68 is enough, right? Frankly, 64 was probably enough not all that long ago, but it has been a while since we have crossed that Rubicon... With the NCAA Tournament planning to expand the men's and women's fields from 68 to 76 teams, more and more college head coaches continue to express their displeasure for the March Madness bracket possibly growing. Tom Izzo chimed in with his take on it...
Izzo was one of a handful of coaches who gave his take to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander on the matter.
"I understand it from both sides. I would rather it stay the same, but as you know, coaches weren't asked at all. I like the excitement of where it is. Could it get better? I don't know."
After saying he was not in favor of it, he then expressed why adding eight more teams could happen.
"If I was leaning to why it would be good it's because of what's happened with these conferences. We have 18 in our conference (the Big Ten) and there's so many more teams. It's hard for everybody. It's hard to please everybody."
Finally, Izzo made it a point to say that this does not help the smaller programs even in the slightest.
"I was a Division II guy. I feel for the lower, smaller programs. I hate to break something that isn't broken. And I know we went from 64 to 68. It's like NIL. You can get to $10 million, you still won't have enough. You can have $20 million and it's not enough. If we go to 76, 96, it's never going to be enough."
We have become so greedy that pedestrian teams like Auburn and Indiana would have made the field.
Tom Izzo explains why he is not in favor of NCAA Tournament expansion
The big key here is Izzo seems to express great disdain in the fact that the coaches were not even consulted on this. While playoff expansion seems to be all the rage in college football, only 12 teams make the field there now. Meanwhile, realignment has made the sport of college basketball even more top-heavy. If you are not playing in a Power Five league, you really have no shot at winning it all.
As a Big Ten power broker, Izzo makes it a point to schedule tough opponents in the non-conference. MIchigan State is not afraid to play anyone. Never has been... What is important to understand here is Izzo's wisdom seems to run counter to the money-grabbing nature of the NCAA. He talked about how you can never have enough NIL money. The war chests keep growing, no matter what is in the coffer...
Right now, we should applaud Izzo for trying to see both sides of the argument at this stage of his illustrious coaching career. He truly cares about the overall health of the sport. While NIL has helped make the product on the court that much better all-around, the regular season and conference tournaments do not need to be diluted anymore than they already have. It is why we must stay at 68...
The more we celebrate middling mediocrity, the worse off we will be in the world of college athletics.
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