Jay Bilas Blasts 'Profoundly Stupid' Idea To Expand NCAA Tournament
Expanding the College Football Playoff was a good idea. Expanding the NCAA basketball tournament is a terrible one. And perhaps no one hates this idea more than Jay Bilas.
On Saturday's episode of ESPN's College GameDay, panelists debated the possibility of inflating the NCAA Tournament from 68 teams to an outrageously unnecessary 96 teams.
While Andraya Carter was against it, Jay Williams and Seth Greenberg argued in favor of expansion. Greenberg argued that with the current March Madness structure, there are too many good teams left out.
(Jake Crandall / The Montgomery Advertiser via USA TODAY)
But then Bilas took the opportunity to set his co-hosts straight.
"Never underestimate the NCAA’s capacity to do something stupid," Bilas said as the crowd cheered. "And if they did this, it would be profoundly stupid.
"When anyone says more teams need access to the tournament, every team has the same access to the tournament now. All you have to do is win your conference automatic bid, which is against your peers with a group of teams that you have chosen to be among."
Bilas continued: "What are we going to do now? We’re going to go to 96, and we’re going to print the bracket out first on legal paper, then on a roll of toilet paper and just roll it out. It doesn’t make any sense."
Last week, NCAA President Charlie Baker said there's an opportunity to expand the tournament "if it's done with care." But it's hardly a new concept. Several coaches (mostly those who find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble) have floated the idea of including more teams. And Baker said the NCAA's basketball committee has been discussing the possibility since last summer.
"Most of the people who follow college sports think the NCAA tournament in basketball is perfect, right?" Baker said. "So anything that's done to change it needs to be done with care and consideration."
In other words: It's perfect, so let's go ahead and screw it up. Great call, Charlie.