Some quotes about the possibility of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament possibly expanding to 96 teams.
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“I think it’d be good. The NCAA, they’ve been studying that for years now. It’s gone from 32 to 48 to 65. I would think the progression would be (coming). I remember when there was only 100 and some Division I teams. Now there’s 347. So why wouldn’t you expand? I haven’t done any surveys. I’m talking for me. I can’t talk for the rest of ’em. So you’d have to poll them. I would say there’s probably a majority of that would say expansion would be good. I don’t know why they wouldn’t. Unless you’re a top 20 team every year, when it wouldn’t matter. All these teams that are vying to try to get into the tournament – to get that last (spot).” – Minnesota coach Tubby Smith.
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t). You could still keep the NIT. Expand the opportunities. One team wins it and 95 didn’t win it. Are we worried about coaches keeping their jobs? What’s wrong with coaches keeping their jobs?” – Utah coach Jim Boylen.
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“I think it’s a good idea. I think they should expand it. There’s 50, 60, 75 more schools in Division I now since they expanded it to 64. We were in the NIT last year and it was a real good field. Last year, we got a good perspective on it. So yeah, I’m definitely for it. It would help high mid-majors and as well as mid-tier teams in the big conference such as the Big East. There are some very good teams not playing (in the NCAA tournament). There’s some good teams in the NIT, not just one or two.” – Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett.
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“I’m not into watering it down. I’m not into giving student-athletes an out. You’ve still got to earn it. I just think there are a lot of student-athletes right now who are earning it but they’re not getting the chance to play in the NCAA tournament. And I don’t know if that’s right. I’m not in favor of 96, but I would be in favor of expanding it some.” – New Mexico coach Steve Alford.
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e NCAA president) Myles Brand did such a great job, God rest his soul, with the theme of, ‘We’re in the kids business. It’s about the student-athletes.’ If more people can experience the NCAA tournament, I think that’s a great thing.” – Notre Dame coach Mike Brey.
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“It’d be great. All the coaches would love to see it. I’ve said this 100 times, Dave Odom won the NIT twice (at South Carolina) and it’s meaningless. I think it would be great to expand it. The NCAA owns the NIT, let the NIT be a preseason tournament. I’m a strong advocate for expansion.” – College of Charleston coach Bobby Cremins.
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“This is the single greatest event in the world. At that, I do not want it to change. But we want to get to the tournament and selfishly, I say let’s expand. If it helps coaches keep jobs – yeah I’m all for it. But that would probably last three years and then they will say ‘Well, but losing in the first round would be like not getting in.’ Initially, that would help coaches making it back-to-back years. What ever they do, it will be the greatest single event in the country. They would add one more weekend and not lose one iota and I believe that’s what they would do.” – San Diego State coach Steve Fisher.
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. If we’re worried about student-athletes – it helps with experience. Thirty-one teams would get in and that would mean 150 guys (make it). You could still keep the NIT. Expand the opportunities. One team wins it and 95 didn’t win it. Are we worried about coaches keeping their jobs? What’s wrong with coaches keeping their jobs?” – Utah coach Jim Boylen.
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“I said it for years, I think it needs to expand. I didn’t know about 96. I think if it goes there, I’d be happy. I’ve always said four play-in games, now you’re getting another six, seven teams in the mix. There’s always going to be a few teams unhappy. It’s great for student-athletes and why not rewards kids? And as a coach, we’re always worrying about our jobs and if we get another 32 teams in, that probably means 32 coaches get to keep their jobs another two or three years.” – Illinois coach Bruce Weber.
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“I’ve said many, many times I think it’s time for an expansion. We’ll see what they do. There’s a million reasons. There’s more good teams than there’s ever been. The tournament’s been expanded six or seven times, no reason why it shouldn’t be expanded once more. We’ve got a lot of good teams and I think there should be more teams in this tournament. I think it’s been right for a while, but that’s just me.” – Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.
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ence play. So adding more teams takes a huge focus off the conference season. It’s a concern. Yeah, it does make for a bigger pot (of revenues for all to share). That makes sense. But I also worry about, at what cost? We would be diluting the product.” – Washington athletic director Scott Woodward.
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“I don’t know why we want to expand it because I think it’s a good thing right now. Obviously, every state has a chance to participate. It’s not like only big cities have a chance to participate. Every state can. … I think it’s great the way it is. I understand if it goes to 96, I think it’ll probably be because of money. Depending on the contract, whether it stays the way it is or someone comes in and gets it, that’s probably one of the reasons it will expand. I think there are other things that probably should be done in college basketball before they decide to expand the tournament.” – Texas coach Rick Barnes.
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“I think they need to be careful. I’m a big believer in when something’s not broke, don’t fix it. My personal feeling is if we do it, 96 is way too much. I think 72, 68, maybe letting in another one team in each region, two teams in each region, let those teams play off against each other, somewhere along those lines. You don’t want to water down. Since it’s at 65, the door is open to go to 68. … There’s nothing magical about 65, that’s for certain.” – Denver coach Joe Scott.
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“I adhere to the thought if it’s not broken why fix it? It’s the best tournament on earth. If you expand that thing to 92 or 96 teams you’re going to have to tweak regular seasons because it’s going to add another week to the tournament. To include regular season champions, I think that makes a lot of sense, but I don’t think they’re thinking of expanding the tournament to help the Southern Conference, the MAC and the Missouri Valley. I think their thoughts about expanding the thing is to get another Big Ten team in there, another ACC, SEC, what have you. Let’s keep it the way it is. Why mess with it?” – Wofford coach Mike Young.
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reat tournament when it was at 48 and 54 and now 65. It’s always been a great tournament but it’s always gotten a little bit better.” – Kansas coach Bill Self.
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“My gut feeling is that it’s not going to help the mid-major very much. I don’t think any decision that is made has the mid-major in mind.” – Akron coach Keith Dambrot.
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“I’ve never been in favor of that. Being a guy who was in the low majors, the mid majors and the high majors, I just think it’s really a great tournament right now.” – Michigan coach John Beilein.
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“I don’t think it’s broken. It is what it is. It’s a staple. It’s branded. And you have to earn the right to be there. That’s what makes it special. The larger they grow the field, the more it diminishes the true value of making it.” – New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies.
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“I believe that the discussion of expansion is sort of an evergreen topic, something that has always come to the forefront of the committee over the years. It’s certainly heated up in present times.” – UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, the chairman of the NCAA Selection Committee.
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the expansion discussion is not solely based on teams or revenue or exposure. It’s based on the overall combination of what’s best for the tournament, how to position it best in the marketplace, both from a television standpoint and an athletic standpoint and a student-athlete standpoint.” – CBS sports president Sean McManus.
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“In my own mind, I sit on the fence on very few things. A lot of things, I really do have a strong feel for, but I really don’t on this one. you can make a case to me that there’s so many great teams or so many good teams and the margin between 64 and 66 is so slight, why not take it and add one more game, add all these teams. You could make a case and I’d say, ‘All right, that’s pretty good.’ And then you could make a case how special the tournament is, it really makes the regular season mean a lot more. … You can make the case how special 65 is, and you’d finish talking to me, and I’d say, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ So if I were to have a lean, I would lean toward the fact that it’s pretty special the way it is, but I could be convinced either way.” – North Carolina coach Roy Williams.
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‘re running Division I men’s basketball, and then the committee has 10 people on it and they have 5-year terms, so they get involved with running college basketball. But the historical perspective, the institutional memory, is not there. You know what I mean? So really if you evaluated how to run a business, that probably isn’t a good way to run a business. … These are some of the interesting things behind our sport. It’s not easy to understand everything.” – Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski,
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M coach Mark Turgeon.
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“Honestly, I haven’t even thought long and hard about it. If we were (Team) 96, I’d definitely be for it. -Virginia coach Tony Bennett.
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It’s a playoff for the better teams and the teams that have done well over the year. It’s been kind of a differentiation for the coaching profession. People that don’t make the NCAA over a period of time, seems to be that’s the measuring stick which makes it awfully difficult when you’re talking about less than maybe 15 percent of the teams that go and the difference between the haves and the have-nots. I don’t think it would be bad. Properly constructed, there would generate a lot of interest across the country in terms of the matchups. … It’s a question that’s going to take a lot of thought and I would guess that TV and the almighty dollar is going to have a major say.” California coach Mike Montgomery.
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“It’s one of those things in theory, right now it makes for good conversation. A part of me likes it, a part of me doesn’t. I think it’s a great tournament, people would say why change it? I think there’s some rules that have happened in college basketball, from the 3-point line to the 45-second clock to the 35-second clock and everybody said ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it, it’s a great game.’ And it was better for the game.” – Purdue coach Matt Painter.
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