The NCAA Tournament is fantastic. We love the NCAA Tournament. While flawed in some of its selection procedures, it remains the best tournament in American sports as a powerhouse like North Carolina will rub elbows with a small school like Wagner.
So of course, the leaders of college basketball want to expand the tournament. But instead of potentially giving more opportunities to mid-major schools, some want to dilute the field with more mediocre teams from power conferences. Chief among them is SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who stumped for more power conference representation in an interview with ESPN’s Pete Thamel last week.
We are giving away highly competitive opportunities for automatic qualifiers [from smaller leagues]…” Sankey said. “…and I think that pressure is going to rise as we have more competitive basketball leagues at the top end because of expansion.
Eight SEC teams received bids to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, but Sankey feels that a team that lost nine of its last 11 games like Ole Miss or a team that barely finished above .500 like LSU should get NCAA Tournament consideration. All because they are part of a “more competitive basketball league” and have the SEC logo on their jersey.
Well after just a day and a half of this year’s tournament, certainly Sankey’s league is showing its true power and might on a national stage, right? Let’s check the results:
No. 9 Michigan State 69, No. 8 Mississippi State 51
Mississippi State was a bubble team at the end of the regular season with 14 losses, but two wins in the SEC Tournament was enough to get a bid to the Big Dance. The Bulldogs shoot 37% and get handily defeated by another bubble team in Sparty.
No. 11 Oregon 87, No. 6 South Carolina 73
South Carolina was actually a pleasant surprise in the SEC this year, but got swiftly shown the door by Pac-12 Tournament champion Oregon in round one.
No. 14 Oakland 80, No. 3 Kentucky 76
The flagship brand of the league once again embarrasses itself in the first round, falling to the Horizon League champion Oakland in a stunner. Oakland guard Jack Gohlke almost exclusively shot threes off the bench this season and the Cats still allowed him to drop 10 treys on their heads.
No. 2 Tennessee 83, No. 15 Saint Peter’s 49
Hey look, a positive result! SEC regular season champion Tennessee was able to bury MAAC Saint Peter’s in a rout. The Volunteers didn’t suffer the same fate as Kentucky, who were downed by the Peacocks in this same exact spot two years ago. You got this one Sankey!
No. 10 Colorado 102, No. 7 Florida 100
To be fair, this one turned into a classic and Florida had its heart ripped out on a clutch Colorado jumper with 1.7 seconds left. Still, the Gators get clipped by a lower ranked team that was on the bubble at the beginning of the month.
No. 13 Yale 78, No. 4 Auburn 76
SEC Tournament champion Auburn blew a double-digit second half lead against Ivy League Tournament champion Yale, a team that didn’t have a single Quad 1 victory this season. It’s another marquee program that couldn’t make it out of the first day, let alone the first weekend.
Texas A&M and Alabama have yet to finish their respective games as of this writing, but you get the point. Sankey opining for more power conference representation has already blown up in his face as his own league is getting punked on a national stage. In his world, the Oakland’s and the Yale’s of the world would be gradually phased out even though they just showed the entire country that they belong on this stage.
Don’t mess with a good thing, Greg. The NCAA Tournament is fine as it is.
Even when your teams can’t compete.
