Oregon already cashing in on NCAA Tournament expansion in early Bracketology

The NCAA Tournament field has officially expanded to 76 teams as Thursday saw the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball committees approved the change. The new format allows for an additional 7 teams to make the NCAA Tournament wit at-large bids with the number growing from 36 to 44. The other key change is that the first four grows to the 12 opening rounds with the 6th lowest seeded at-large teams playing.

Dana Altman is coming off his first losing season at Oregon which puts pressure on the Ducks to make the NCAA Tournament to begin with. Add in that the field is now wider and the Oregon Ducks have to find a way back to the postseason.

Joe Lunardi shows why expansion is great news for Oregon with first Bracketology

After the NCAA Tournament was officially expanded, analysts quickly began re-working their projections for next season. ESPN's Joe Lunardi released his first bracketology of the year, and the Oregon Ducks find themselves as an 11th seed, playing for a spot in the tournament under the new expansion format.

The Oregon Ducks would face another Power 4 program looking to return to the NCAA Tournament in the LSU Tigers. Dana Altman would get to battle it out against Will Wade in his first season back in Baton Rouge for the chance to face 6th seeded Texas Tech in the Minneapolis Region.

The good news for Dana Altman is that he should already have a major advantage as LSU currently has just 3 players on it's roster for next season.

NCAA Tournament expansion comes at a great time for Dana Altman as he tries to get the program back on track. Oregon's roster is filled with a ton of boom or bust pieces, and in a year where the field expands, it might be the perfect experiment by Altman as you can afford extra losses this season.

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