Big 12 Commissioner Wrong About NCAA Tournament Expansion: Here’s Why

When money is involved, enough is never actually enough

Oct 22, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark speaks to media during Big 12 Women’s Basketball Media Day at T-Mobile Center. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The month of college basketball is upon as the major conference tournaments are underway, including the Big 12, which is taking place this week in Kansas City. The Kansas Jayhawks get underway Wednesday night as they battle UCF for a spot in the quarterfinals, and it's not necissarily win-and-get in for KU.

Kansas will be headed to the NCAA Tournament once again when bids and the bracket is announced Sunday, but plenty of teams nationally will be sweating out Sunday as they sit on the bubble.

That's part of what makes the NCAA Tournament special, but also part of what gets chipped away just a little bit every few years.

The talk of the NCAA Tournament expanding came up in Kansas City this week as Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark was asked about it and said that 76 teams is the perfect amount.

Well, Yormark is obviously entitled to his opinion, but at the same time, so am I.

NCAA Tournament Expansion Isn't Needed

Crew members work to remove the giant NCAA March Madness men's basketball tournament bracket decal on the JW Marriott hotel Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in downtown Indianapolis. Jw Mariott Ncaa March Madness Tournament Bracket Signage Banner Teardown Removal Tuesday April 6 2021 / Jenna Watson/IndyStar via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Why is 76 teams the perfect number to Yormark and why does anyone involved want more teams in the NCAA Tournament?

M-O-N-E-Y.

Just looking at projected brackets right now, it's already safe to say we have too many teams included.

For example, Oklahoma and Ohio State are both included in the "Last Four In" category in Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology for ESPN. Those two have combined to go 36-26 overall but just 15-23 in their respective conferences. Is anyone really being robbed here?

Indiana (19-12, 10-10) and Xavier (21-10, 13-7) are the other two in Lunardi's last four. Better records but we're not exactly looking at world beaters by any means, either.

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Porter Moser yells to his ream in the second half of the Longhorns' game against the Sooners at the Moody Center in Austin, March 8, 2025. / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The game is seemingly as deep as ever but tell me who exactly is being robbed of NCAA Tournament appearances?

Whether its 68 or 76 teams in the NCAA Tournament eventually, the same story will remain. If a few final spots are up for grabs, the committee will hand them to the bigger conference teams, and everyone will laugh all the way to the bank.

That's how we're even in a position of discussing Oklahoma or Ohio State as being NCAA Tournament worthy today. Expand it eight teams and that just makes North Carolina, Texas, or another couple of power conference teams getting the majority of the added spots.

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