Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey, one of the most influential figures in college athletics, is eyeing a “fresh look” at the men’s NCAA basketball tournament.
While he’s “not ready to make headlines there yet,” Sankey is open to conversations about a a tournament field that excludes small-conference champions and adds more major-conference teams, per Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated.
These new reports echo some others from earlier this summer that claimed Sankey wants the NCAA Tournament to look completely different sometime in the next few years.
The most concerning part of Sankey’s reported plan is the possible elimination of small and mid-major conference winners. The underdog, Cinderella stories that these programs bring to the tournament every year are what give March Madness its unique flavor.
Sankey used the 2021 tournament snub of Texas A&M — a school from his conference — as a rational for this possible new model. SEC powerhouse Kentucky also suffered a first-round loss to St. Peter’s in the most recent tournament.
Sankey emphasized that this is something that “could” change — not a done deal.
What do you think of this potential NCAA Tournament alteration?