The NCAA Tournament is set to radically change next season. For both the men's and women's tournaments, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that the NCAA has "initiated the final steps" to expand the field to 76 teams ahead of the 2026-27 season. Sources: The NCAA has initiated the final steps to expand the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments to 76 teams. The expansion is on track to be formalized in the upcoming weeks, with mid-May as the target. The 76-team tournaments begin next year. https://t.co/2ZGUjZR0uJ — Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 28, 2026 The move would push 24 teams into the play-in round, having 12 games and 52 automatic advances into the Round of 64. Here is a look at how the 76-team expansion could have affected the Hokies — for the sake of continuity, Bart Torvik's TeamCast ratings will be used. 2016-17: Virginia Tech (22-11, 10-8 ACC) made its first of three NCAA Tournaments under then-head coach Buzz Williams.…