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INDIANAPOLIS – The greed is astounding.
Not from the athletes, who the power brokers and even the president of the United States would have you believe are bringing about the ruin of college sports. No, the people who have broken the system are the esteemed leaders of college sports, the commissioners and university presidents willing to burn it all down if it means more cash in their pockets.
It wasn’t enough to destroy the fabric of college sports, the traditional, mostly geographically-based rivalries by supersizing the power conferences. Now they appear set on watering down the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments so the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 can get a few more of their mediocre teams in.
Armour: Dan Hurley isn’t actually a jerk. He just plays one on TV
Why not just say the hell with it and make it all comers? If 76 teams will wring a few more zeroes out of CBS and TNT and ESPN, imagine what 350-plus would bring!
It’s shameful, and it will do more to destroy the best thing left in college athletics than any 20-something who’s finally getting paid.
Expansion of the tournament has been on the table for what seems like an eternity, but someone has always had the good sense to pump the brakes. Not anymore, apparently. According to Yahoo! Sports, the tournaments will be expanded to 76 teams soon after the completion of this year’s Final Fours.
The First Four would now become the First 24, with 12 games spread out over two days. The 12 winners would then join 52 teams already in the main bracket.
No surprise, most of the additional eight slots would go to the power conferences, but you know darn well they’re not going to be relegated to the de facto play-in tournament. Further minimizing the “little guys” while rewarding more SEC and Big Ten teams for being mediocre. Talk about March Madness.
The argument against expansion has been it will dilute the tournament, and that hasn’t changed. Are there really another eight teams that deserved to be in this year’s tournament and would have improved the quality of the field? Forget eight. Are there even two?
And what about the secret sauce that makes the NCAA Tournament so compelling? Part of what keeps us coming back every year is knowing, however unlikely, a UMBC or a Fairleigh Dickinson might take down a No. 1. Being assured that, every year, a Florida Gulf Coast or a High Point is going to humble a school twice their size and with 10 times the name recognition.
But that won’t happen if those schools are weeded out before the tournament even gets going. It will suck the very soul out of the NCAA tournaments, turning them into glorified versions of the Big Ten/ACC and SEC/Big 12 challenges during the regular season.
The NCAA also seems to be under the illusion there is endless viewing capacity. That people don’t have jobs or school or family responsibilities. Which isn’t the case, obviously. People are simply not going to, even if they wanted to, take off or quiet quit for four entire days the first week of the tournament.
At least, not in the numbers necessary to make it worth the networks’ while. Go look at the ratings for the Xbox Bowl and you’ll get the idea.
There’s also the rank hypocrisy of the same people who howl about how athletes getting paid destroys the integrity of college sports enthusiastically endorsing pulling even more “student-athletes” out of their classes and away from campus.
But hey. So long as SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s wallet gets fatter, it’s all good, right?
The NCAA tournament is perfect the way it is. Expanding it will make it bigger, not it sure won't make it better.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA plans to expand March Madness to 76 teams. it's a bad idea
Continue reading...
Not from the athletes, who the power brokers and even the president of the United States would have you believe are bringing about the ruin of college sports. No, the people who have broken the system are the esteemed leaders of college sports, the commissioners and university presidents willing to burn it all down if it means more cash in their pockets.
It wasn’t enough to destroy the fabric of college sports, the traditional, mostly geographically-based rivalries by supersizing the power conferences. Now they appear set on watering down the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments so the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 can get a few more of their mediocre teams in.
Armour: Dan Hurley isn’t actually a jerk. He just plays one on TV
Why not just say the hell with it and make it all comers? If 76 teams will wring a few more zeroes out of CBS and TNT and ESPN, imagine what 350-plus would bring!
It’s shameful, and it will do more to destroy the best thing left in college athletics than any 20-something who’s finally getting paid.
Expansion of the tournament has been on the table for what seems like an eternity, but someone has always had the good sense to pump the brakes. Not anymore, apparently. According to Yahoo! Sports, the tournaments will be expanded to 76 teams soon after the completion of this year’s Final Fours.
The First Four would now become the First 24, with 12 games spread out over two days. The 12 winners would then join 52 teams already in the main bracket.
No surprise, most of the additional eight slots would go to the power conferences, but you know darn well they’re not going to be relegated to the de facto play-in tournament. Further minimizing the “little guys” while rewarding more SEC and Big Ten teams for being mediocre. Talk about March Madness.
The argument against expansion has been it will dilute the tournament, and that hasn’t changed. Are there really another eight teams that deserved to be in this year’s tournament and would have improved the quality of the field? Forget eight. Are there even two?
And what about the secret sauce that makes the NCAA Tournament so compelling? Part of what keeps us coming back every year is knowing, however unlikely, a UMBC or a Fairleigh Dickinson might take down a No. 1. Being assured that, every year, a Florida Gulf Coast or a High Point is going to humble a school twice their size and with 10 times the name recognition.
But that won’t happen if those schools are weeded out before the tournament even gets going. It will suck the very soul out of the NCAA tournaments, turning them into glorified versions of the Big Ten/ACC and SEC/Big 12 challenges during the regular season.
The NCAA also seems to be under the illusion there is endless viewing capacity. That people don’t have jobs or school or family responsibilities. Which isn’t the case, obviously. People are simply not going to, even if they wanted to, take off or quiet quit for four entire days the first week of the tournament.
At least, not in the numbers necessary to make it worth the networks’ while. Go look at the ratings for the Xbox Bowl and you’ll get the idea.
There’s also the rank hypocrisy of the same people who howl about how athletes getting paid destroys the integrity of college sports enthusiastically endorsing pulling even more “student-athletes” out of their classes and away from campus.
But hey. So long as SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s wallet gets fatter, it’s all good, right?
The NCAA tournament is perfect the way it is. Expanding it will make it bigger, not it sure won't make it better.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA plans to expand March Madness to 76 teams. it's a bad idea
Continue reading...
