March Madness to open with 12 games with winners making 64-team bracket
The NCAA basketball tournaments for men and women are expanding from 68 to 76 teams next season.
The First Four games after Selection Sunday will be replaced by 12 games called the March Madness Opening Round.
Winners will advance to the 64-team bracket.
The lowest-seeded 12 automatic qualifiers will play in half of the opening round games.
The other six games will match the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams.
The men's games will be in Dayton, Ohio, and another location.
The women's games will be on the campuses of 12 of the top 16 seeds.
- Some coaches say NCAA Tournament expansion fixes something that's not broke Associated Press —
- NCAA Tournament Expanding to 76 Teams Is a Huge Mistake β Hereβs Why Newsweek —
- NCAA Tournaments get supersized makeovers that could affect Cinderella and your brackets Associated Press —
- Wasn't 1 in 9.2 quintillion hard enough? Bigger NCAA tournaments mean bigger brackets, too Associated Press —
- March Madness tournaments will expand to 76 teams each starting next season NPR —