The NCAA Tournament has been at 68 teams since 2011, with four play-in games leading up to the Round of 64, which has been the magic number of teams in the NCAA Tournament since 1985.
Charlie Baker, the president of the NCAA, said that the organization’s basketball committee is having discussions on potentially expanding the men’s NCAA Tournament. He’s also brought up the idea in a video with ESPN’s Dan Murphy.
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas gave Baker and the NCAA a piece of his mind during an episode of the network’s College GameDay in February, and I 100% agree with him.
“Never underestimate the NCAA’s capacity to do something stupid,” he said. “If they did this, it would be profoundly stupid. When anyone says more teams need access to the tournament: every team has the same access to the tournament now. All you have to do is win your conference automatic bid, which is against your peers with a group of teams you have chosen to be among.”
68 teams is the perfect number. Expanding it would water down what makes the tournament and college basketball so special. However, the NCAA, along with the networks they partner with, seem to only care about the money they make from the tournament instead of the quality of the tournament. The NCAA Tournament should be about quality, not quantity.
UConn head coach Dan Hurley has advocated for the tournament to stay at that number, dating back to his press conference before the national championship game in 2023.
“For me, I think it’s great the way it is,” he said. “I feel like devaluing the regular season potentially hurts the regular season and what it means. I think the pressure to win games and being rewarded for winning big non-conference games and then taking care of enough business in the league.”
“I think it’s a privilege to play in this tournament, not a right,” Hurley said.
That last sentence sums it up perfectly. You have to earn your way into the Big Dance. The teams on the bubble rarely make it far in the NCAA Tournament. Only two No. 9 seeds have made the Final Four (Wichita State in 2013 and Florida Atlantic in 2023). Only one No. 10 seed has made the Final Four (Syracuse in 2016). No. 11 seeds have made the Final Four five times (LSU in 1986, George Mason in 2006, VCU in 2011, Loyola Chicago in 2018 and UCLA in 2021). No. 12 seeds have made it to the Elite Eight twice (Missouri in 2002 and Oregon State 2021). Those statistics show that it’s rare that these teams on the fringe of making the NCAA Tournament make it past the Sweet 16.
Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga talked about the parity of the NCAA Tournament when backing expansion during an interview on ESPN Radio last year. While Larrañaga knows what it’s like to make an improbable run having coached George Mason to the Final Four in 2006, I have to disagree.
ESPN analyst Jay Williams called for a field of 112 teams on the network’s First Take show. That is ridiculous and too much for even any sort of expansion. Money drives, I get it.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey called for not only expansion but more bids for the power conferences and fewer bids for mid-to-low major conferences. Why would we do that? To make these power conference commissioners more money and make the conferences look better? If the committee and the networks wanted to do what Sankey is proposing, we would have prominent programs such as Indiana, Syracuse, Louisville, Michigan and UCLA in the tournament every year. A tournament spot should be earned throughout the season, not given each year to the biggest names. There’s a reason those teams I listed aren’t in — they weren’t good this season.
The SEC received eight bids, more than half of the conference. Let’s take a look at how they did: Auburn lost to Yale, Mississippi State lost to Michigan State, Kentucky lost to Oakland, Florida lost to Colorado, South Carolina lost to Oregon and Texas A&M lost to Houston.
Mid-major teams shouldn’t be left out to rot. We’ve had incredible runs over the years by these schools. It’s what makes the NCAA Tournament so much fun to watch: all the storylines. Expansion could mean fewer Cinderella teams.
I was all for the expansion of the College Football Playoff because of all the opt-outs in the bowl games and only four teams getting a chance for a national championship. There’s not any parity in the sport. However, I am completely against the expansion of the NCAA Tournament.
There’s an old saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That’s exactly what the NCAA basketball committee is trying to do. They’re trying to fix something that doesn’t need to be fixed.