He is probably the most influential person in college athletics, said Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey On Thursday he wants to take a “fresh look” at the NCAA men’s basketball tournament — perhaps with an eye on expanding the existing 68-team stadium.
Sankey warns that he “is not ready to make headlines there yet.” But he’s also open to talks about a big dance that doesn’t rule out small conference champions with the potential for more teams to be included.
For example, he mentions the 2022 College World Series baseball championship, which was won by SEC member Mississippi—the last team in the 64-team field.
“If the last team managed to win the National Championship, and was in their 30s or 40s from RPI or [NCAA] From a NET point of view, does our current approach support national championship competition? Sankey asks. “I think there is truth in that conversation. This does not exclude people. Goes to: How do we include people in these annual national celebrations that lead to a national hero? “
Sankey’s remarks were about the men’s championship, but given the NCAA’s recent focus on trying out an equal tournament for both men and women, it’s conceivable that an expanded segment discussion would also apply to the women’s championship as well.
There has been a growing wave of concern about their exclusion from March Madness among conferences that send only tournament winners to the NCAA tournament – the underdogs who often give the event their best moments and unique flavor. Some of that comes from comments Sankey reportedly made to Division I board members earlier this summer about the NCAA tournament looking different in the future.
Sankey asserts that he said the tour “can” change, not that it will. But the suspicion among some mid- and low-level programs is that their automatic bids will instead be awarded to more teams from the rich and powerful multi-bid leagues.
“March Madness will become more and more controlled by a handful of schools,” said Michael Martin, president of the Florida Gulf Coast. for the Fort Myers TV channel recently. “And the automatic qualifiers we get now from being in A-Sun will be gone.”
However, Sankey did not mention the possibility of withdrawing automatic bids. He understands that messing with one of the most common formulas in college sports can lead to a massive backlash. Instead, he talks about the quality of teams that barely make the field or are left out.
“I believed [SEC member] Texas A&M should have been in the basketball field [last season]Sanky says. “People didn’t agree. But the way they played at the end of the year, I firmly believe they were one of the best teams in the country. I’m biased. But someone else, Dayton was one of the top four.
“Look at what UCLA did as an 11 seed [in 2021]What the Virginia Commonwealth did as a seed 11 [in 2011]what Syracuse did as a seed 11 [in 2018]. Those are the three teams that played [in the First Four] In Dayton and I went to the Final Four at the end. It should expand our thinking.”
(Sankey was mixing up two appearances at Syracuse. In 2016, he presented the Final Four as the 10th seed who didn’t play at Dayton, but played against Dayton. In 2018, Syracuse was in the top four at Dayton but was eliminated at Sweet 16.)
One possible way to expand—which Sanke didn’t raise—is to get a quad out of the first four, one in each area. This would increase the total number of bids from 68 to 80.
But quadrupling the moving parts would also increase the logistical hurdles for the NCAA. It’s not easy getting eight teams to Dayton in the short time after Selection Sunday, then distributing winners to various locations across the country with a fair chance at their first-round matches.
However, Sankey seems willing to explore several options for a bigger big dance.
“Just take a fresh look at all of that,” he says. “As we think collectively, everyone goes into a corner and says, ‘I have to stick to what’s mine.’ But how do we contribute and build it better together?”
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