NCAA Tournament Grows to 76 Teams as Preseason Bracketology Puts Duke on Top

The NCAA Tournament field will grow from 68 teams to 76 for the 2026-27 season, the biggest change to the event since it expanded from 48 to 64 teams in 1985. The college basketball season begins this Sunday night with Notre Dame facing Villanova in Rome.

Earlier increases, to 65 teams in 2001 and 68 in 2011, added games before the first round. The new format goes further. A 12-game "Opening Round" replaces the First Four, with Dayton, Ohio, and Wichita, Kansas, each hosting six games on the Tuesday and Wednesday after Selection Sunday.

The first round on Thursday and Friday will look familiar, with 64 teams. The difference is how they arrive. Under the old setup, 60 of those teams began their tournament in the first round. Now only 52 will, while the other 12 will be Opening Round winners.

In CBS Sports' preseason Bracketology, Duke is the No. 1 overall seed. The Blue Devils bring back four key rotation players from a 35-3 team and added the nation's No. 2 freshman class and No. 11 transfer group. Newcomers include Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell, a preseason All-ACC first-teamer, and 17-year-old Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who will pair with Patrick Ngongba in the frontcourt.

Duke also beat Tennessee 103-64 in the preseason and won 90-84 at Kansas. CBS Sports ranks the Blue Devils ahead of Florida largely because of conference strength: Duke has an easier route through the ACC, while the Gators must get through a deep SEC that offers tough games almost nightly.

The expansion is expected to squeeze teams from smaller conferences. The Pac-12 returns as the 32nd Division I conference, lifting automatic bids from 31 back to 32. At least seven leagues usually send multiple teams, and eight did last year. If eight do so again, 24 leagues would be left with one bid each, and the projection suggests about 12 of those teams would land in the Opening Round.

Last season only four single-bid teams, all No. 16 seeds, played in the First Four, so 29 of 31 automatic qualifiers reached the first round alongside 35 at-large teams. This year, 26 automatic qualifiers are projected to be there on Thursday, joined by 38 at-large teams, most from high-major conferences.

Mid-major programs can now win tournament games more easily on paper, but those victories would come on Tuesday and Wednesday against other mid-major opponents rather than during the first-round action.

The projected field by conference: SEC 13, Big Ten 10, Big 12 9, ACC 9, Big East 5, Pac-12 3 and Atlantic 10 2. The last four teams in are Colorado State, West Virginia, LSU and Baylor. The first four out are Xavier, Ole Miss, San Diego State and Creighton.