BIRMINGHAM, AL – The men’s NCAA tournament has fielded 68 teams since 2011, but the conversation to add more teams picked up momentum earlier this year.
In August, the NCAA ultimately decided the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament fields would not be expanding in 2026. But NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said in a statement Aug. 4 that eventually increasing to 72 or 76 teams will continue to be discussed.
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Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes was asked for his opinion on the size of the tournament field Oct. 15 at the SEC Basketball Tipoff ’26 at the Grand Bohemian Hotel.
“I think it’s awfully hard to ask a champion to win more than six games at the level that you go. That would be my biggest concern,” Barnes said. “I understand allowing people to play into it. I just don’t know, a team that has fought hard, No. 1, 2, all those seeds, to ask them to go more than six games … I don’t think the champion should have to play more than six games.”
Barnes also believes it would be difficult for the tournament to go beyond three weeks. If the tournament was expanded again to add more play-in games, Barnes said he doesn’t know where it would ever get cut off.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has publicly supported the expansion of the NCAA tournaments, most recently at the 2025 SEC Kickoff in Atlanta in July.
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“Nothing else in college basketball is static, so tournament expansion is worth exploring,” Sankey said. “We think there are enough quality teams across the country to merit giving this growth full consideration. To be clear, we support expansion but will be fine if finances, planning, broadcast opportunities, or competitive realities do not justify growth.”
Tennessee has made a run to the Elite Eight the last two seasons under Barnes, and it has made three straight appearances in the Sweet 16. Before the last two seasons, the Vols’ only Elite Eight berth was in 2010.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has issues with NCAA tournament expansion
