NCAA sets 2027 Men’s and Women’s March Madness Selection Sunday for March 14 as field expands to 76

The NCAA has scheduled Selection Sunday for the 2027 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments for Sunday, March 14. That is when the NCAA will announce the full 76-team fields and reveal the matchups through selection-show broadcasts for both brackets.

The 2027 tournament will mark a structural change for March Madness. The NCAA said this will be the first year the event features 76 teams, an increase from the prior 68-team format. Alongside the expanded field, the NCAA also described an expanded Opening Round that precedes the 64-team First Round, meaning the tournament’s early weeks will include additional games before the bracket reaches its traditional round-of-64 stage.

Selection Sunday is the moment the tournament picture becomes official for teams across Division I. For many programs, it determines whether a season’s resume includes one more week of postseason play, and for others it clarifies where they stand on the national pecking order after conference tournaments. With both the men’s and women’s brackets unveiled the same day, the NCAA will effectively set the postseason landscape for two major championships in a single news cycle.

For conferences, the shift to a 76-team bracket carries implications for how the NCAA’s overall body of work translates into bids, because more teams receive the opportunity to compete in March. It also affects how coaches plan nonconference schedules and conference tournament strategies during the regular season and late-season stretch, since more at-large teams can find themselves still in contention during Selection Sunday week.

The NCAA’s announcement focused on the date and the bracket reveal structure. It did not, in the available release text, provide additional operational specifics such as tip times or the full broadcast schedule for the selection shows. Interested fans and institutions will need to consult the NCAA’s selection-show announcements closer to March 14 for the exact television timing.

In terms of what to watch next, attention will quickly turn from the date itself to how the expanded Opening Round plays out once the teams and matchups are known. The 76-team format can create a wider range of first-week trajectories, so teams that would have been bubble teams under earlier formats will be particularly relevant when the field is unveiled, and the tournament’s early games may shape the rhythm of the bracket long before the First Round begins.