1939–1950: 8 teams
1951–1952: 16 teams
1953–1974: varied between 22 and 25 teams
1975–1978: 32 teams
1979: 40 teams
1980–1982: 48 teams
1983: 52 teams (four play-in games before the tournament)
1984: 53 teams (five play-in games before the tournament)
1985–2000: 64 teams
2001—present: 65 teams (with an opening round game to determine whether the 64th or 65th team plays in the first round)
On Dec. 7, 2009, it was reported that:
Greg Shaheen, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball and business strategies, is leading the exploration with assists from a pair of well-known college media consultants, former Turner and CBS executive Kevin O’Malley and former ESPN executive Chuck Gerber.
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/64263
The next spate of articles came out around Feb. 1, 2010 when unnamed sources from both ESPN and the NCAA said it was "done deal" for 2011.
http://sportsbybrooks.com/source-mar...one-deal-27742
Just before and after Selection Sunday, articles appeared that indicated "most coaches" were in favor of expanding the tournament, though Jim Boeheim was the only one whose name was dropped.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/sp...ll/14ncaa.html
Last week, no less an authority than CBS's Leslie Visser came out and confirmed that it was going to happen, saying that it was basically taking the teams from the NIT, a tournament no one really wanted to be in anyway, and bringing them into the NCAA tourney.
http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2...pen-likely-in/
The real argument in favor of expansion (besides the money) is that there are now 347 Division 1 basketball programs, which is almost 100 more than there were in 1984 when the 64-team format was adopted. I guess, then, this year's tournament is the last of the 65-teamers, a tradition for sure, but then expansion is also a tradition.
