To the NCAA decision makers expanding the tournament,
I know you’ll never read this, but I’m writing it anyway.
You’ve seen how many people are rallying around the college basketball scene right now, and you want to expand the tournament to make more money. I get it, you’re a business.
What you aren’t thinking about is why the NCAA tournament is the most coveted tournament in the country (outside of maybe the World Cup)… and that’s the Cinderella teams.
The Saint Peters, Oaklands, FGCU’s, of the world, the list goes on and on, some of my favorite memories come from being in elementary school sitting around the sterotypical TV on wheels and watching a mid-major ball out in the tournament.
The premise behind adding “just 8” teams sounds innocent enough, and doesn’t seem like much. However, that means some of the most notable Cinderella teams wouldn’t have been a Cinderella at all.
The current model works near perfectly. We rarely have teams left out who actually belonged in (hats off to 2024-25 WVU), and we get a great product the entire tournament. When applying the new model, what we will get is the traditional AQ teams pushed down a full seed line if not more.
2022 St. Peters – 15 seed, under the new system they would be in a play-in game as a 16.
2021 Oral Roberts – 15 seed, under the new system they would be in a play-in game as a 16.
2013 Florida Gulf Coast – 15 seed, under the new system, they would be in a play-in game as a 16 seed
We’re moving these teams down a full seed line, for what? 17-14 power conference schools? These teams get 31+ opportunities to get great wins, and we’re trying to make it easier? I fully understand you wanting to make more money, but as expansion continues, people will genuinely lose interest. I’m not talking about people like me, or the other “sicko’s”. I’m talking about the random NBA fans, the football fans, the people in the office who may not care much about sports. All of those people tune in, and if you’re going to make this so complicated and diluted that you lose the potential Cinderella, I’m afraid you’ve nearly lost the entire plot.
We want the regular season results to matter, we want there to be the intense debate over 2026 Auburn or SMU. We don’t want there to be intense debate over teams who clearly don’t play like tournament teams for most of the year, yet are in a power conference so we want them in.
I’ll always be here, watching, covering and discussing the sport. Most people aren’t like me and you’re in danger of alienating groups of people, and in today’s culture, that means they’re going to turn the TV off in March, or turn it to a different platform.
I will add that I actually like all of the 16 seeds having play-in games and my general understanding is those conferences are positive about it as it means a chance to earn that ever elusive tournament unit.
It also does sound like the play-in games will expand to feature 24 teams and 12 games on Tuesday/Wednesday. While I understand the expansion idea here, you’re going to be pushing this into daytime viewing and this isn’t going to be well attended or watched.
Finally, the tournament should not be a participation trophy for power-conference teams, it should be earned through a tough regular season, or winning your conference tournament. If it’s a participation trophy, we’ve lost the plot.
Thank you,
Hunter Sansom
