NCAA Basketball: Potential impact of collge football expanding the playoffs
While NCAA Basketball remains as popular and fun as ever, it’s being realistic to acknowledge that NCAA Football is the No. 1 sport for fans when it comes to viewership and constant intrigue. Anything that affects the sport has had a trickle-down effect towards the hoops side include the massive conference realignment that occurred a decade ago.
There hasn’t been any realignment talk in the sport as of late but the focus has been on the College Football Playoff, a relatively new initiative that expanded the number of teams eligible to compete for a national title from two under the old BCS system, to four teams.
The hope was that we’d have more teams in the picture for a title on a yearly basis. However, three programs (Clemson, Alabama, and Ohio State) have separated themselves from the pack, getting invited to the four-team playoff almost every year. Add to it the growing upset that programs from the “G-5” (non-power conferences) have next to no shot of ever getting in, and calls have been emerging to expand the number.
Sources tell me & @ByPatForde that the CFP working group is recommending a 12-team playoff: 6 highest-ranked conference champs & 6 at-large.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 10, 2021
The 4 highest-ranked champs get a bye while other 8 play 1st-round games on campus.
Long way from done, but this is the recommendation.
It was major news that occurred last week, with now 12 programs part of a true tournament to find out who the best team in the country is. It’s certainly nothing comparable to March Madness but it’s better than what has been going on.
There has been a lot of talk about what it’ll mean for the sport of college football and as we know, it can affect NCAA Basketball as well. Here are three potential outcomes that could come from the college football playoff expansion.