Rece Davis weighs possibility of NCAA Tournament expansion

ESPN’s Rece Davis weighed the possibility of NCAA Tournament expansion and didn’t seem to be a big fan of the move.

As of now, the tournament is 68 teams but ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported it could expand to 72 or even 76 teams. This could very well be what the tournament looks like in 2026.

Davis said it’s big enough and there’s no need to potentially dilute the product.

“I think there’s enough access and enough mediocre teams in the field already,” Davis said on the College GameDay Podcast. “I’m not diametrically opposed to it. But I also don’t have just absolute advocacy for tournament expansion. It’s big enough. Now, I think … you’ve thrown enough land mines in the way of the good teams. Because everybody loves the first round upsets, and you don’t love it so much when it gets to the second round. If you get two first round upsets in the same bracket, then you wind up with something a little bit less than what you might want later on.” 

The good thing about college basketball these days is that the talent is spread around the country. The transfer portal and NIL has seemingly evened the playing field, even a little bit.

“But as you know, as the talent is spread out a little bit, you do get the Florida Atlantics and the San Diego States, you know, who were able to make the Final Four, and all of those, you know, all of those are good, good stories,” Davis said. “Because, like, even NC State last year that made the Final Four, (they’re) still a high major team that just caught fire at the right time … So, you know, you still have that. 

“I’m not against it, but, you know, adding more mediocrity to what is a tremendous event, you know, one of the most dramatic and compelling events on the sports calendar every year doesn’t crank me up.”

If the NCAA Tournament were to expand for the 2026 edition, it has to be done soon as Thamel noted. But the more likely number is 76, although it remains to be seen how it would be organized with eight additional teams on the docket.

“The move to 76 would be historic,” Thamel said. “By adding eight teams, it would be the biggest jump in what the tournament looked like since 1985. The logistics of what that could look like have not been set yet, but it’s likely that an additional site, like they have Dayton for the First Four, would be added. Think of a place outside of the eastern time zone for that to happen. One likely wrinkle here is that if the men’s tournament expands by eight teams to 76, the women’s tournament would expand as well. 

“So there’s a lot of variables here. Everybody would have to stay financially whole for this to happen. This has obviously been driven by the power conferences through expansion. You’ve heard Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti be bullish about this expansion. So ultimately, can the money come together and can the sides come together and figure out a way to get to 76?”