Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey has said he is perhaps the most influential figure in college athletics. On Thursday, he wants to “revisit” the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Perhaps he is currently looking to expand the field of 68 teams.
Sankey warns, “We’re not ready to headline yet.” But he’s also open to conversations about Big Dance, which doesn’t exclude small conference champions and may include more teams.
As an example, he mentions the 2022 College World Series Baseball Championship. It was won by SEC member Mississippi, the last team in the field of 64 teams.
“If the last team can win the national championship and they’re in their 30s or 40s from RPI, or [NCAA] NET’s perspective, does the current approach support national championships?” Sankei asks. “I think there is health in that conversation. mosquito?”
Sankey’s remarks were about the men’s tournament, but given the recent NCAA’s emphasis on equal tournament experience for both men and women, the extended bracket argument applies equally to the women’s tournament. It is thought that
Among conferences that only send tournament winners to the NCAA Tournament, there is growing concern about being left out of March Madness. Part of that reportedly comes from comments Sankey made to members of the Division I Council earlier this summer about how the NCAA tournament would look different in the future.
Sankey stresses that he said the tournament “is subject to change.” However, some major and subordinate programs suspect that their automatic bids will instead be given to more teams in rich and powerful multi-bid leagues.
“March Madness will become more dominated by a handful of schools,” said Michael Martin, president of the Florida Gulf Coast. recently told a Fort Myers TV station“And there will be no automatic qualifiers to be had by being at A-Sun.”
However, Sankey did not mention the possibility of ditching automated bidding. He recognizes that messing around with one of college sports’ most popular formulas could get him a lot of backlash. Instead, he speaks of the quality of teams that barely make the field or get left behind.
“thought [SEC member] Texas A&M should have been on the basketball field [last season]’ says Sankey. “People disagreed. But the way they played at the end of the year, I’m sure they were one of the better teams in the country. I’m biased. But someone else, Dayton was one of his four in the beginning.
“Look what UCLA did as an 11 seed. [in 2021]what Virginia did as an 11 seed [in 2011]what Syracuse did as an 11 seed [in 2018]These are the 3 teams we played against [in the First Four] In Dayton, we ended up going to the Final Four. It should broaden our thinking. “
(Sankey mixed up two appearances at Syracuse. In 2016, he made the Final Four as a 10th seed who didn’t play for Dayton, but played against Dayton. In 2018, he made the Final Four. Syracuse were in the First Four at Dayton, but were eliminated in the Sweet 16.)
One potential method of expansion not posed by Sankey is to have the first four quartets, one for each region. This increases the total number of bids from 68 to 80.
But quadrupling the moving parts also raises the NCAA’s logistical hurdles. Leading eight teams to Dayton in a short period of time after Selection Sunday and distributing the winners to various sites across the country for a fair chance at a first round match is no easy task.
Still, Sankey seems willing to explore some options for the bigger Big Dance.
“Take a second look at everything,” he says. “When we think collectively, everyone goes into a corner and says, ‘I have to stick to my stuff,'” he says. But how do we contribute and together build it better?”
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