NCAA Basketball: A look at a potential expanded 2021 NCAA Tournament

If there is a 2020-21 season, NCAA Basketball’s March Madness will likely look different. Here is a look at how I think an expansion of the tournament could look like.

The college football season is on the brink of a season that may not happen, at least not in the fall. The attention is soon to turn to the winter sports and most notably NCAA Basketball and what that might mean for their season and what that might look like. There is a growing sentiment in the college basketball community that the season (if there is one) will not start on time and will likely start in the winter, either with a truncated non-conference schedule or none at all.

If the season becomes a conference-only affair beginning in January, there has been talk and, depending on who you talk to, growing support for an expanded NCAA Tournament in March, given the unique circumstances sports finds itself in. The debate has been, once the tournament is expanded it will be more difficult to go back to the 68-team field, and for some that is not a road they want to go down right now.

To that end, there have been a number of things written not only about how an expanded tournament would work, but also how it wouldn’t. Some of the ideas have been creative and would add an air of excitement to not only the tournament but the process of bracketing it.

I am of the mind that, at least for this season, an expanded tournament is a good idea and could be done in a way that would be different and fun, with some aspects of my proposal able to be used even if a return to a 68-team field is desired. Here is my idea for a 2020 NCAA Tournament based upon the premise that a conference-only schedule is what is proposed and implemented.