NCAA Proposal - Expand March Madness to 90 Teams

Wednesday, January 4, 2023 2:14 AM

NCAA has recently met discussing how to make more billions. Every option is on the table and the one gaining the most traction is expanding the mens and Women’s basketball tournaments. Mens’ is currently a field of 68 and there are talks to going to 90. I think the reasoning behind the 90 number is it would mean roughly 25% of all schools would make it. This may devalue conference tourneys with auto-bids but may help some smaller schools in smaller conferences that often get snubbed. Everyone loves a Cinderella. Why not? Football is expanding. Check out this article from USA TODAY: NCAA committee proposes major changes for Division I sports, including bigger basketball tournaments [view link] I don’t know about you but as soon as bowl season hit I totally forgot about the NFL.

10 comments

That's stupid

Icee Loco (asshole)

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a year ago

I would rather see some alternate leagues with different rules so we could see some variety in game play but still enjoy a favored sport in different variations. Adding more teams just means stretching things out. Instead of tuning in to the start of the playoffs people will just wait until the third round to get excited. With all the info on the web, people don't have to watch a game to monitor a preferred team's progress and then catch any highlights. I think it will risk leading to mental fatigue if it becomes so large that you spend a month just plowing through the first bracket. This is just the NBA trying to squeeze a few more eggs out of it's golden goose.

Sgtsnowman

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a year ago

The 64 team bracket is beautiful. 68 doesn't disrupt it too much. There is more parity in college sports than the past thanks to the fact it's gotten easier and easier to watch every game. But this does mean there are more decent teams and less powerhouses (the women's side is still powerhouse driven). Expanding to 90 would definitely cheapen conference winners.

JamesSD

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a year ago

In the age of NIL, the NCAA has lost a lot of its power. College sports has become a professional league. The NCAA is pretending we still live in a world of student athletes.

mark94

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a year ago

Expanding the number of teams in football means extending the season. You have to wait at least a week to play another game. And the wear and tear on the athletes is a lot to play 15-16 games of football. You don't have those same problems in basketball. Risk of injury from an additional game is minimal. And you only need to wait a couple of days to play another game. Going from 68 to 90 only changes the number of teams that have to play the Tuesday Play-in games. I'm not really opposed to it. Although, if the reason for the tourney is to crown a champion, I can guarantee that the eventual champion will never come from Seeding 69-90 . You're just making Seeds 33-60 play an additional game.

Warrior15

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a year ago

Let's create a problem to emphasize how college sports mean nothing any longer. Just minor league pros.

skibum609

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a year ago

@ Sgtsnowman For the NCAA tourney, the opposite is true. The excitement is at the BEGINNING of the tournament, when even non-sports casuals have an interest in how their bracket is performing and the potential opportunity exists for amazing upsets. Once teams are whittled into the sweet sixteen, the excitement goes down except for avid sports enthusiasts and fans of the remaining teams.

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a year ago

Fine by me. I never pay attention to college basketball until the tournament anyway.

BGSD3100

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a year ago

The more teams in the playoffs the more meaningless the season is. And how cheap and meaningless the playoffs seem.

caseyx

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a year ago

How about all the teams are eligible to play, no scoring, and participation trophies for all. 🤣🤣🤣

twentyfive