NCAA Tournament expanding in 2027—What does that mean for USC?

On Tuesday, massive news broke in the world of college sports when Pete Thamel of ESPN reported that the NCAA Tournament is set to expand to 76 teams. Per Thamel, the change is expected to be for both the men’s and women’s tournaments and go into effect next season. “This will be the first expansion to the men's tournament since the addition of the First Four in 2011, and it will be the first major expansion since the tournament expanded from 53 to 64 teams in 1985,” Tyler Nettuno of College Sports Wire wrote .

“The tournament is expected to feature a 24-team ‘opening round’ that whittles the field down to 64 teams ahead of the traditional tournament. “The move to 76 teams creates eight additional at-large spots, which dovetails with the fact that Thamel reported the power conferences were pushing for expansion with more access to the tournament in mind. Meanwhile, teams that would have previously qualified for the 64-team tournament as an at-large will now have to play in the ‘Opening Round,’ which will be held somewhere west of the Eastern Time Zone, per Thamel.

” So what will this mean for USC? In 2027 at least, it should not change much for the Women of Troy, who are expected to be one of the top teams in the country and squarely in the field regardless. On the men’s side, it does make things easier in Eric Musselman’s quest to get USC back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years.

However, it also increases the chances that if the Trojans do get in, they would have to play an opening round game, rather advancing straight to the 64-team bracket. In the long run, it is too soon to know exactly how this change will affect USC and other schools. However, the one thing nearly everyone seems to agree on is that the sport of college basketball is significantly worse off as a result.