March could soon bring even more chaos.
For over a decade, the men's NCAA basketball tournament has been limited to 68 squads, four of which play an extra round in the First Four to then shrink the more official field to 64. The First Four round reshaped the way coaches, players, and fans think about the bubble of national postseason contention, offering a few extra teams a chance at hoops glory.
Soon, there could be even more NCAA teams contending for the bracket title each March. On Thursday, NCAA president Charlie Baker reportedly offered some details on a potential expansion for the NCAA Tournament — and based on his comments, a March Madness expansion is growing into a matter of when, not if.
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Here's what to know about Baker's comments on expanding the annual March Madness field, plus a brief look at how the field has grown over time.
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Is March Madness expanding?
Baker, who became the sixth president in NCAA history in 2023, has been in Orlando this week for the Big 12 spring meetings. One of the key topics he spoke about with reporters was expanding March Madness, even offering a potential timeline to do so.
With the 2026 tournament under a year away, Baker told Front Office Sports' David Rumsey that expansion could come as soon as next year.
"That would be the goal, to try and do this for next year. ... We've been talking about 72 and 76 (teams)," Baker said, per Rumsey.
Based on Baker's comments, there's no clarity yet on whether the NCAA will wind up adding four teams or eight teams to the March Madness field. However, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported in February that 76 teams is "the more likely option," per On3.
Thamel also said at the time that the "logistics of what that could look like have not been set yet," but an added wrinkle is that if the men's tournament grows to 76 squads, the women's tournament would likely expand, as well.
March Madness field size history
It has now been 14 years since March Madness last expanded. In 2011, the NCAA implemented the First Four round to help the tournament grow from 64 to 68 teams, with the final four teams in the bracket going head-to-head to make the first round.
Prior to then, the tournament including 64 teams had been unchanged since 1985. When it first began in 1939, the NCAA tournament was made up of just eight teams; by 1951, that doubled to 16, then grew again to 22 in 1953.
In 1975, the NCAA began allowing multiple teams from each conference into March Madness, leading to a field of 32 that season, then 40 by 1979 and 48 by 1980.
The modern era of March Madness began in 1985 when the field grew to 64 teams and removed all byes and play-in games. While the addition of the First Four in 2011 changed that to 68 squads and added a small play-in round, the more official first-round field of 64 teams going head-to-head hasn't changed since.