Not a popular decision by the NCAA in the eyes of college basketball purists.
Surprise, surprise… the NCAA decided to roll with something that absolutely no one wanted. If you consider yourself a fan of college basketball, and look forward to March Madness every year, it’s all going to look a lot different in 2027. That’s because the NCAA may have just single handedly killed the “Cinderella Run” by expanding the field from 68 teams to 76.
That might not seem like a big difference, but when you look at how it changes the bracket, it’s drastic. Basically, all of the at-large and automatic qualifier teams will have to play one another in the “Opening Round.” That used to be referred to as the First Four, but now there a whole lot more games to be played before the tournament actually gets started.
12 games, to be exact.
Below is the new bracket that March Madness will be rolling with in 2027 (and into the future). As you can see, the Opening Round games are listed at the top. Those will all be played on the Tuesday and Wednesday prior to what’s usually considered as the official start of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. In other words, 24 different teams will play just a couple of days after Selection Sunday to see who gets to join the 52-team bracket that’s waiting for them.
How is the average sports fan going to fill out a bracket? Things just got a lot more complicated.
This is only the third time since the turn of the century that the NCAA Tournament bracket has been modified. In 2001, March Madness had no other choice but to expand from 64 teams to 65 teams when the Mountain West was created. A decade later in 2011, 65 teams was pushed up to 68, which birthed the “First Four” games that play out in Dayton, Ohio. And that was after rumors of a 96-team tournament were floated around… and created a lot of outrage.
There was similar backlash to the idea of the 76-team tournament in 2026, but that was evidently ignored this time around.
The worst part is that those 24 teams that play during the Opening Round will most likely just be mid-major schools cannibalizing themselves. The best part about March Madness is watching David take down Goliath… and that’s going to be become less and less likely with how the 76 team bracket is set up.
Needless to say, college basketball fans are upset:
Automatic qualifiers should not have to be apart of play-in games
Throw your barely 500 teams in there and continue to ruin one of the best tournaments in sport
— MrWard (@GreighWard) May 7, 2026
Why ruin things that are going well? If it ain’t broke…
— Hawks Daily (@TheHawksDaily) May 7, 2026
At first I was thinking who cares if there are some more play-in games. But now seeing it I absolutely hate it. Greed for more money wins again
— thad (@ThadCastleII) May 7, 2026
Nobody wanted this but thanks anyway
— Dustin Schutte (@SchutteDustin) May 7, 2026
Americans love filling out a bracket, so naturally the NCAA finds a way to make it worse
— Sam (@Samk1719) May 7, 2026
Good for the bank account. Terrible for the product.
— TJ Murray (@TJMurrray19) May 7, 2026
Just in case you are a more visual learner (and even care to dive deeper into the NCAA’s infuriating decision), here’s a video from the NCAA on how the men’s and women’s brackets will look and work starting in 2027:
