Men’s & Women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament with 76 Teams – Who Gets In?

The NCAA Tournament is set to expand from 68 to 76 teams starting in 2027 for both the men’s and women’s brackets. This will be the first expansion since 2011, when the First Four was introduced.While the change aims to give more teams — especially mid-majors — a chance to play in March Madness, many fans are debating whether it will actually deliver more exciting competition or simply add more power-conference teams.Here’s how the 2026 NCAA Tournament brackets would have looked if the 76-team format had already been in place.

2026 Men’s NCAA Tournament: New 76-Team Bracket

The original 68 teams would remain the same. The eight new teams added would be:

No. 69 Oklahoma

No. 70 Auburn

No. 71 San Diego State

No. 72 Indiana

No. 73 Seton Hall

No. 74 New Mexico

No. 75 Virginia Tech

No. 76 Stanford

Biggest takeaways:Four new 12-seed play-in games would be added.

Two new 15-seeds and four new 16-seeds would also enter the field.

Most of the new teams would be from Power conferences, with only San Diego State and New Mexico representing non-power programs.

Cincinnati would have been the first team left out at No. 77.

2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament: New 76-Team Bracket

On the women’s side, the eight additional teams would likely have been:

Texas A&M

Utah

Kansas

Indiana

BYU

North Dakota State

Mississippi State

Stanford

Key observation:

Indiana stands out as one of the biggest beneficiaries. While the expansion was promoted as a way to help mid-majors, most of the new spots on the women’s side would still go to Power-conference teams, with North Dakota State being the clearest mid-major addition.

What This Means

The expansion to 76 teams will create more play-in games and give more programs a chance to reach the NCAA Tournament. However, as seen in this 2026 projection, the majority of the new at-large bids would still go to Power conference schools rather than smaller conferences.The official announcement for the 76-team format is expected in May 2026, with the new structure beginning in the 2027 tournament.

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