The March Madness tournament is probably the best tournament in the world with the least amount of complaints from fans.
Let's just put it this way. You have 68 chances to make it in. If you didn't, then you just weren't good enough. Yes, there have been teams that have been snubbed in years past, but this isn't the College Football Playoff where people debate and complain every year. Again, it's 68 chances, but now, the NCAA wants to go and mess with that.
Ross Dellenger reports that the NCAA is nearing an agreement to expand the March Madness tournament to 76 teams, thus creating more opening round games. This is not only silly, but completely unnecessary.
An expanded March Madness tournament is unnecessary and terrible
Executives are inching closer to an agreement to expand the NCAA tournament to 76 teams with a 12-game “opening round” played at two sites starting in 2026-27.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 2, 2025
If it gets finalized, how will it work?
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The point here is obviously to give more teams chances, but if nothing was broken about the tournament, why fix it? March Madness is already arguably the greatest tournament in the world, and if anything, the only critique that people might have is seeding.
There was definitely some controversy with seeding last season, especially the Big Ten teams, but that's not enough to completely flip the game over. This is a tournament where anybody has a chance, like an average NC State team who just so happened to play their best basketball late in the 2023-24 season. Or Loyola Chicago who was up by 10 points against Michigan in the Final Four.
This really makes no sense, and it's not worth doing it for more teams, or more money at this point. Most fans are in the comments section on 'X' in complete agreement with one another that nothing should be changed.
The only positive thing for Texas A&M basketball is that it opens the door for the Aggies to compete more, but Aggie fans probably don't want any of this either.
Even notable college basketball personality Jon Rothstein has a voice for the vast majority of fans out there.
To Whom It May Concern,
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 29, 2025
DO NOT expand or change the NCAA Tournament under ANY circumstances.
DO NOT "look at" expanding or changing the NCAA Tournament under ANY circumstances.
Sincerely,
America
Most fans don't want things changed about the event they love most. The NCAA tournament already brings in the most ads, revenue and fans more than any point in the season. This just goes to show that people will mess with anything, even if the product is already great.