After Selection Sunday that saw a number of teams get snubbed, the talk about a potential expansion of the NCAA Tournament pool intensified once again. It certainly has its supporters, but it's clear Tennessee basketball head coach Rick Barnes isn't a big fan of the idea.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday ahead of the first round of March Madness, Barnes shared his take why he doesn't support an expansion of the current pool of the NCAA Tournament. His reasoning is pretty simply and valid: an expansion means more games for all the teams involved, a scenario that the Volunteers' head coach believes isn't ideal considering the highly competitive nature of the tournament.
Currently, teams in the NCAA Tournament will need to win six games to bag the national title, from the First Round, Round of 32, Sweet 16, Quarterfinals, Final Four and Finals. That is already a lot, and expanding and adding more games won't really be good for the game, per Barnes.
“I don't think you can ask a team to win more than six games to win a National Championship. It's really demanding if you ask me. … Winning six games in this Tournament is hard, it's really hard,” Barnes shared, via CBS Sports.
To be fair to Rick Barnes, he has a valid argument here. While more games could probably mean more viewership, TV money and sponsorships, the fact is it will also have a direct effect on the product that the NCAA Tournament wants to put out. Not to mention the scheduling challenges it will present.
The NCAA Tournament runs for roughly two weeks, and obviously, an expansion would lead to making the tournament longer. Now with the added games, there is also an increased risk in injuries, which could lead to an overall poor quality of matches.
Overall, the current NCAA Tournament process isn't really broken. With that said, there's certainly plenty of conversations that need to be had before making such drastic decision.
NCAA Tournament expansion has supporters
While Rick Barnes doesn't want to see more teams in March Madness, other coaches don't share the same opinion. For one, Colorado State basketball coach Niko Medved believes it's “inevitable” considering the path that the NCAA Tournament is going to.
“I said to people for years, ‘Well, they’re gonna expand it. It’s just a matter of time.' I think we're probably closer to that than people realize,” Medved shared, via Dayton Daily News.
“Maybe I'll get pushback on this, but in my opinion, I think there’s very little difference between somebody who is a 7 seed and the sixth team out of the tournament. Maybe especially this year more than ever. And there’s more parity in our sport. And just with conference realignment and some of those other things, I think that's inevitable.”
To Medved's point, conversations about the NCAA Tournament expansion is already happening. Last January, commissioners of the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 and the Pac-12 had a dialogue with NCAA president Charlie Baker over a possible expansion, per Yahoo. The same report added that the expansion of the NCAA men's basketball tournament is, like Medved said, “inevitable.”
It remains to be seen what will happen to the tournament, though sure enough, the decision won't be easy and won't come quickly, as plenty of discussions must be made to consider the pros and cons of an expansion.
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