NCAA talks expanding hoops tourney to 72 or 76 (translation: expect more Power Conf. at-large selections)

[NT80]

The NCAA's basketball committees presented proposals to expand the tournament last June after several major conferences and leaders such as SEC commissioner Greg Sankey publicly pushed to create more at-large bids for their schools. 

"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 told ESPN last March.

Baker told reporters his focus in the coming year is to implement changes made to the NCAA through the pending, industry-shifting antitrust settlement that will allow schools to start paying players directly. He said he expects to begin working in January on the details of a system that will provide more freedom for the major conferences to form rules that are better suited to their economic reality.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/42913985/ncaa-talks-expanding-hoops-tourney-72-76