Big 12 Men’s Coaches in Favor of Expanding March Madness

ORLANDO — While the college football world debates what the next iteration of its postseason should look like, March Madness expansion remains on the minds of top college basketball leaders.

On the first day of the Big 12’s spring meetings, Kansas coach Bill Self said expanding the NCAA tournament beyond 68 teams was discussed among the conference’s men’s basketball coaches Wednesday morning—and that the idea has support.

“There was a little bit that was brought forth, and the consensus among the coaches was—even though it was very little—was [that] we would be in favor of it,” Self said. “I don’t know the number we’d go to. But I do know that there’s discussions about that.”

In March, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said he was in favor of expanding March Madness to 76 teams. However, that came with a financial caveat. “CBS and TNT have a marquee asset with the tournament,” he said of the men’s tournament’s media-rights holders. “I know they know that, but in order for us to expand, they have to come to the table and provide the right economics.”

One question on potential expansion is whether the women’s NCAA tournament would follow suit. 

Self’s counterpart at Kansas, women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider, wasn’t as forthright about the topic. “I don’t know that there’s a group vibe,” Schneider said of how the Big 12’s women’s basketball coaches feel about expansion. “I don’t know how far along we are in that actually happening.”

Both the men’s March Madness media-rights deals and the women’s with ESPN will expire in 2032, leaving open the opportunity for the two to be packaged and sold together, and potentially expand at the same time.