Winners and losers with the new 76-team NCAA Tournament format

The new NCAA Tournament format, which will have the tourney bumping up to 76 teams in 2027, creates eight new at-large bids, and gives us 12 (!) play-in games – and a jumble for those trying to fill out brackets.

What we’re getting: eight teams on the 16 seed line, and six on the 15 seed line – four of which have to play their way into the main field.

And then: eight 12 seeds, and six 11 seeds – again, four of the 11s have to play their way into the main field.

The winners of the four games on the 16 seed line advance to play a 1 seed; the winners of the two games among the 15 seed play-ins advance to play the higher-rated of the 2 seeds.

And then: the 12 seeds advance to play the 5s, and the two winners in the 11 play-ins play the higher-rated of the 6s.

Confused yet?

Those who benefit:

• The programs that get bids who were otherwise bound to be left out; for the 2026 tourney, for example, Virginia Tech and Stanford both get bids, as the 75th- and 76th-ranked teams.
• The automatic qualifiers on the 13 and 14 seed lines, and the top two on the 15 seed line, who get three or four days to prepare for their first opponent.
• The two lower-rated 2s, and then the 3s and 4s, who, similarly, get three or four days to prepare for their first opponent.

Those who don’t:

• Obviously, the AQs at the 15 and 16 seed lines, who have to survive the play-in, henceforth to be called the Opening Round, since First Four can no longer apply, with there now being 12 games there.
• I wouldn’t want to be either a 1 seed, the higher-rated of the 2s, a 5 seed, or the higher-rated of the 6s. The reason: you get the same 48 hours (in reality, less) to prepare as the team that had to win its way into the main field.

You can’t feel bad for any of the eight 12s in this new setup; they didn’t get bids in the past, so, they should just be happy to be there.

I’m not going to complain here about the field being watered down, because, whatever.

This isn’t being done for competition reasons; it’s to create eight more games of TV inventory – i.e. it’s about money, as is everything.