Greg Sankey discusses possibility of expanding March Madness field following 'fresh look'

In 2011, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament expanded to 68 teams with the First Four in Dayton. Could more changes be on the horizon?

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made that case during an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde.

Sankey talked about what changes the NCAA can make to increase the number of smaller teams to get into March Madness. Last year, 29 of the 68 bids came from Power Five conferences, including six SEC teams. The Big East also had six bids, meaning 35 of the 68 teams came from six conferences.

Although Sankey stopped short of outright calling for expansion, he said a “fresh look” could be worthwhile.

“Just take a fresh look at all of it,” Sankey told Forde. “As we think collectively, everyone goes to the corner and says, ‘I have to hang on to what’s mine.’ But how do we contribute and build it better together?”

The SEC could’ve had one more team in the tournament field last year, but Texas A&M wound up part of the First Four Out and a No. 1 seed in the NIT. Sankey disagreed with that decision and pointed to other First Four teams who’ve made runs.

“I thought [SEC member] Texas A&M should have been in the field in basketball [last season],” Sankey says. “People didn’t agree. But the way they played at the end of the year, I firmly think they were one of the better teams in the country. I’m biased. But somebody else, Dayton was one of the first four out.

“Look at what UCLA did as an 11-seed [in 2021], what Virginia Commonwealth did as an 11-seed [in 2011] … Those are three teams that played [in the First Four] in Dayton and went to the Final Four eventually. It should broaden our thinking.”

Greg Sankey doesn’t want to ‘exclude people’ from the NCAA Tournament

Sankey also dove into the way teams are selected for March Madness. In 2019, the NCAA moved away from the RPI to the NET to factor in more predictive metrics and make the field more inclusive. But Sankey said there are still flaws in the system if the “last team in” is in the top part of the NET rankings.

“If the last team in can win the national championship, and they’re in the 30s or 40s from an RPI or [NCAA] NET standpoint, is our current approach supporting national championship competition?” Sankey said. “I think there’s health in that conversation. That doesn’t exclude people. It goes to: How do we include people in these annual national celebrations that lead to a national champion?”