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Dick Vitale was not happy Tuesday when news surfaced that the NCAA recommended that its annual men’s and women’s basketball tournaments be expanded.
After a yearlong slate of meetings, the NCAA’s transformation committee released a 40-page final report to several media members, sharing that the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments should include 25% of participating teams in the sport. For perspective, both men and women’s basketball tournaments consist of 68 teams, or nearly 19% of the sport’s 350 programs.
If the tournaments increased to the 25% threshold, that means the respective tournaments would expand by approximately 20 teams, bringing the total number to 90 from 68. The legendary college basketball analyst tweeted his dislike for the NCAA’s recommendation.
Dellenger: NCAA Transformation Committee Recommends Expanding March Madness Fields
“Why in the world would an NCAA group want to change what has been fantastic? Their idea for expansion is ALL $$$ related. The @MarchMadnessMBB is super - fix the many other problems that exist with the @NCAA,” Vitale tweeted.
The committee’s recommendation is not official. However, the Division I board of directors will examine the report for consideration at the 2023 NCAA convention in San Antonio next week.
When it comes specifically to expanding championship events, the report stated that an initial review by the committees will take place in June ’23 with all final recommendations taking place in January ’24. From there, the final recommendation would be slated for implementation during the championship for the 2024-25 season.
