INDIANAPOLIS — NCAA president Charlie Baker reiterated Thursday that he supports an expanded NCAA basketball tournament format but would not commit on whether it will happen in 2027.
“We’re still talking to the various players in this one,” Baker said Thursday. “I said all along that I think there are some very good reasons to expand the tournament. So, I would like to see it expand.”
When asked what he thought the 2027 NCAA format would look like, Baker was noncommittal but doubled down on his view: “I would like to expand the tournament.”
NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt announced later Thursday that the NCAA committee is pausing any discussion or decisions about expansion until after this year’s NCAA tournament.
Baker has long been an advocate for expanding the event, consistently citing the absence of Indiana State and Seton Hall in the 2024 men’s tournament as one of the reasons behind his stance. He also said Thursday that he has spoken to student-athletes on campuses and that they tell him they appreciate the postseason tournaments giving them an opportunity to compete with teams and players they don’t normally get to face.
“And so, from my point of view, the more teams we can get into the tournament and make it work logistically and mathematically, the better,” Baker said. “It gives more kids the opportunity to experience that.”
He added that he’s not concerned about how the NCAA would fund an expanded tournament.
After years of debate and discussion, the idea of expanding the tournament to either 72 or 76 teams gathered momentum last spring, with Baker saying in July the biggest obstacle was logistics — mostly due to the fact it has to begin after conference tournaments and end by the Tuesday before the Masters.
The NCAA men’s tournament last expanded from 65 to 68 teams in 2011, with its biggest increase coming in 1985, when it went from 32 to 64 teams. It added one team and a play-in game in 2001.
