Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari has joined the chorus of critics against expanding the NCAA tournament. He urged officials to maintain the tournament's current 68-team format and avoid further expansion.
The NCAA tournament underwent a transition from a 64-team field to a 68-team format with the introduction of the First Four round in 2011. However, there is ongoing speculation suggesting that the NCAA might consider expanding the tournament even further, potentially accommodating up to 80 teams, according to recent reports.
John Calipari’s hopes
“I hope it stays where it is,” Calipari remarked on Wednesday from Pittsburgh, where his No. 3-seeded Wildcats are preparing for their first-round game against No. 14-seed Oakland.
“You know, I know people get mad. They get mad at the committee. You won't believe this. I've been mad at that committee a few times. But you may be mad because of your seed or where they've shipped you to. … But it doesn't matter who the committee is. We're all going to be upset.”
Calipari, who has guided Kentucky to the NCAA tournament in 12 of his 15 seasons as head coach, referenced the recent expansion of the College Football Playoff format. He highlighted that increasing the number of teams in the tournament would also lead to more teams feeling aggrieved about being excluded.
“And I'll say everybody that's in this thing, I would say they'd say the same thing — keep it where it is. Don't mess with something that's great,” Calipari emphasized.
Other heads talking
“This is the holy grail for mid-majors, right? It is,” as Oakland basketball coach Greg Kampe, who has been with the Golden Grizzlies for 40 seasons, doubled down on Calipari's sentiments rejecting the idea of expanding the tournament to accommodate as many as 80 teams.
“And I've said this many times over the last week. The NCAA basketball tournament — please don't change it, please don't change it. But it is one of the three greatest sporting events in the world,” Kampe stressed.
Tennessee basketball head coach Rick Barnes also expressed his opposition to expanding the current pool of the NCAA Tournament during a press conference on Wednesday before the first round of March Madness. His rationale is straightforward and reasonable: expanding the tournament would lead to more games for all teams, a situation that Barnes believes is not ideal given the intense competitiveness of the tournament.
“I totally disagree with them,” said NC State coach Kevin Keatts. According to Keatts, expanding the tournament would be advantageous for players from programs of all sizes. Similar to Calipari, he drew a parallel with college football, mentioning the bowl system as a means for athletes to gain postseason experience.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has recently advocated for changing the tournament format, expressing frustration that automatic bids from smaller conferences prevent stronger teams from making it into the field.
“We are giving away highly competitive opportunities for automatic qualifiers (from smaller leagues), and I think that pressure is going to rise as we have more competitive basketball leagues at the top end because of expansion,” Sankey said according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
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