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Greg Sankey wants a ‘healthy conversation’ around NCAA Tournament expansion, and it’s best to proceed with caution

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

Greg Sankey continues to call for a review of the NCAA Tournament and insists it can be a healthy dialogue. However, Sankey will be best served to heed the cautionary reaction from across the country.

During a conversation with ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Sankey (described as the most notable “expansion bull” by Thamel) said that “nothing remains static” in Division I. He pointed to deep runs in the NCAA Tournament from lower seeded teams out of power conferences as a need to “think about the dynamics” around the NCAA Tournament.

“That just tells you that the bandwidth inside the top 50 is highly competitive,” Sankey said. “We are giving away highly competitive opportunities for automatic qualifiers [from smaller leagues], and I think that pressure is going to rise as we have more competitive basketball leagues at the top end because of expansion.”

Those comments set off a firestorm of reaction with many hammering Sankey for his viewpoint. In a more recent interview with Kyle Tucker of The Athletic, Sankey said it was “an overread” to infer that he wants an NCAA Tournament comprised of only power conferences.

However, Sankey did reiterate a need to “continue to adapt” due to the increasing volume of Division I teams (362 teams this season). Conducting a review of the NCAA Tournament and potential expansion should be “a healthy conversation” according to Sankey.

He went on to say there’s a desire to respect the great Cinderella stories of March Madness while admitting there should be no time pressure or expectation among teams within that review.

For what it’s worth, Florida AD Scott Stricklin was quoted in Thamel’s story as saying the current NCAA Tournament is “too much of a public trust for us to blow the thing up.” He also envisioned a tournament that is still inclusive, even if there is a new model for college sports down the road.

RELATED: Gear up for March Madness and your bracket with the use of SDS’s sports betting links and apps!

Proper caution is needed

Sankey’s initial comments to ESPN are one thing, though he did his best to clarify those remarks with The Athletic. Still, the rest of the country is wary, and it’s not hard to see why.

Under his leadership, the SEC set off a firestorm of change by expanding with Texas and Oklahoma. Now, as part of a healthy conversation or not, Sankey is telling everyone “nothing remains static” as it pertains to the NCAA Tournament.

That type of language will rightly unnerve many fans and leadership among smaller institutions, especially from someone who has shown an ability to upset the status quo in favor of the SEC. That’s Sankey’s job, but it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do for college basketball.

As currently constructed, it is hard to find a critic of the makeup of the tournament. Well, not counting Sankey.

Is 68 teams the ideal number for the tournament? That’s a subjective question, but it’s widely recognized that the NCAA Tournament is one of the most interesting sporting events in the country, and that includes the College Football Playoff. And no matter how you slice it, the Cinderella stories are a main point of the intrigue.

So yes, a review of the NCAA Tournament can be conducted, but there are some commonsense aspects of March Madness that must be preserved no matter what. Just one glimpse around social media illustrates the reaction Sankey’s comments spurred, and they serve as the perfect illustration to proceed with caution when it comes to tinkering with the bracket.

Here’s a snapshot of the reactions:

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.

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