Brett Yormark reveals expanded, 76-team NCAA Tournament is a possibility

Expanding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is a topic that continues to come up among high-level college athletics administrators, even if there are many ardent critics. And one conference commissioner offered an inkling of what the current conversations around the tournament might entail.

As things currently stand, the NCAA Tournament has 68 teams, with four play-in games to whittle that figure down to 64 for a clean single-elimination field. Some suggestions have even gone so far as to expand the field to 96 teams.

But according to Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, the involved stakeholders might find a middle ground, adding eight teams to the current 68 to bring the new total to 76.

This, Yormark said, according to The Athletic’s Justin Williams, would be the biggest benefit to the Power 4 leagues trying to get more middle-of-the-pack teams in.

“The data shows if they do expand to 76, the Power 4 conferences will benefit mostly, and I think at the center of that will be the Big 12…More access is great for us,” Yormark said.

The appetite for women’s college basketball is bigger than ever

Sunday marked a record day for ESPN’s women’s basketball conference championship tripleheader. The network aired the SEC, ACC and Pac-12 tournament championship games – and viewership skyrocketed.

The SEC championship led the way with 2 million viewers watching LSU take on South Carolina, which was a 126% increase from last year. That followed the ACC title game between Notre Dame and NC State, which drew 1.4 million viewers for a whopping 462% increase from last year’s installment. The night ended with the Pac-12 Championship, which saw USC defeat Stanford. An average of 679,000 fans tuned in, which was up 42% from the 2023 title game.

Each game was the most-watched on ESPN platforms from its respective leagues, as well.

Those figures added to a record day for women’s basketball. Earlier Tuesday, CBS announced the Big Ten championship between Iowa and Nebraska became the most-watched women’s conference tournament game with an average of 3 million viewers tuning in for the overtime thriller.

There was no shortage of drama, controversy during ESPN’s conference championship tripleheader

The SEC championship game stole headlines for what happened late in the game – a South Carolina victory. The benches cleared, leading to the ejection of Gamecocks star Kamilla Cardoso that will keep her out for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In addition, the brother of LSU standout Flau’jae Johnson was arrested after jumping the scorer’s table to get onto the court in the scuffle.

The other two title games got interesting, as well. Notre Dame outscored NC State 14-8 in the fourth quarter to come away with the 55-51 victory, led by heroics from Hannah Hidalgo. The true freshman won Most Outstanding Player after dropping 22 points on the Wolfpack to help propel the Fighting Irish to their first conference title since 2019.

In the nightcap between USC and Stanford, Trojans star Juju Watkins was held to a season-low nine points. However, McKenzie Forbes rose to the occasion in a big way with 26 points to help USC defeat Stanford 74-61 to bring home a Pac-12 title.

With the NCAA Tournament looming, ESPN’s successful Championship Sunday slate and CBS’ impressive figures will likely help set the table for the rest of the postseason. The biggest names in women’s basketball – from Caitlin Clark to Paige Bueckers to Angel Reese – will play on the game’s biggest stage, and they’ll find out when they play during Sunday’s Selection Show.