Big Ten Daily (March 5): March Madness Expansion Reportedly Being Discussed

According to a report, there's serious consideration about expanding the March Madness field in the near future. It may be only a matter of time before the tournament includes 72 or 76 teams.

Dustin Schutte | Mar 5, 2024

Big Ten Daily (March 5): March Madness Expansion Reportedly Being Discussed /

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Apparently, there's some level of desire to expand upon the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in the years ahead. A report from The Athletic's Dana O'Neil suggests that there's some conversation about more teams being included in March Madness.

The thought of an expanded tournament isn't typically met with open arms. As it currently stands, March Madness is widely considered the single-greatest sporting event in the country. Why attempt to fix something that isn't broken?

If there's one positive from the report of potential March Madness expansion, it's that the NCAA doesn't seem to be considering a massive increase in the number of participants.

Per O'Neil's report, the likely scenario — should expansion occur — is that the field would increase to either 72 or 76 teams. So, an additional four to eight teams would not water down the field that much.

The NCAA Tournament last expanded in 2011, when it added the "First Four" games, increasing the field from 64 to 68 teams. There was some resistance to the expanded field then, but the addition of four teams didn't alter the event that much.

An expanded field would probably award power conferences like the Big Ten, ACC, SEC and Big Ten a chance to land additional teams in the tournament. And you know what that means? More money in the bank account.

So, as much as we dislike the idea of expansion, there's a very real chance we see some alteration to the format in the "very near future," according to the report.

Smith named finalist for Cousy Award

Purdue guard Braden Smith has been named one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, presented to the top point guard in college basketball. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame made the announcement on Monday.

This week's announcement was particularly interesting, as Smith was omitted from the initial top-10 list, which was released in February. At the time, Purdue coach Matt Painter had some thoughts about the sophomore guard being left off the list.

"It's like the Indiana high school sectional; I think they just drew it out of a hat," Painter said in a video posted by WLFI's Kelly Hallinan. "Yeah, it doesn't make much sense. I mean, I would think that anybody that has a committee that's gonna do something, you sit down, you go through stats, you go through everything that's happened.

"Look at his head-to-head with a couple guys that are on there. Not to say they shouldn't be on there, because they're all good players. There's nobody on that list that doesn't deserve to be on that list. ... But if you go look at his numbers and how efficient he's been and how he's played. And what his team's done. His team as the No. 1 toughest schedule in the country, and so when you beat the people that we've been able to beat — then you look at that, then look at his numbers, it doesn't make any sense."

Smith has been critical to Purdue's success on the court this season. He's averaging 13.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. The sophomore is also shooting 47.3% from the floor, 44.1% from 3-point range and 82.2% from the free throw line.

The other four finalists for the Cousy Award are Mark Sears (Alabama), Jamal Shead (Houston), Tyler Kolek (Marquette) and Tristen Newton (UConn).

Smith named finalist for Cousy Award

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