Will NCAA tournament expansion help the mid-majors? ‘The fans love the Cinderella story.’

CHICAGO — Illinois-Chicago men’s basketball coach Rob Ehsan thinks the NCAA tournament is one of the greatest sporting events in the United States, if not the world.

He is “100% supportive” of the NCAA giving more athletes a chance to experience it by expanding the Division I men’s and women’s tournaments from 68 to 76 teams.

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Loyola coach Drew Valentine is equally in favor of the expansion.

Amid all of the laments on social media about the NCAA messing with an already perfect event — and opinions so split among coaches that the National Association of Basketball Coaches declined to issue a position — Valentine is staying level-headed. Only eight teams are being added. He doesn’t think that will affect the integrity and quality of the tournament.

“The exclusivity and how hard it is to make it and how gratifying it is to hear your name called in the bracket and see your name come across — adding eight teams isn’t taking away from that,” Valentine said. “Even if it got to 96, where it’s like a fourth or a third of the teams in, I still think that’s exclusive. It’s not like they’re just letting everybody in.”

However, a big question being asked in the wake of the NCAA’s May 7 announcement of the expansion, which will include a 12-game opening round, is what types of teams will benefit.

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Will teams such as Loyola and UIC — or others in mid-major conferences such as the Atlantic 10 and Missouri Valley — receive more spots? Or will the expansion pave the way for more programs in the bottom half of the Power Five conferences (the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, ACC and Big East)? That is, after all, why the power conferences pushed for the expansion.

Valparaiso coach Roger Powell Jr. played for Illinois in the national championship game 21 years ago, but he believes the beauty of the NCAA tournament also lies in giving teams like his Beacons the chance to make a run.

“If we see expansion helping more programs like the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ncaa-tournament-expansion-help-mid-093000906.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-20 09:30:00

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