The NCAA's seemingly endless determination to balloon March Madness from 68 to 76 teams will dilute the field and eliminate the Cinderellas, which is what helped make it one of America's most popular sporting events.
Assistant A.D. of equipment operations Brian Brigger gets loaded up with a whole lot of balls as Arizona’s open practice wraps up at the Final Four in Indianapolis on April 3, 2026.
Mid-majors and teams from smaller conferences will now be pushed further back on the bubble behind power-conference schools. The "first four out" last year included a 7-11 Oklahoma SEC team that had lost nine straight games, an Auburn team that had a 3-9 finish and an Indiana team that ended the year with a 1-6 slump. Now those teams will get in.
I'm going to refer to the Field of 76 as "Bobby's Bubble." Under ex-coach Bobby Hurley, Arizona State played in the "First Four" in 2018, 2019 and 2023, and barely missed this season with a 17-16 record. Without those "First Four" games, Hurley would've been fired years ago, but he could accurately say he was a three-time NCAA Tournament coach.
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Expansion of the tournament to 76 teams will create more Bobby Hurleys and fewer Cinderella-type teams such as Valpo, Fairleigh Dickinson, East Tennessee State and Florida Gulf Coast.
What is the NCAA thinking? No one wants this. So of course it'll happen.
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