College basketball coaches split on NCAA tournament expansion

NT80 · June 30, 2023

Lots of conversation from different coaches on this topic. Everything from adding only a few more teams, all the way up to 96 teams. Also, the Portal topic comes up as a way for teams to stay strong each year by reloading....

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/37935243/college-basketball-coaches-split-ncaa-tournament-expansion

Edited June 30, 2023 by NT80

greenminer · June 30, 2023

What is Self's logic here? How does the portal play into depth/quality ball in March?

El Paso Eagle · June 30, 2023

No need to expand as they would most likely add more "Power" conference teams. How about you make a rule saying that unless you win your conference tournament, if you finish under .500 in the conference, there is no NCAA tournament. Seem like yearly, quite a few spots are taken by Power Conference bottom dwellers who lose in the first round.

NT80 · June 30, 2023

37 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

No need to expand as they would most likely add more "Power" conference teams. How about you make a rule saying that unless you win your conference tournament, if you finish under .500 in the conference, there is no NCAA tournament. Seem like yearly, quite a few spots are taken by Power Conference bottom dwellers who lose in the first round.

I think CUSA and the MWC scored huge look-at-us points this year making both the Final Four and NIT finals.

We showed there is quality basketball outside the usual Power conference schools.

MrAlien · June 30, 2023

Absolutely teams need to be .500 in conference play to be considered for an at large. however I do think the NCAA gets the tournament mostly right.

Glory to the Green · June 30, 2023

15 hours ago, El Paso Eagle said:

No need to expand as they would most likely add more "Power" conference teams. How about you make a rule saying that unless you win your conference tournament, if you finish under .500 in the conference, there is no NCAA tournament. Seem like yearly, quite a few spots are taken by Power Conference bottom dwellers who lose in the first round.

I 100% agree with you on this. I don’t see how it happens, though. It’s too much money that the big boys would lose out on.

GMG_Dallas · June 30, 2023

14 hours ago, NT80 said:

I think CUSA and the MWC scored huge look-at-us points this year making both the Final Four and NIT finals.

We showed there is quality basketball outside the usual Power conference schools.

It's shown every March that there's quality basketball outside the usual power conferences. The problem is, it's viewed as a fluke Cinderella run if they can't immediately replicate their success the following year. If they do have frequent success like Gonzaga or Houston, they're no longer viewed as a "regular" mid-major and the fact good basketball is played outside the usual power conferences gets dismissed for that reason. Mid-major conferences don't get the benefit of a strong tournament run like high-major conferences do so it's almost impossible to earn the committee's trust.

Not trying to ramble too much but in European soccer leagues and world soccer tournaments they use a league or continental conference's recent tournament success to determine how many spots they get in the next tournament. After that, it doesn't matter how your league performs in season. You have to show up come tournament time. This may be one of the few ways the NCAA can enhance the tournament selection process.

Edited June 30, 2023 by GMG_Dallas

Andrew · June 30, 2023

Absolutely not. Just eliminate other post season tournaments and make the NIT 64 teams…. Then make all play in games the 16 seeds. It’s not that difficult to do.