The NCAA Tournament is just around the corner. It’s arguably the single thing that the NCAA does best, gathering teams from every Division I basketball conference to compete around the country and declare a national champion.
Despite the event’s popularity, the NCAA has long been kicking around the possibility of changes. That includes the size of the field that makes it into the tournament. Now, NCAA President Charlie Baker has come out and publicly advocated for that expansion.
“We’re still talking about it,” Baker told reporters, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello. “I’d like to see it expand.”
As it stands now, 68 teams make the NCAA Tournament field. 32 teams automatically qualify, and the rest make the field as at-large bids. It’s been that size since 2011. However, the last major expansion was now more than 40 years ago, when it doubled in size from 32 to 64 teams.
