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WACO, Texas — Dan Gavitt is in charge of maybe the one thing in college athletics that ain’t broke these days.

Yet people keep still trying to fix it.

A report earlier this week surfaced, as one does just about every year, that the ever-popular NCAA Tournament could expand. Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde wrote that “sources across the landscape say there is continued momentum toward a 76-team field for 2026.�

Gavitt, who oversees the men’s tournament as the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, acknowledged during an interview with the Star earlier this week that those sorts of conversations are happening. But Gavitt said it is also quite possible the tournament does not change from its current 68-team format.

“There’s nothing imminent,� he said.

The NCAA Tournament grew in popularity after expanding to 64 teams in 1985, creating a mixture of lower-tier conference champions with high-major teams that annually produces eye-opening first-weekend upsets and “Cinderella� teams that make unexpectedly long runs.

But it moved to 65 teams in 2001 and eventually 68 by 2011, and now there’s a set of four play-in games squeezed in between Selection Sunday and the opening of the first round four days later.

Stopping over to watch Monday’s UA-Baylor game in between meetings with the Big 12 in Dallas and tournament meetings in San Antonio, where this season’s Final Four will be held, Gavitt said he seeks feedback from coaches and staffers during visits to games.

Typically, it concerns the tournament but also what is already changing: NIL-fueled moves to in-season multi-team events (“MTEs�) and one-off neutral site games.

“We’re always interested in hearing people’s opinions on tournament expansion, of course,� Gavitt said. “We’re also looking at the season, because some of the multi-team event rules may have to change as a result of legal challenges. We’re getting coaches’ feedback on what the regular season should look like and the opportunity to play in the MTEs.�

As of now, the NCAA allows teams to schedule a maximum of 29 games or up to 31, if they participate in a two- or three-game MTE, such as the three-game Battle 4 Atlantis that Arizona played in over Thanksgiving week.

That rule has pretty much pushed schools to join an MTE every season or create their own, but Gavitt said it was “quite possible� that the NCAA will soon allow programs the same amount of games whether they are playing in an MTE or not. He said that total number could go up, too.

“I do think we’ll probably have a place where schools will have more flexibility to schedule the way they want to,� Gavitt said.

Meanwhile, promoters are also creating more one-off neutral-site events that often have built-in NIL generators, such as Arizona’s Dec. 14 game with UCLA in Phoenix.

The Wildcats aren’t even expected to play in a traditional MTE next season, likely playing several neutral-site games instead. While that’s part of a trend that could threaten even top MTEs such as the Battle 4 Atlantis and Maui Invitational, Gavitt said he didn’t think the most successful MTEs would disappear.

“They still have tremendous TV windows and experiences� to offer, Gavitt said. “Events may have to consider whether to include an NIL opportunity in their experience or not, but I don’t think those events will go away.

“There’s a lot going on and change is inevitable, right? There’s many things we’re dealing with right now.�

Gavitt said the NCAA has had to be both proactive and reactive to all the change, considering that legal challenges can force their hands in some cases.

Meanwhile, in what is also outside his control, conferences are realigning and growing, which is why Gavitt was watching Arizona play a big conference game in Texas instead of in Oregon or California.

“I’m really agnostic� on realignment, Gavitt said. “Conferences have to do what is in their best interest.

“What I think is important for us is keeping the tournament contemporary, and (considering) how teams get selected, seated and bracketed as a result of being in larger, more competitive leagues. We can’t be tone deaf to that. You have to figure out what kind of impact that may have on the team’s ability to put themselves in position.�

During the NCAA committee’s early bracket reveal on Feb. 15, Arizona was deemed worthy of a No. 3 seed. The Wildcats, who are fighting to win the 16-team Big 12 Conference, had seven regular-season games left after the reveal. But their “reveal� seed has been the same as their ultimate seed twice in the past three years, while they slipped from a No. 1 to a No. 2 last season.

Gavitt is not on the selection committee and has no vote in the selections but said the committee does rely on his counsel sometimes.

“You hear the committee chair will talk about the full body of work, and they really do stick to that,� Gavitt said. “Because by the time you do a reveal, teams only have somewhere between six to nine games left. While things can and do change, they’re not going to change dramatically. Three-quarters of that body of work is already baked in.�