On May 7, the Division I men’s and women’s basketball committees voted to expand the NCAA Tournament from 68 to 76 teams starting with the 2026-27 season. Shortly thereafter, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi published his first bracket projection for the new field, which includes the Ohio State men’s basketball team.
Teams don’t have schedules or full rosters yet, but Lunardi’s first projection of the 76-team tournament has Ohio State safely inside the field. According to Lunardi, the Buckeyes are projected as a No. 9 seed, playing No. 8 seed Georgia in Charlotte.
The winner of that game would likely get No. 1 seed Duke, making it a similar situation to the 2026 tournament, in which No. 8 seed Ohio State lost to No. 9 seed TCU, allowing the Horned Frogs to face the Blue Devils in the second round.
The 2027 tournament will feature 12 “opening round” games that feed into the full 64-team field, and Lunardi has Ohio State as one of the first four teams that avoid having to play in the opening round. Those games replace the “First Four” and feature four No. 11 seeds and eight No. 12 seeds as at-large selections.
The Big Ten is projected to get 12 teams into the field, trailing the SEC’s 13.
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State men included in first 76-team NCAA Tournament projection
Reporting by Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
