In college chieftains’ never ending quest for dolla dolla bills y’all, there have been murmurings about expanding the NCAA tourney to 80, 96, or—head explodes—128 teams. While this trial balloon reeks of Mark Emmert stupidity, NCAA expansion chatter hasn’t been limited to the erstwhile NCAA President. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has been among the powerbrokers pushing for an expanded Big Dance, using euphemistic phrases like “equity in access” and “unique opportunities and experiences” to justify tourney expansion.
Let me be crystal clear: NCAA expansion is a horrendous idea, a shameless money grab couched under “access” or “equity.” It is a solution in search of a problem, a cheap ploy to stuff Selection Sunday with high-major, mediocre filler while, simultaneously, lining NCAA pockets with tourney ad revenue.
As a Hawkeye with UNC and IU ties, I should, at least in theory, embrace NCAA expansion. For Power Five underachievers (looking at you, Hoosiers), this means an expanded bubble, where conference also-rans can drunkenly stumble and flail their way into a tourney berth after five plus months of mediocrity. But does the Dance really need, just for totally hypothetical purposes, a 19-15 Hawkeye team? Muting Kevin Warren and company, it does not.
If this 19-15 record sounds familiar to Hawkeye fans, it should. During Peter Jok’s senior year (and, umm, Jordan Bohannon’s freshman year), the Hawkeyes steadily improved, squeezing themselves into the bubble conversation. But in the ultimate “win and you're in” game, the Hoosiers euthanized the Hawks in a 22-point beatemdown in the Big Ten Tournament. As the IU game proved, the Hawkeyes weren’t an NCAA tourney team. Iowa’s tourney profile consisted of a couple of quality road victories and, well, the Big Ten is really tough, you know. Following the Hoosier massacre, the Hawkeyes earned a deserved tourney bid…to the NIT. And as a Hawkeye fan, this was totally fine. The system worked!
But in an expanded Dance, the Hawkeyes would be the #22 seed in Boise or Wichita or Buffalo squaring off against another floundering Power Five school. And, sure, the Hawkeyes can add another “NCAA Tournament” banner to the Carver pavilion but, really, what’s the point? In this Frankentsein NCAA -- where my church league team is among Lunardi’s “First Four Out” -- the Dance would be less accomplishment, more formality. As for those early-round match-ups? They would be the college hoops equivalent of the Motor City Bowl, a sad trombone affair between two teams undeserving of a legitimate NCAA tourney berth.
Warren and the NCAA’s merry band of bean counters will trot out the lofty rhetoric—competitive equity, championship access, student-athlete welfare—to rationalize NCAA expansion. “It’s all about the kids,” they insist, trying to conceal those $850 million dollar smirks (that’s how much the NCAA earned from the 2021 Big Dance). But their logic strains, you know, reality. If we're talking about “equality in access and opportunity to compete for a championship,” as Warren claims, don’t conference championships provide a get-out-of-basketball-purgatory card for all those underachieving Power Five teams? I mean, [REDACTED] carved out a lucrative coaching career from the Hawkeyes’ 96-hour Big Ten Tourney heaters. The larger point: Conference tournaments already provide access and opportunity for every Division I team to earn a Dance invite (if the whole "schedule competitively and win half of your Power Five conference games" isn’t your jam).
Look, the Big Dance could use a minor tweak or two. In my perfect world, the Dance undercard, aka the First Four, would be shelved. I would also love to see first and second round games played on college campuses, instead of sterile mausoleums in third tier cities (sorry, Des Moines). But these are minor quibbles for America’s best sporting event—a fungasm of 12 over 5 upsets, buzzer beaters, and fun-loving personalities (Doug Edert’s crustache, forever). Why mess with sports’ best, most dramatic event, one that captivates the country each year? We already know the answer.
As the NCAA mulls tourney expansion, it risks losing the charm, and stakes, that define the Big Dance. Put simply, we don’t need the 11th place Big Ten team playing the 12th best ACC team in anything other than the Big Ten/ACC Challenge (RIP). Here’s hoping Kevin Warren and the NCAA powers that be preserve college sports’ signature event—the NCAA's (expansion) bubble needs to burst.
