Greg Gard has yet to be known for NCAA Tournament success, as his teams are often eliminated in the first full weekend. Yet, he continues to put Wisconsin year after year into the NCAA Tournament, a feat most college coaches can't claim. New Badger guard, Trey Autry, even said that's a major reason he chose to come to Wisconsin.
Now that the NCAA Tournament is expanding to 76 teams, Brian Butch asked Gard about the move and whether he was a fan of it now. Gard was candid about loving the expansion, a take that many Wisconsin and college basketball fans will completely disagree with.
I asked Greg Gard about NCAA Tournament expansion to 76 teams…
— Brian Butch (@Brian_Butch32) April 29, 2026
Here’s what he had to say 👀🔥
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Greg Gard is very supportive of expanding the NCAA Tournament to 76 teams
Related: Greg Gard will already be sweating missing out on another Knueppel
Gard explained that the primary reason he loves the inclusion of more teams is that more players get to experience the tournament. "As we get lost in the other new world that's going on: portal, NIL, the transient nature. Many times, what gets lost is the experience of student athletes...That experience is the pinnacle of a college athlete's career."
This isn't the first time that Gard has been public about the tournament expansion. He's even gone so far as to say that he would like to have not every game be single elimination. College basketball is one of the few sports where a lucky moment and an all-time game from a lesser team can take the show.
However, what Gard is missing and what fans will argue about is that that's the entire magic of the NCAA Tournament. Expanding, adding more games, adding more teams, and making it not single-elimination would all take the one magical tournament that still exists and tarnish it to something that no longer has the chaos-energy.
Coaches like Gard are often even compensated for tournament inclusion, so it's hard not to see that this could be tied to paychecks and bonuses. Yet, Gard does seem to love student-athlete experiences, and that could be his primary motivation. But every year his team gets their hearts broken is another reminder that he doesn't like the way the tournament currently works.
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