One massive change is coming to Choice Sunday, certainly one of school basketball’s sacred holidays.
When viewers tune into ESPN for the bracket reveal subsequent March, there might be some surprises which have been spoiled.
That’s as a result of the NCAA Choice Committee goes to unveil the highest 16 groups the evening earlier than, giving the faculties who’ve earned the fitting to host video games through the first weekend of March Insanity an additional day to arrange. This announcement may even be made on ESPN.
Some suspense will nonetheless stay although. Whereas the 16 groups who’re internet hosting might be revealed on Saturday, their seed order received’t be unveiled till Sunday together with the remainder of the 68-team subject. The 16 groups who’re internet hosting might be introduced in alphabetical order.
The NCAA Division I Ladies’s Basketball Committee authorized this transformation at their summer time assembly final week in Philadelphia.
It’s value mentioning that this choice announcement mannequin — high 16 reveal a day earlier than the total seed checklist and bracket — has been the norm for the NCAA’s Division I baseball match for a few years.
Whereas there was a lot dialogue about doubtlessly increasing the sphere of March Insanity, neither the boys’s or ladies’s committees reached a choice on including groups to the bracket.
“The committee’s complete preliminary format overview will proceed via its October assembly,” a launch from the NCAA Division I Ladies’s Basketball Committee mentioned.
For now, anticipate the Division I ladies’s NCAA basketball match’s format to stay unchanged. First 4 video games might be nonetheless be performed at campus websites, as will the primary and second rounds of the match. The Candy 16 and Elite Eight levels might be proceed to be performed at mixed regional websites — this season, these are in Fort Value, Texas and Sacramento, California — regardless of complaints from high-profile coaches.
“The committee continues to overview and contemplate all championship components,” mentioned Amanda Braun, director of athletics at Milwaukee and chair of the committee in 2025-26. “The championship continues to develop in a wide range of methods and by numerous metrics, that features file attendance and broadcast rankings the final three years. The committee will proceed to have extra dialogue round these matters whereas contemplating the staff, participant and fan experiences and making certain that the ladies’s basketball championship presents a stable enterprise mannequin.”
One change that can issue into which groups get to play within the NCAA Match is that the committee is including the WAB (Wins Above Bubble) analysis metric to its choice standards.
“We consider that the WAB might be an essential device to assist objectively see the worth of every win and loss and tips on how to finest consider and emphasize a staff’s power of schedule and outcomes,” Braun mentioned. “Whether or not it’s a non-conference or convention sport, regardless of the scoring margin, the WAB goes to inform us lots about what a staff did in opposition to the schedule they performed.”
