Here are some simple solutions to making a 346-team tournament work. It adds only two weeks to March Madness, eliminates conference tournaments and adds 'true regionals.'
A handful of college basketball coaches have a proposed a way to make March Madness even madder, longer and much more robust. A postseason that already chalks up craziness could potentially become a full-court press of insanity if this plan actually happens.
Men's basketball coaches from the Atlantic Coast Conference have floated the idea of playing next spring's NCAA tournament with all eligible Division I teams in the bracket. Teams that are academically ineligible, ineligible because of rules infractions or those teams considered"reclassifiers" will not qualify. That means, with 357 current teams and their eligibilities, only 346 teams would be eligible for the men's NCAA basketball tournament. Only. 346. College basketball abruptly came to a halt on March 12 this year when many leagues around the country canceled their men's and women's conference basketball tournaments because of the sudden COVID-19 outbreak. Later that afternoon, the NCAA announced that all sports through the end of the school year was effectively canceled.Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski issued a statement Wednesday that said the best way for college basketball to fully recover was to have an all-out tournament with every Division I team in the country. The coach said there was no better way to restart March Madness"than involving every team in the most prestigious basketball tournament on the planet." "This is not a regular season," Coach K said of the upcoming, and rather pending, 2020-21 season."It is clearly an irregular season that will require something different. Our sport needs to be agile and creative." Fans of the North Carolina Tar Heels support their team against the Michigan State Spartans during the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship game at Ford Field on April 6, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan.Part of the creativity is eliminating conference tournaments that ultimately decide the NCAA's automatic qualifiers. Conference tournaments also help shuffle teams in and out of the final at-large berths for the current 68-team tournament.The logistics were not laid out for the plan, nor was support for any other conferences or coaches outside of the ACC. But in the ACC, Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said an all-encompassing tournament was not only good for basketball, but for the athletes and the fans. "I am so proud to stand UNITED with every coach in the ACC in the belief that every Division I college basketball program should be allowed to participate in the NCAA Tournament this year!" Forbes tweeted."This is what's best for our student-athletes, fans and the sport of college basketball. It will incentivize everyone that loves and cares about our great sport during these unprecedented times, and it will provide a safe environment for all to participate in. LET'S GET THIS DONE!"
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