Critics Question Possible Expansion Of NCAA Men's Tournament

Some Critics Believe Expansion Of NCAA  Tourney Will Water Down The Event

Critics of a possible expansion of the NCAA men's basketball tournament are "expressing concern about watering down the sport's signature event, devaluing conference tournaments and further eroding interest in college basketball's regular season," according to Steve Wieberg of USA TODAY. Some critics are complaining that the NCAA "has moved too stealthily in proposing changes to the 65-team bracket -- taking it to 68 teams or more radically to 96 -- and shopping them to television networks." Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany: "I have no problem with looking at expansion, whether it's small or big. I only say that issue is one that must be managed openly and transparently, (and) I have concerns that it's not." Univ. of Texas AD DeLoss Dodds added, "I don't know their process, but their process seems to be pretty hidden." NCAA Senior VP/Basketball & Business Strategies Greg Shaheen said that he will "brief the last of 31 Division I conference commissioners on the NCAA plan this week" (USA TODAY, 2/2). NCAA Exec Committee Chair and Oregon State Univ. President Ed Ray said of expanding the tournament, "The really important thing to remember is nothing has to happen. We have the option of deciding whether we want to do something different, and we don't have the information yet that would tell us whether that makes sense or not." USA TODAY's Wieberg writes the "most critical fill-in-the-blanks come with dollar signs." Dodds said the "top 20 or 30 teams in the country probably carry" the current tournament TV deal. Dodds: "So you add another 30 on the bottom and, if you're going to split the revenue equally, is that right or fair?" (USA TODAY, 2/2).

MERGING NIT INTO NCAA TOURNEY POSSIBLE: FOXSPORTS.com's Jeff Goodman cited sources as saying that with the NCAA's deal with the 32-team NIT ending this season, "one of the possibilities is to end the agreement and take 31 of those teams and add them to the NCAA tournament field." One source said that should the tournament expand to 96 teams, one of the "potential formats would involve the identical start and end date and less travel than the NCAA and NIT tournaments combined." Shaheen said that the NCAA "has been examining possibilities that would take into account the time spent off campus for student-athletes." Shaheen: "We are looking into all the possibilities. We have to look into it, but we don't even know if we'd do it. Just because we're checking into it doesn't mean we're going to do it" (FOXSPORTS.com, 2/1). 

WHERE ARE THE BENEFITS? In Boston, Charles Pierce wrote, "I would like someone to explain to me why this latest tinkering is in any way a good idea." Expanding the tournament is "about making sure that some team from a BCS conference that goes 6-12 in their league manages to make the field, thereby keeping its coach from getting fired." Pierce: "How this increases the value of the regular season is beyond me" (BOSTON.com, 2/1). Comcast SportsNet's Ann Killion said, "This is one thing in sports that doesn't need to be fixed. We see it in the bowl system in college football, everybody gets in. It's watered down. It doesn't mean anything. Leave it the way it is" ("Chronicle Live," Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 2/1). YAHOO SPORTS' Chris Chase wrote, "I'm not sure why I ever assumed the NCAA wouldn't expand the tournament." Chase: "It's one of the most illogical, misguided organizations in the land. Of course we should expect them to make the wrong decision" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/1). SPORTINGNEWS.com's Dan Levy: "Clearly this is all about money, and the more teams involved means more games, and more games means more games on TV, which leads to greater revenue" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 2/1).