The Nebraska basketball program is in an interesting situation regarding recent comments made by NCAA president Charlie Baker. On the one hand, the idea of expanding the NCAA Tournament from 68 teams to 72 or even 76 teams sounds good for the Huskers.
After all, the Cornhuskers are in a conference where they’ll rarely be able to crack the top four or five teams in the Big Ten. Having a better chance of finishing 8th, 9th, or 10th in the standings and still having an opportunity to make the Big Dance sounds attractive on its face.
Nebraska basketball reactions mixed to Charlie Baker’s push for NCAA Tournament expansion
On the other hand, expanding the NCAA Tournament doesn’t sound like a good idea, even if Nebraska basketball would benefit. In the same way that expanding the College Football Playoffs would benefit the Huskers on its face, people in Lincoln might need to start looking out for the good of the sport, if people like Charlie Baker won’t.
“That would be the goal, to try and do this for next year,” Baker told Front Office Sports reporter David Rumsey. “… We’ve been talking about 72 and 76.”
Unfortunately, even though Nebraska fought to keep the tournament the way it is, they’re apparently in the minority. The same reports that showed Baker wants to not only expand the tournament but also expand it for next year said that Big 12 coaches are very much for it.
It’s been 14 years since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament last expanded from 64 to 68 teams with the implementation of the First Four round of games. Before the 2011 expansion, the NCAA was considering increasing the number of teams to 96, though a new television contract with CBS/Turner Sports in 2010 increased the field only slightly. Before that, the format of March Madness had remained unchanged since the 64-team field was first adopted in 1985.
At this point, it seems like a tournament expansion is a foregone conclusion. That might be good for Nebraska basketball in the short term. But it’s not good for the sport in the long term. It’s more of the greedy money chasing that has made college athletics a little less exceptional every year.