Expansion is coming to the NCAA men's basketball tournament whether the fans like it or not and judging by the responses, the answer is decisively "not."
On Thursday, the NCAA formally announced that the tournament will be expanding from 68 to 76 teams starting next year. The first 12 games will be called the March Madness Opening Round rather than the First Four.
"Expanding the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships is the right decision for the student-athletes and programs that will now have access to the greatest events in college sports," Board of Directors Chair Tim Sands said. "As NCAA leaders, we are especially excited to provide additional, highly competitive games for fans who look forward to March Madness every year."
"Providing additional access to the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships for Division I programs will be incredibly meaningful, especially to the student-athletes of the eight additional men's and women's programs that receive these coveted bids," said NCAA Board of Governors Chair Jim Phillips, commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference. "The leadership by President Charlie Baker as well as Dan Gavitt, Lynn Holzman and JoAn Scott has been outstanding. We also appreciate the support of our broadcast partners and corporate champions and partners in making this a reality."
The Outrage
Basketball fans and sports fans in general have been raging against the NCAA Tournament expanding for years and this announcement only gave them a chance to really let the NCAA feel their rage in its entirety:
"Everyone in favor of this change is an idiot," one user declared.
"It’s not better. You keep losing court cases because of your unsustainable business model so you diluted the quality of your highest revenue producing event to pay legal bills. For the love of God, just fix the eligibility rules. This is entirely your fault," wrote another.
"Since 97% of college basketball fans disagree, you may want to redo this thoughtless headline," a third remarked.
"Nobody wanted this."
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"This is gonna get ratio'd to the moon," another predicted.
"Regular season means even less. More mid-level teams with questionable resumes. More blowouts. Can’t wait!"
"This is the worst thing you could do."
Things are only going to get worse in terms of the backlash once more people actually spend time to properly articulate why this decision is so terrible.
Nevertheless, the change is on its way and will arrive in a little over 10 months.
