Seth Greenberg supports the NCAA Tournament's expansion from 68 to 76 teams, despite widespread criticism. He urges critics to accept the change and believes it will enhance the tournament experience.
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The fan sentiment surrounding the NCAA Tournamentâs imminent decision to expand from 68 teams to 76 teams can summarily be described as overwhelmingly negative. No one is asking for more play-in games. No one wants to wait until Wednesday night to fill out half of their bracket because they have no idea who will actually be playing in the first round. And no one thinks adding eight middling teams to the field is going to result in more excitement on the court.
But one ESPN college basketball analyst is all-in on bumping the field size up by eight teams.
Seth Greenberg, a veteran analyst on ESPNâs College GameDay, believes wholeheartedly that expansion to 76 teams is a positive for the NCAA Tournament. And his message to everyone who thinks differently: âGet over yourselves.â
âFor those of you losing your mind that the NCAA Tournament expanded from 68 to 76, get over yourselves,â the former Virginia Tech coach said in a social media video. âWhen you have these mega-conferences, youâre playing 20-game schedules, and you know what, you might be 8-12. But those eight games that you won, five of them might be against teams that are in the top-25. And then out of conference, the way things are right now you see more good games out of conference, you might have two wins against top-25 teams. All of the sudden, you have seven wins against top-25 teams. You got seven wins against teams that are going to advance in the NCAA Tournament.
âAnd yeah, your record might not be great. It might be 18-12, or it might be 17-13, but youâre a team that can win games in the NCAA Tournament. And more importantly, you expanded eight more teams. Iâve been in my house, with my players, that win 10, 11 ACC games, seven, six, five games against the field, and didnât get in.
âAnd how about the mid-majors? The expansion is going to potentially give the Atlantic 10 a better opportunity, the Mountain West a better opportunity, the Missouri Valley a better opportunity to get more teams in the tournament. So, adding eight teams? Please, just get over yourself. College basketball and the NCAA Tournament will be just fine. By the way, look at the non-conference games that are being played right now because people arenât afraid to potentially take a loss because they know that it will help their body of work. The NCAA Tournament is in great hands, and 76 will have no impact on the regular season, nor will it have an impact on the NCAA Tournament.â
Fans are concerned about increased play-in games and the uncertainty of filling out brackets due to the addition of more teams.
Seth Greenberg is in favor of the expansion, believing it will positively impact the tournament.
After the expansion, the NCAA Tournament will increase its field size from 68 teams to 76 teams.
He tells critics to 'get over yourselves' and embrace the changes being made to the tournament.
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Greenberg might be right about expansion opening up more opportunities for both power-conference and mid-major schools. Lord knows his Virginia Tech teams couldâve benefited greatly from a few extra at-large spots. But itâs completely reasonable for fans to be upset. March Madness is seen as the single greatest postseason in all of sports, and any changes to it will rightfully be scrutinized.
Itâs one thing to play one play-in game, like under the 65-team format. Itâs another to play a âFirst Four,â as has been the case for many years now. But to play 12 play-in games? Thatâs practically an entirely new round of basketball being added. And for what? So a few more SEC and Big Ten schools can get in?
Greenbergâs GameDay colleague Jay Williams took that exact side of the argument on Get Up Wednesday morning.
Until the first 76-team tournament is played, itâll be impossible to say if expansion has materially damaged our beloved March Madness. But the NCAA will certainly be fighting an uphill battle in terms of optics when next March rolls around.
The post Seth Greenberg on NCAA Tournament expansion critics: âGet over yourselvesâ appeared first on Awful Announcing.