join the other 52 teams.
The NCAA has been considering expanding the March Madness bracket for several years. In the first two days, there will be a drastic change in the format of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. In this scenario, the original round of 64 will remain. Just the way of making it will be different.
This expansion will give the NCAA more games in the first two days instead of the traditional four matchups. In this new format, games will be played throughout the day from Tuesday to Sunday. According to Dellenger, Big 12 and ACC leaders have pushed aggressively for an expansion of March Madness.
This bubble will allow teams to extend their seasons beyond conference tournaments. This may allow more power league schools to make the March Madness bracket, but as seen in this year’s edition of the tournament, mid-major programs have left their mark.
As of now, nothing is official, but the March Madness expansion may be coming soon. The NCAA Tournament ends on April 6, so an announcement may be coming soon. If so, it would change the way March Madness operates.
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