Charlie Baker is still very much on board with the NCAA tournament expanding in the near future.
The NCAA president reiterated his support for a plan to expand the annual basketball tournament in the near future, something he's long been in favor of. What that looks like, or when it happens, remains to be seen.
"We're still talking to the various players in this one," he said on Thursday,via ESPN. "I said all along that I think there are some very good reasons to expand the tournament.
"So, I would like to see it expand."
The NCAA tournament men's field currently sits at 68 teams, with the last expansion coming back in 2011. That brought in the "First Four" round, which cuts the field from 68 to 64 for the first round. The women's NCAA tournament officially expanded to 68 teams in 2021, too. That marked the most notable expansion in the tournament since it doubled in size from 32 in 1985.
But expanding the tournament further is an idea that has been thrown around in recent years. The NCAA basketball selection committeesmet last summer and learned that expansion, if approved, would likely start during the 2026-27 campaign. That would likely expand the field to either 72 or 76 teams. It's unclear if the women's tournament would expand at the same time.
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Baker insisted Thursday that he wasn't worried about how the NCAA would fund the expanded tournament. The biggest challenge has long been simply a logistical one with the basketball calendar. Several major men's conference tournaments run right up to the selection show — the Big Ten championship game ends moments before that show starts and teams are announced — and the NCAA tournament ends the week that the Masters starts. That doesn't leave much time for added games.
There wereseveral notable teams that were just barely left out of the tournament last season, including both Indiana and West Virginia. An expanded field almost certainly would have meant they would have been included.
"From my point of view, the more teams we can get into the tournament and make it work logistically and mathematically, the better," Baker said. "It gives more kids the opportunity to experience that."
But of course, expanding the field wouldn't eliminate the snub conversation. It would just push it back by four, or eight, spots.
Regardless, the NCAA seems set on expanding the tournament in the future. Whether that happens in 2027, or a few years down the road, remains to be seen.
