Sports: Should the NCAA expand to 96?

No.

I think the "modern" era of the NCAA tournament started with Bird vs. Magic in 1979.

During that time, how often have high seeds advanced to the final four?

In three decades, on two occasions an 11 made it, one 9 and four 8 seeds have made it.

About half the time there was no seed higher than a four.

Thus, theoretically, no team rated > 44th (4 x 11) has made the Final Four.

This year, Minnesota was regarded as the last "at large" team and it was ... an 11 seed.
UPDATE: My bad, UTEP and Utah State got in as "at large" as 12 seeds.

Expanding the tournament to 96 means adding more "at large" teams > 12 seeds which means adding teams that are extremely unlikely to get to the Final Four.