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Tom Izzo weighs in on potential NCAA Tournament expansion
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Tom Izzo has been around long enough to know that change is inevitable in sports. The College Football Playoff is expected to expand to 12 teams following the 2025 season.
Will the NCAA Tournament be next?
Reports swirled earlier this week of potential expansion talks from 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament. When asked, Izzo said he wasn’t opposed to the idea of adding more teams, but wasn’t openly promoting the idea of expansion in the coming years, either.
Izzo on potential NCAA Tournament expansion: "If they expand, I'm happy. If they don't expand, I'm OK with it. I just don't know where anything ends."
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) October 20, 2022
Earlier this week at Big 12 Media Days in Kansas City, Baylor coach Drew Scott suggested that the tournament should double in size to 128 teams instead of the current 68 format. Last week, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello that “it’s time to look at” potentially a new format to add more competition. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in August that he would fully support a “fresh look” for the tournament if done properly.
Multiple coaches have expressed interest in potential expansion in hopes of bringing their conference a national title. And with realignments in conferences (UCLA and USC to the B1G), further expansion would guarantee the likes of more programs being represented for a shot a winning the title come April.
Earlier this year, the NCAA signed an eight-year extension with CBS/Turner Sports worth $8.8 billion for the rights to the NCAA Tournament through 2032.
Cole Thompson is a freelance writer for Saturday Tradition who has covered college football and the NFL for multiple websites. Thompson is currently based in Houston, Texas, and also can be heard daily on SportsMap National Radio's 'Just Sayin It' from 3am-6am.