Tournament Expansion and Venue Selection
The NCAA revealed that the men’s basketball tournament will grow to 76 teams for the upcoming season, creating twelve opening‑round matchups that will feature the twenty‑four lowest seeds among automatic qualifiers and at‑large bids. Two of those sites have already been designated, with Wichita, Kansas, and Dayton, Ohio, each slated to conduct a portion of the first‑round games.
Wichita will host six of the opening‑round contests at InTrust Bank Arena, while Dayton will continue to run six games at the UD Arena. The committee highlighted the city’s central geographic position and its proven track record of staging NCAA events as key reasons for the selection.
Keith Gill, who chairs the Division I men’s basketball committee, praised Wichita’s basketball culture and noted that the city was chosen from a pool of seven other candidates located west of the Mississippi River. The decision underscored the importance of both logistical convenience and historical performance.
In conjunction with the venue announcements, the NCAA is refining its Wins Above Bubble metric, raising the baseline to the team ranked fifty‑fifth in the national standings. The committee clarified that the NCAA Evaluation Tool formula will remain unchanged despite the broader adjustments.