The NCAA Tournament field is about to expand from 68 to 76 teams, and it's going to happen for the 2026-27 version of March Madness.

While some will argue about the loss of tradition and the watering down of the tournament field, others will certainly benefit, and the Syracuse men and women's basketball programs are two sets of people that fall in that group.

While various committees still have to approve the changes, they are expected to be passed through and the deals could be announced as early as mid-May.

Pete Thamel of ESPN had the report on Tuesday.

According to Thamel's reporting, there would be eight new teams added to the tournament, bumping the field from 68 to 76 teams. The currently named "First Four" would expand to 12 games, featuring 24 teams before the first Thursday of the tournament.

Those 12 winners would advance into the traditional tournament bracket, giving us the 64 teams that we are accustomed to on the first Thursday of the event. 

It appears as if this is being done for two reasons:

1) To get more power conference programs in the at-large pool

2) To make more money at a time when college programs really need it in order to fund NIL, and to keep their athletic departments in tact.

Thamel's reporting indicates there will be a profit from this decision, but it's not expected to be a "financial windfall."

The primary driver of this move hasn't been money, but rather access for at-large bids for power conferences. The expansion has been pushed by power conferences, which have grown throughout the course of the current deal.

It's obvious to see that this rule will make it easier to get into the NCAA Tournament, which will create more revenue and help in visibility and recruiting. 

While Gerry McNamara and Felisha Legette-Jack aspire to have their programs in the top portion of the league that would make the tournament anyways, these eight new slots will likely to go middling power conference programs, which will essentially give the Orange an opportunity each season to make the tournament field.

There will be less emphasis on the regular season as a result.

The tournament will still be seen as flawed. Middling power conference teams will make the field while capable mid-majors will still be left on the bubble.

That will still make fans upset and it will make those "First 12" games full of teams that probably don't belong in the tournament, but are being rewarded anyways.

Syracuse will hope to avoid all of this by playing well enough to avoid the "First 12" games.

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