The next edition of March Madness will stay the same size in 2026. The NCAA is sticking with 68 teams for this upcoming season for the field size of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments – though the discussion of future expansion is still on the table.

The fields for the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments will not be expanding this season, NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt announced.

While this decision was finalized for the upcoming season, NCAA SVP Dan Gavitt did release a statement saying that the committees will continue exploring tournament expansion for the 2026-27 season. That potential expansion they are still exploring would be to 72 or 76 teams.