The NCAA is talking about creating more bids for its tournament. But it’s just that for now: talk.
In its last season before it can opt out of its contract with CBS, the organization is looking into possibly expanding its NCAA Tournament field of 65 and also going from broadcast to cable, according to an Associated Press report.
“We’re just in a due diligence phase of examining all of our assets, and among those things is men’s basketball,” NCAA senior vice president Greg Shaheen said Thursday.
Although no change is imminent, talks about adding teams to March Madness — for or against — have been a hot topic among not only college basketball fans but also coaches. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said in 2006 that the tournament should add four or six teams, and former UCLA coach John Wooden once called for every Division I squad to be included in the competition.
That’d be more than 300 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Talk about radicalism.
The NCAA also has contacted various cable networks in case it decides to part ways with CBS. If the NCAA doesn’t opt out, CBS would lock up three more years of NCAA Tournaments.
The recent discussions are the latest chapter in NCAA Tournament expansion. In 1985, the NCAA increased the field of 48 to 64. Then in 2001, the NCAA added a 65th slot as the number of automatic bids went from 30 to 31.
One coach wants to add a few teams; another wants to add them all; and others want to fold the NIT and put the would-be NITers in the tournament. But if they’re going to increase the field, wouldn’t the simplest way be to double the pre-2001 field of 64 to 128?
Don’t tell that to the purists. They want to leave it the way it is. Truth is: Everyone has their own bright idea on how to make the already-great month of March better. However, In the end, the decision is the NCAA’s to make.
And something tells us change is coming. Again.
