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The NCAA has, more often than not, delivered in a big way to their fans. The greatest creation in all of sports is March Madness. Brackets, Cinderella, all-day basketball. March Madness is the dream of every college basketball fan. However, sometimes, the NCAA can’t stop tripping over themselves.
Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated reported on the potential expansion of the NCAA’s greatest creation. Dellenger reported that the Big Dance could soon include 90 teams. An expansion that no one asked for and one that will continue to dampen regular season play.
Here is a breakdown of Dellenger’s report on Twitter:
News: NCAA Transformation Committee’s final report recommends an expansion of championship tournaments to incorporate 25% of teams.
NCAA bball tournament would expand to ~90 teams. However, individual sport oversight committees will give final approval https://t.co/YPFezQoFAV
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 3, 2023
Dellenger went on to Tweet more highlights from his story that included:
“Julie Cromer, a member of the MBB Oversight Committee & co-chair of Transformation, says of the 25% recommendation: “Each sport will have the opportunity to take a look comprehensibly” of an expanded championship tournament.”
“To reiterate: Each sport’s oversight/governance group must support the recommendation and adopt the change to expand their championship tournament. Many in the basketball world are NOT in support of expansion. We’ll see..”
“The Transformation Committee recommends a new DI governance structure most similar to a federated model, where each sport is governed by its own oversight committee. This should make for a more streamlined, quicker rules-making process.”
I, for one, am not ready to see 90 teams in the Big Dance or expansions in other sports, including more than 12 teams in the College Football Playoff. No offense to teams that might be on the bubble in a 90-team tournament, but I don’t think anyone cares if Big Sandy Community and Technical College get the 22nd seed.
The old saying holds true in this situation. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The beauty of March Madness is Selection Sunday. Who’s in? Who’s out? Creating multiple brackets and discussing why your bracket is 100% correct with friends and family. I don’t have the attention span to study a 90-team bracket.
One thing is for sure. I’ll always take Purdue too far in my bracket.