Report: College Basketball Season Set to Expand
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The college basketball season will get a little bit longer shortly. According to a report from Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, the NCAA Division I Council is set to approve the expansion of the regular season to 32 games, beginning in 2026-27.
Previously, teams were capped at a 31-game regular-season limit. This will allow just one additional game for teams to add, though they are not required to increase the number of competitions on the schedule.
Norlander reports that the biggest reason for the increase ties into MTEs (multi-team events), which had created some logistical issues with a 31-game season. Now, some of these events can expand to three- and four-game tournaments during the regular season without fear of exceeding the maximum number of contests in a college basketball season.
This also opens the door for more high-profile matchups during the nonconference portion of the season. It could also allow for teams the opportunity to schedule nonconference games during the months of January or February.
It's not a massive change, but one that should create more interesting MTE events and could lead to a greater number of premier matchups during the nonconference portion of the season.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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