Expanding March Madness to 72 teams could likely be seen as a greater power grab for larger conferencesGETTY IMAGES
The ACC voted to propose legislation to the NCAA that would expand the NCAA Tournament "from 68 to 72 teams, essentially duplicating the First Four," according to Luke DeCock of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. The expansion proposal "came from the ACC coaches, who noted the number of football teams that have postseason opportunities compared to basketball." ACC Commissioner John Swofford said, "The idea of having two First Fours, if you will, maybe geographic. That's such a quick turnaround. You could have one maybe in Dayton and one in the western part of the states. But we will be proposing that." The ACC also "decided to leave the mechanics of the more epochal changes proposed by the Rice Commission to a set of NCAA working groups that will spend the summer trying to deal with various parts of the commission's mandate by August" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 5/18). Buffalo coach Nate Oats said that the idea to expand to 72 is "not something that came up in the Mid-American Conference meetings, but he would be in favor of a proposal that would help more mid-major teams reach the NCAA tournament" (ESPN.com, 5/17). USA TODAY's Erick Smith notes the move "could likely be seen as a greater power grab for the larger conferences, which typically take up a vast majority of the at-large berths." Three of the four at-large teams in the First Four this year -- UCLA, ASU and Syracuse -- "were from big leagues" (USA TODAY, 5/18).
CLEAR-CUT CHOICE? YAHOO SPORTS' Jeff Eisenberg wrote whether expanding the NCAA Tournament to 72 teams "would actually benefit college basketball is not nearly as clear-cut." But most likely, at least three of those extra bids "would go to the type of teams nobody needs more of in the NCAA tournament -- middling teams from power conferences that had ample opportunities for quality wins and didn’t capitalize on enough of them." The other concern with NCAA Tournament expansion is that it is a "slippery, slippery slope." The more teams added, the "more you water down college basketball’s already struggling regular season" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/17).
HOLD THAT THOUGHT: ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt said he is "all for more games because I enjoy watching them, I just don’t want it to turn into four more middling power conference teams." ESPN’s Jay Bilas noted any game before the first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA Tournament “really doesn’t matter because the tournament doesn’t start until that Thursday.” Bilas: "Nobody is really paying attention until we get to the 64 teams" (“SportsCenter With Scott Van Pelt,” ESPN, 5/18). ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said 72 teams is a “stupid idea." Wilbon: "Don’t fix this golden thing you’ve got" (“PTI,” ESPN, 5/17). ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said, "Constantly adding teams to the NCAA Tournament is constantly taking all of the significance away from the regular season.” ESPN’s Michelle Beadle: “This is participation ribbon territory. Everyone gets to go, everyone gets to play and everyone gets a chance. ... The more they add these people at the very end, these are still just sacrificial lamb games. Nobody is paying attention and nothing is at stake.” ESPN’s Jalen Rose said the proposal is an "absolute joke." Rose: "The spirit of the NCAA Tournament was 64 teams. I understand that you want to have a play-in game and want to make it cute because you want to make people pay attention to the NCAA earlier in the week" (“Get Up!,” ESPN, 5/18).
