"The mistake was made. It sucks."
That was Dan Hurley, postgame, after UConn beat Northwestern to reach the Sweet 16 in 2024, capping a weekend where the Big East received just three bids to the NCAA Tournament (its fewest since 1993) and then went 6-0 through the first round anyway.
Commissioner Val Ackerman said much the same thing at the time in gentler terms, telling the Associated Press, "We think we're better than three bids. Know we are." Seton Hall, which had beaten both UConn and Marquette that season, was left in the "first four out." The whole league spent March fuming.
Two years later, it happened again, three bids. St. John’s earned the auto-bid, UConn turned into their pedigree, and took their bid to a national title game, and Villanova snuck in as an 8-seed before losing in the Round of 64.
But programs throughout the conference have reinvested heavily in their programs, looking to take a big swing in the first year of the tournament's expanded field. Starting this season, the NCAA Tournament is expanding from 68 to 76 teams for the first time (outside of play-in games) since the field doubled to 64 in 1985.
There are 44 at-large bids on the table now instead of 36, and the new 12-game "Opening Round" is going to house plenty of bubble teams that would've been left out entirely in years past.
