Paul KasabianFeatured Columnist IIMarch 16, 2024
David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire by means of Getty Images
More sound on the capacity of modifications concerning the NCAA Division I guys’s basketball competition emerged from Nashville on Saturday with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stating that “absolutely nothing is fixed” in college sports today.
“We send out 11 seeds to Dayton since that was a contract to begin,” Sankey informed Kyle Tucker of The Athletic in Nashville, where the SEC guys’s basketball competition is presently being held.
“But a few of those 11 seeds have actually shown that they go a long method in the competition. We do have, I believe, a healthy requirement for evaluation. I comprehend gain access to, I comprehend the unique nature (of Cinderellas) and definitely regard that, however today in college sports, absolutely nothing is fixed.”
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Friday on the capacity of the competition moving from 68 to no greater than 80 groups, in addition into “worries” about the competitors’s future with there being a more clear power imbalance within Division I than ever in the past.
“According to ESPN sources, there are continuous conversations about broadening the guys’s NCAA basketball competition from the existing 68-team format to one including no greater than 80 groups. There are likewise fears about what might take place to the all-comers competition if the power leagues break away from the rest of college sports, as football choices continue to specify the instructions of significant college sports.”
Sankey made it clear that he does not picture a future in which the NCAA competition ends up being a power conference-only affair, calling that “an overread” of his previous remarks.
Those remarks were made to Thamel about the strength of some power-conference groups who snuck into the competition in years past, such as a set of 11-seeds in the 2018 Syracuse group and the 2021 UCLA team, both of whom made the Final Four.
“That simply informs you that the bandwidth inside the leading 50 is extremely competitive,” Sankey informed Thamel. “We are handing out extremely competitive chances for automated qualifiers (from smaller sized leagues), and I believe that pressure is going to increase as we have more competitive basketball leagues on top end since of (conference) growth.”
Naturally, NCAA competition history is cluttered with smaller sized conference groups who have actually made fantastic March Madness runs. Florida Atlantic, of note, was a buzzer-beater far from making the championship game in 2015. And the season previously, Saint Peter’s rolled to the Elite Eight as a No. 8 seed. Those stories, obviously, aid make the NCAA competition among the best eyeglasses in sport.
When asked by Tucker what he would state to individuals who think the competition is fantastic as is and does not require more meddling, Sankey had this to state:
“The very first time I made a remark, within 2 minutes, individuals stated, ‘That’s the worst concept,'” Sankey mentioned.
