NCAA Tournament expansion could benefit San Diego State moving forward

First Four will become March Madness Opening Round with 12 teams

San Diego State Aztecs head coach Brian Dutcher. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The NCAA Tournament is expanding to 76 teams next season, and boy, do the San Diego State Aztecs probably wish the expansion had come last season. 

The Aztecs were one of the notable teams snubbed on Selection Sunday, when they were among the First Four Out as the final Field of 68 was announced.

They had lost to Utah State in the championship game of the Mountain West Tournament the day before, with the Aggies grabbing the MW’s automatic bid, and the selection committee didn’t feel their resume was strong enough to merit an at-large bid. 

It was the first time in six seasons they didn’t reach March Madness. It ended the most disappointing season in program history and led to six players hitting the transfer portal, including wing Miles Byrd, the MW Defensive Player of the Year, who jumped to Providence. 

What the expansion is about

Expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments has been expected for some time, and naturally, it has a lot to do with money. The NCAA has opened sponsorship opportunities to the previously restricted alcohol industry. 

“I would say that expansion would not have happened without that agreement,” Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, told reporters. 

How it’ll work

The brackets will increase by eight teams and will be handled by putting eight extra games into the opening week. It will go from the First Four, which included eight teams playing for four spots in the main bracket over two nights, to 24 teams playing 12 games in what will be called the March Madness Opening Round, with games being played at Dayton, Ohio, where the First Four games have been played, and another site to be determined. 

It’s the first expansion of the men’s bracket since 2011. 

What this would have meant for SDSU

Had the expansion come a season earlier, the Aztecs almost certainly would have gotten an at-large bid, as well as New Mexico. Instead, the MW was a one-bid team, with only Utah State advancing. 

The last time SDSU reached the NCAA Tournament, in 2025, it was sent to the First Four, where it was routed by North Carolina.

When the Aztecs missed out on the NCAA this time around, they were just three seasons removed from reaching the Final Four for the first time ever before losing in the national championship game to UConn.

It’s all moot now. The Aztecs declined invitations to the NIT and The Crown, and will move into the reconfigured Pac-12 next season, along with fellow former MW teams Utah State, Boise State, Colorado State and Fresno State. They’ll join holdovers Washington State and Oregon State, and fellow newcomers Texas State and Gonzaga.