The NCAA is once again making a major change that nobody wanted. Except maybe Oklahoma men's basketball coach Porter Moser.
ESPN reported on Wednesday that the NCAA has began the final steps to expand the NCAA Tournament field from 68 teams to 76 for both men's and women's basketball, starting as early as next season. There are still multiple steps before the change is official, but it seems inevitable at this point that the NCAA Tournament will be bigger and worse in 2027.
Oklahoma must evolve standard as NCAA Tournament looks to expand
The silver lining to this expansion for Moser is that it would negate his most glaring flaw while leading the Sooners. In five seasons with Moser at the helm, OU has made the NCAA Tournament just once in 2025 thanks to a late-season winning streak that snuck the Sooners in. However, OU was one of the first four teams left out of the 68-team field three times, including being the first team out this year.
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Had the NCAA set a 76-team field at the start of Moser's tenure, the Sooners would have missed the NCAA Tournament just once under him in 2023. One of the main reasons the NCAA is actually pushing this expansion is because of Power Four teams like OU that just barely miss out but likely still deserve a spot over most of the mid-major programs competing.
With the change, though, according to ESPN, the First Four games would balloon to 24 teams instead of eight. That would mean 12 games instead of four before most fans even consider the tournament to actually start with the 64-team bracket.
That would be the first step toward how expectations for programs like OU would have to evolve.
Even though failing to meet these standards hadn't gotten Moser fired yet, the minimum standard at OU seemed to be to just make the 68-team NCAA Tournament. That should be a guarantee moving forward, though, if the field really does grow. Now with more resources than ever, Moser's expectations can't dwindle because of this change.
Now, failing to be one of the 76 teams dancing should result in immediate termination, no matter the excuses. Fans should no longer just expect the Sooners to get in, but they now have to win games once there to meet a new standard.
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