The March Madness fields will grow by 11.8 percent with eight new teams added to both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Jaime Crawford / Getty Images
The NCAA Tournaments are getting bigger.
The NCAA announced Thursday that its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will expand to 76 teams, the biggest increase to the tournaments in decades. The eight new teams — all at-large teams — will be part of an opening round that will now feature 12 games (24 teams) on Tuesday and Wednesday for the men, and Wednesday and Thursday for the women.
Tournament expansion has been rumored, debated and dissected for years. Now that it’s finally here, what do you think?
Let us know below. Thanks for reading.
May 12, 2026
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