The NCAA Tournament is one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year. For a few weeks each spring, the country is obsessed with college basketball. The single-elimination tournament is must-see TV, producing exciting moments and incredible games each day it takes place.

Currently, a total of 68 teams participate in both the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments. That number could be subject to change, as discussions of potential tournament expansion have gained traction over the last several years.

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The potential for expansion exists, but new comments from NCAA president Charlie Baker indicate that it won’t happen during the upcoming basketball season.

On Thursday, Baker appeared in Washington D.C. for a speaking engagement at the National Press Club. While there, he agreed with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips’ assertion that expanding the NCAA tournament would be difficult to do this year.

“I think that’s a reasonable statement,” Baker said, adding that the “logistics” associated with expansion make it unlikely.

Reporting from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger seems to confirm the assertion from Phillips and Baker.

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Dellenger is reporting that the NCAA’s basketball selection committees met earlier this month, and that if expansion were to be approved, it would be implemented in the 2026-27 tournament at the earliest.

Baker suggested that expansion isn’t on the table for the upcoming season, but some of his other comments indicate that he’s in favor of seeing more teams in the event.

“There are every year some really good teams that don’t get to the tournament for a bunch of reasons,” the NCAA president said.

“One of the reasons is we have 32 automatic qualifiers (for conference champions). I love that and think it’s great and never want that to change, but that means there’s only 36 slots left for everybody else. I don’t buy the idea that some of the teams that currently get left out aren’t good. I think they are. And I think that sucks.”

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To Baker’s point, the discussion over the “first four out” is usually spirited in March after the tournament is revealed. The teams who barely miss the cut for an at-large bid move on to the NIT, but if the tournament adds four or six more teams, they would get their opportunity to compete.

We’ll see if any changes are made ahead of the 2026-27 college basketball season and that year’s NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA Tournament is Leaning 1 Way For 2025-26 Season first appeared on Men’s Journal on Jul 24, 2025