Pete Thamel of ESPN is reporting the expansion of the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments to 76 teams is on track to be formalized in the upcoming weeks and would begin this coming season.
Thamel’s reporting suggest the expansion was pushed by the Power 4 conferences to generate more at-large bids for teams in those leagues. The Indiana men were one of the first teams out of the field each of the last two years and would have been an at-large selection under the new format.
Under the anticipated new approach, 52 teams will qualify for the traditional 64-team bracket, while 24 will play in 12 play-in games. The 12 winners of those games will join the other 52 teams to form the 64-team bracket.
Dayton has been site of the play-in games since the field expanded from 64 to 68 teams. It is expected to continue to be one of two play-in sites. There has been some speculation Las Vegas will be the other.
The play-in games are expected to be completed on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the 64-team tournament starting in the traditional fashion on Thursday.
The IU men’s team has only made the NCAA Tournament twice in the last 10 years. Those appearances came in 2022 and 2023. In 2022 the Hoosiers were part of the play-in field in Dayton.
The inaugural tournament, in 1939, had just eight teams, and that was the size of the field when IU won its first title in 1940.
In 1951, the field doubled to 16 teams, the number of teams when the Hoosiers won their second crown in 1953.
In 1975 the tournament grew to 32 teams just ahead of Indiana’s 1976 title, and in 1979 it was expanded again to 40 teams, not long before IU’s 1981 championship.
In 1985, the modern format of a 64-team tournament began. That came just before IU’s fifth title in 1987.
In 2011 the NCAA deepened the field with additional play-in games and created the First Four. That brought us to the current 68 team format.
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