Despite failing to make it to the Big Dance a season ago, Syracuse Basketball Orange has been resident in the proverbial bubble many times in recent campaignsthat never stopped me from rejoicing in the magic the NCAA Tournament produces each year.
Yes, first and foremost, I am a proud Syracuse University alumnus and enthusiastic follower ‘Cuse hoops programBut I also love college basketball as a whole, and for a few weeks in March and early April, season after season, it’s the best because it’s associated with a sporting event in the United States.
Now, weighing March Madness against the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, etc. is not a fair comparison.
But with programs big and small making their way to the final four each year, with spectacular upsets, heavyweight fights and dreams, you couldn’t ask for a more thrilling event than The Big Dance.
And although the recent regular season has had some below-average seasons, Syracuse basketball made a name for itself in March Madness.
Over the years, Orange has won national titles, reached several Final Fours, flamed out as a high seed in the first round, and been heartbroken many times (hello, richmondVermont, Butler, Dayton, Ohio, Indiana, etc.).
At the same time, ‘Cuse has been a double-digit seed in recent seasons, making the Sweet 16 and even the Final Four (hello, 2016, 2018, and 2021).
As usual, I am hanging out here. But the point of this column is that I sincerely hope that future NCAA tournaments remain the same.
As it stands, Big Dance added four teams some time ago and the first four have arrived, expanding the field to 68 teams. I don’t care about the first four. I just don’t want to see the event get any bigger.
March Madness is different amid a conference reorganization, with UCLA and USC heading to the Big Ten Conference, Oklahoma and Texas heading to the Southeastern Conference, and other leagues like the Atlantic Coast Conference holding out perhaps for their lives. I wouldn’t be surprised if it looks like down the line.
Especially given that the eventual demise and vaporization of the incompetent NCAA is likely to occur at some point.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve come across various articles discussing the future composition of Big Dance. One idea is extend the current fieldmaybe up to 80 teams.
Another concept I’ve seen is probably the idea that automatic bids are earned by teams in smaller leagues by winning post-season tournaments. may disappear.
Frankly, both of these concepts are terrible. Just awful.
Indeed, with more teams participating in March Madness, more revenue could be generated from a multitude of sources, so some stakeholders wanted to increase the number of Big Dance invitees to 80. you might think.
But here I think of my beloved Cues. Often when bracket scholars and national pundits are making predictions on the field of a particular NCAA tournament, these people and other commentators assume that bubble teams (most recently including Syracuse Basketball) are simply I would say it’s not that good.
These bubble tufts are mediocre at best, says the talking head. Or will we see more mid-majors reeling from league tournament land bids despite their high regular season record?
I’m all for making more Cinderella stories with Big Dance, even if oranges don’t come on the field as a result. Either way, it looks like an 80-team event could be very watered down.
As far as the point of argument that automatic bids won by squads in small meetings could go up like smoke, well, that’s utter nonsense.
Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and all those other big leagues need to think big here.
Without a doubt, the 2022 Final Four of Kansas (eventual champion), North Carolina (runner-up), Duke and Villanova was full of blueblood programs. That is wonderful.
But would stopping automatic bidding in the future stop groups like St. Peter from participating? Because that would be farce.
No. 15 seed Peacocks Was a darling of the 2022 NCAA Tournamentsecond-seeded Kentucky, seventh-seeded Murray State, and third-seeded Purdue before falling to eighth-seeded North Carolina in the Elite Eight.
I readily admit that the reorganization of the Earthquake Conference will continue to change college athletics as we know it. There is a new world.
I didn’t really care about the NCAA as an organization. But please leave March Madness alone.
