Leave March Madness alone
No expansion is coming ... yet. But the powers-that-be can't seem to resist toying with the idea of messing with America's favorite tournament.
Leave it alone.
Don’t touch, tinker with or tweak it.
Leave it the hell alone.
March Madness is the greatest American sporting event there is. It needs no expansion. It brings in a ton of viewership already. Every school in the nation has a fair chance to play its way into the field and beyond.
Leave. It. Alone.
No action was taken Thursday, when the men’s and women’s basketball committees met separately to discuss potential expansion options.
Still, expansion is very much an option.
Here’s what NCAA vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said in a statement:
“The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Committees met this week, with the men’s meeting taking place in Savannah and the women’s meeting in Philadelphia. The topic of expanding the field for each championship was discussed at length but no decision or recommendation was made. The still viable outcomes include the tournaments remaining at 68 teams or expanding the fields to either 72 or 76 teams in advance of the 2026 or 2027 championships.”
Here’s what he didn’t say:
“No.”
It makes no sense, financially or otherwise. The men’s basketball tournament is the purest* thing left in our sports world. It earned its nickname for a reason.
Sometimes you get a Butler to make back-to-back national title games. Sometimes you get all four No. 1 seeds in the Final Four. The possibility of either makes March magical. There is little to complain about with either scenario, too.
(*Yes, we realize that gambling may be the ultimate fuel when it comes to March Madness’ popularity. But the powers-that-be ought not to take for granted the sizable portion of casual fans who tune in just because they filled out an office pool — an office pool that, as it stands, can fit on one screen and is easily digestible for even the most elementary of basketball fans.)
Who, outside of some of the leaders of power conferences, is clamoring for this?
Does anyone say Fenway Park should change its name? Or Lambeau Field?
No, and those are homes of professional sports teams, who are — in theory, anyway — much less sentimental about traditions and pastimes.
You don’t mess with something that works.
This whole exercise is college leadership in a nutshell. It comes on the heels of back-and-forths among power conference commissioners about the future of the College Football Playoff, this after just one year of an expanded 12-team format.
Want to expand that field? Fine.
Want to create more automatic for some conferences (Big Ten, SEC) than others (ACC, Big 12)? Not so fast, my friend.
Who stands to benefit from that? Anyone?
Credit Brett Yormark for taking the long view this week. The Big 12 commissioner took time during his conference’s media days to advocate for a 16-team Playoff with 11 at-large bids, knowing full well that his own league may end up with less annual Playoff teams than the two that it would be guaranteed in a 4-4-2-2-1 format.
I had to double-check that formula just to make sure I nailed it before this column went live. How’s that supposed to grow and simplify the game?
It doesn’t, and neither does an expanded basketball tournament.
College leaders can’t seem to agree on either format, so we’ll again make this simple for all:
Leave. It. Alone.
Thanks to all who subscribe to The Inside Zone. Please consider a paid subscription or gift a subscription to a friend or family member here:
Leave. NCAA. Men’s. Basketball. Alone.