Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark supports NCAA Tournament expansion beyond 68 teams
Brett Yormark wants to see more basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament.
The Big 12 commissioner thinks March Madness is great just the way it is with a field of 68, but he also believes it could become even better with 76 teams.
His conference, in particular, could benefit from the addition of a bigger bracket.
“It looks like there could be some modest expansion,” Yormark said. “The number of 76 has been floating out there. ... The data shows that if you do expand to 76 the Power Four conferences will benefit, mostly. I think at the center of that will be the Big 12. I’m all about access.”
It seems like a given that the Big 12 will send at least nine teams to the NCAA Tournament later this month, but that number could grow as high as 11 if bubble teams like Cincinnati and Kansas State make a run in the Big 12 Tournament.
Both of those teams would have a better shot at reaching the Big Dance if the field was expanded. The Big 12 could be in position to send a dozen or more teams in future years after Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah join the conference.
“We’ve got the deepest conference in America,” Yormark said. “We’ve got nine teams that definitely will be in. Arguably, we could get up to 11. So more access is great for us.”
NCAA Tournament expansion has become a hot topic in recent weeks, with conference and university leaders floating it as a possibility even though no one is complaining about the current format.
Most think the main bracket will remain unchanged even if expansion occurs. The biggest difference would be seen during the play-in round. Instead of eight teams converging on Dayton, Ohio, for the First Four, you could see 16 teams competing in the First Eight.
Yormark won’t stand in the way of that type of expansion. But he did make one thing clear as he spoke with media at T-Mobile Center on Tuesday.
“We are the best conference in basketball,” Yormark said. “And if the NCAA is considering any changes to the tournament, we need a seat at the table for any decisions that are being made.”
How to improve Big 12 officiating?
Yormark also touched on a few other important basketball topics while he spoke with media Tuesday media night.
One topic that is sure to raise eyebrows from fans, players and coaches is Big 12 officiating. The conference experienced more animosity than ever before between coaches and officials this season with Bill Self, Kelvin Sampson and Scott Drew all getting ejected from conference games.
Jerome Tang also blasted Big 12 official Gary Maxwell following a loss to Houston.
Is there anything the league is planning to do to improve officiating? Or maybe just the relationship that officials have with coaches?
“At the end of every season, we put everything to an audit to see where we can be better as a conference,” Yormark said. “We will go through that process right now. I obviously have gone to a lot of games this year and there (have) been obviously some issues along the way. But I think we manage them accordingly. Every year, you’re going to have those issues that come up. The question is: Is there an opportunity for us to get better and manage them differently?
“I don’t know the answer to that just yet. But we’ll go through that exercise and we’ll see where we end up.”
Big 12 hasn’t gamed the system
The way that Big 12 teams schedule during nonconference play has also been a hot topic in recent weeks, with Clemson coach Brad Brownell going so far as to say the conference has “manipulated the system” when it comes to NET rankings.
His beef: Big 12 teams beat up on mostly weak competition before they get into conference play.
Yormark doesn’t think that is the case.
“That is just noise,” Yormark said. “You have got to tune out the noise. ... We’ve ranked at the top of every metric possible. So to me, that is just noise, and we are the No. 1 conference in America. We’ve shown that for many, many, many years. It will only get stronger next year.”
