Is NCAA Tournament Expansion a Good Thing For Virginia Basketball?

The NCAA Tournament is going to be expanding from 64 teams to 76, but is this a good thing for UVA?

Mar 20, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers head coach Ryan Odom calls a play during the first half against the Wright State Raiders during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Despite loads of fan pushback and negative reaction around college sports, the NCAA Tournament is going to be expanding to 76 teams.

Instead of getting the "first four" games to start the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday's and Wednesday, there is going to be an opening round added and the lowest seeded automatic qualifier's and the lowest seeded at large teams are going to play each other. The winners of those games are going to advance to Thursday and Friday's opening round, which will just be the normal round of 64 that college basketball fans are used to.

What does this mean for Virginia Basketball?

The big takeaway that I have for the NCAA Tournament expanding is that it is naturally going to expand the bubble and more teams are going to be in. Virginia was safely in the field a season ago, but now that there are extra slots for at large teams, it is really hard to see the Cavaliers missing the tournament under Ryan Odom.

With that being said, no program is immune from a down season, but with NCAA Tournament expansion, this is going to give a bigger safety net for programs like UVA in the event that they either have injuries, misevaluate players in the transfer portal, or other circumstances.

The biggest way that expansion is going to affect Virginia basketball is that it makes it more likely that they can make the field year over year unless something really goes wrong. Virginia is one of the best programs in the ACC and they showed under Ryan Odom last season that they are a program that is still capable of producing very good teams in the NIL era, having the best season since the 2019 national championship season.

With the way that next season is being projected, Virginia is not going to have to worry about being on the bubble, even in a 76-team field.

The Cavaliers are being seen as a potential top ten team heading into next season and a lot of it has to do with the players that are coming back. Thijs de Ridder (first team All-ACC), Sam Lewis (elite three-point shooter), Johann Grunloh (shot blocker who can stretch the floor), and Chance Mallory (one of the best freshman guards in the ACC) make this a very solid team.

The portal additions have been strong too, though there are more that are going to have to come. Jurian Dixon and Christian Harmon were two of the best shooters in the portal and both bring positional size and versatility.

NCAA Tournament expansion might not be what most people wanted, but for Virginia's program under Odom, it should make getting into the field a near certainty each season. That would make it a positive thing in Charlottesville.