Report: ACC Recommends Every Team in 2021 NCAA Tournament
As the Big Ten still works to determine a viable start date for fall sports, a proposed solution to the impacted college basketball season emerged on Wednesday morning. College basketball fans lost the NCAA tournament last year as the pandemic set in across the globe, cutting the 2019-20 season short, but multiple reports show this season may have a proposed solution.
First reported by college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein, coaches in the ACC have voted unanimously for every Division I basketball team to be allowed to participate in the NCAA Tournament this season as official statements are expected today. An additional report from Stadium reporter Jeff Goodman noted that Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was at the forefront of the proposed change after speaking out just a week ago.
“I think besides figuring out when to play and then the medical protocols -- which it should be national standards to play -- what is the tournament going to look like and what will you have to do to get in? Those are questions that remain unanswered,” Krzyzewski told ACC Network’s Packer and Durham. “Especially, what will you have to do to get in when you have unequal playing schedules and a disrupted season? Because the metrics to choose the teams will be -- what are they? My feeling is we should open it up for more. I think with the power conferences and the Big East, there may be more -- let everyone in from those conferences and create enough space to allow other teams to work themselves in from conferences that usually only have one coming in. I personally think we should double the tournament [field] from 64 to 128. All it would do is add one game.”
“We have to be careful that if there are too many cancellations -- I hope we don’t have any, but the chance of that is slim. These kids are incentivized throughout the season knowing that they can play in the tournament. The tournament and how to get in are key, key factors. We should be creative in our format and when it is played.”
After making the tournament in five of the last six years, Maryland begins the tentative 2020-21 season outside of Joe Lunardi's preseason bracketology as head coach Mark Turgeon ignites a new-look Terrapin team. Gone are star center Jalen Smith and four-year starter Anthony Cowan as Aaron Wiggins, Eric Ayala and Donte Scott build on strong campaigns from a season ago. Maryland added Swiss forward Arnaud Revaz and bolstered the roster through the transfer portal by adding Jarius Hamilton and Galin Smith. After winning a share of the Big Ten regular-season title, Maryland entered the 2020 NCAA Tournament as a projected top-four seed before the NCAA issued a statement on March 12 highlighting the decision to cancel the NCAA tournament due to health concerns.
"Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships," NCAA media contact Stacey Osburn released in a statement. "This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities."
The 2020-21 college basketball season is still slated to begin on November 10 as Duke and Michigan State kick off the State Farm Champions Classic double-header in Chicago followed by Kansas against Kentucky. The first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament is still set for March 16 with the final four held at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 3 in Indianapolis.
