Doyel: Why care about NCAA tournament expansion? Accept change or don't watch March Madness. But I bet you will
- For decades, the NCAA tournament has expanded, and expanded, and expanded. Yet fans, sportswriters and bracket-watchers alike continue to tune in.
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA tournament is probably going to expand again, and it’s the worst idea ever. Ask anyone. No, ask everyone. Because everyone agrees, and you know what happens when everyone agrees:
People choose class over crass, and let the will of the people speak for itself.
Kidding!
People do that thing we all do, me included at times: We go online to share our opinions, in the snarkiest possible terms, because it’s safe. Everyone agrees on a topic? Well then, we all should weigh in on that topic. Think of all the likes and retweets, all the shares. Maybe we’ll get a few more friend requests this week. Maybe a few more followers.
It’s the dopamine, baby. Give me that hit.
Meanwhile.
What’s so wrong with expanding the NCAA tournament? Seriously, what’s the problem? Better question: What do you care?
NCAA tournament expansion to 72? 76?
Look, NCAA tournament expansion has been weird over the years. Going from 64 teams to 65? That was weird. From 65 to 68? Less weird, but still weird.
Going now from 68 to 72 or 76 or whatever number the TV executives and commissioners of the Power Four conferences eventually decide? That will be weird, too. But again 68, right now, is weird.
This is what the NCAA tournament does. It expands. It grows. As the number of schools playing Division I basketball grows, so does the NCAA tourney field. It’s math, it’s logic, it’s right, it’s fair. Keeping the tournament exclusive matters — and if expansion happens, we’d still be talking about roughly 20% of the country qualifying — but keeping it representative matters, too. More schools? More NCAA bids.
In 1939, the field had eight teams. That was perfect! Eight teams, then four, then two, then one. It wasn’t broken, but by golly, the NCAA fixed it anyway and expanded to 16 in 1951.
The world boycotted the event, and it was never heard from again.
Wait.
In 1975 the field was doubled again, to 32, to allow teams that — gasp — didn’t even win their conference tournament to play for the national title! Think of the kids!
Well, maybe the NCAA was thinking of the kids. Ever heard of that epic 1974 ACC tournament title game between No. 4 Maryland and No. 1 NC State? NC State won. The kids at Maryland went to the NIT. That was no good.
Speaking of no good, the NCAA tournament expanded from 32 to 40 in 1979, and then from 40 to 48 in 1980, and finally — well, no, not finally — from 48 to 64 in 1985.
When did you stop watching?
Because you stopped watching, right? After all that expansion ruined March Madness?
But what about the bracket! Wahhh!!
The arguments against the next expansion are silly.
The larger bracket might not fit anymore on one page on the Xerox machine? That’s irrelevant, mainly because: When’s the last time you’ve seen a bracket on a printed page? When’s the last time you’ve seen anything on a printed page? We don’t read our newspaper on paper anymore. We read it on our phone. More and more, we’re not choosing our lunch from paper menus. We’re scanning the QR code on our phone, and staring at it there.
March Madness brackets are the same. They’re on IndyStar.com or ESPN.com or CBSSports.com or Whatever.com you prefer. And for those of you still clinging to a paper bracket, like those of you still clinging to your newspaper, well bless your heart — and not in that insulting way some people say, “Well bless your heart.”
Seriously. Bless your heart. Thank you for reading actual hard copies: Books, brackets, menus, sports sections. It’s shrinking, the time we have with those items.
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Point being: You don’t care if the bracket fits on one 8-by-11 page in your office copy machine. Does your office even have a copy machine anymore? Does your office even have an office anymore?
The world is changing. How dare the NCAA tournament change with it!
Worst argument, ever, against NCAA tournament expansion:
It’ll water down the field!
Tell me how. Unless the people in charge plan to remove schools like Duke, Kentucky or Arizona to make room for lesser, water-logged teams, what does it matter? At 68 teams, the field will have maybe 35 or 40 schools that can’t possibly win the tournament. It’ll have another 10 or 15 that can’t possibly win enough games to get to the NCAA tournament. And it’ll have three or four schools that can’t possibly win a single game. Not unless those three or four schools are in a play-in game — sorry, the First Four — against a similarly hapless opponent.
Water down the field? It would impact only the first few days, those weird, made-for-TV events you’re not watching anyway on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, and whatever regional First Four sites would be added. And if a few more First Four games don’t interest you, guess what?
Don’t watch.
But when the tournament gets to that first Thursday, and it’s down to the 64-game field you’re clinging to like a pacifier, you’ll be watching. And that first weekend will be magic. The second weekend will be as sweet as ever. And the following weekend? The Final Four?
The whole country will be watching, as usual.
Unless you won’t be watching, because you’re so mad that the tournament dared to allow 76 teams — 68 was perfect, right? — that you’ve boycotted the Final Four. Do that, please. Put your time and attention where your mouth is.
Otherwise, pipe down. This is not a national emergency. This is not an outrage. This is neither new nor surprising. It’s the world, doing what the world does: Changing.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.