NCAA Basketball: Is NCAA Tournament expansion past 68 teams a good idea?

How do the Coaches feel?

As you would expect there was a mixed bag of coaches reactions. Some were for it, and some were against it. It is never a bad thing when the coaches, the faces of the game, speak out for or against something as they do have an inside into what is going on within the game. The one thing that does bother me about the coaches who get asked these questions are they are always power conference coaches, and it is always the usual suspects. In this case Tom Izzo, Bill Self and Jim Larranaga.

The power conference coaches are going to have a much different view of the tournament and whether it should expand because their experiences have been different. Every power conference school has a much greater chance of an at-large than any Mid-major not named Gonzaga. The level of competition is usually greater, and those teams are often given the benefit of the doubt about their resume. I know we can all remember a great mid-major team that has been left out the tournament, with a great resume for a mid-major, in favor or a fringy power conference team.

Tom Izzo, the great coach from Michigan State, was quoted in an ESPN article about how the tournament expansion would water down the field, which as mentioned is a very legitimate concern especially if the committee favors power schools over deserving mid-major schools. No one wants to see .500 power conference teams get into the tournament over a 20-win mid-major school that lost in their conference tournament. In that same article, Bill Self mentioned that expansion is the only logical course of action given that the portal is an easy way for teams to get good and stay good. He mentioned that it’s a quick way to add talent and there are going to be a lot of great teams who never seem to take a dip.

Then there were the coaches who were against the expansion. We know Tom Izzo was against the expansion as noted above. Another big name has been outspoken on his desire to not expand and that is Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl.  Pearl was adamant, like Tom Izzo that expansion would water down the tournament and if the expansion was necessary then only add about 4 teams to get to 72 total instead of the 96. The ESPN article only listed the big-name coaches they talked to and since I was not able to secure any coaching interviews for this I don’t have any further insight.

What I do have is comments and responses from writers and fans of this great sport who have provided their feedback into what they would like to see with the tournament. The fans are the ones who are watching the tournament and spending the money to go to the games. They are helping the tournament make the 1.14 billion in revenue that it made in 2022. Our opinions matter and I have gotten some great insight into their minds over the last week.