The mens basketball NCAA Tournament is upon up and with March Madness officially under way, basketball fans are scrambling to do their research and set up their complex brackets.
At this point of the year, the tournament’s format and criteria for how teams are selected tends to come under question. Teams that may feel they deserved a spot in the 68-team field are left out year after year leading to coaches and players asking for modifications to the current system.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is one of the most established and decorated figures in the game and when he talks, people tend to listen. Per a recent piece on ESPN, Izzo provides his two cents on analytics, automatic bids and even the potential expansion of the tournament. The veteran coach has been in charge of the Spartans for 29 year and over that stretch has reached the final four on eight occasions and won a National Championship.
“What’s happening now, everybody likes the upsets on the first weekend, but I’m not sure moving on that’s what’s best for the game. I think it’s got to be looked at seriously,” said Izzo.
There have been many out-of-context quotes from what Tom Izzo said today about the NCAA Tournament.
Here is his full response. Tom Izzo has always advocated for smaller schools making the tournament. pic.twitter.com/IL9nd2gm3q
— Thomas Cook (@thomas_cook11) March 20, 2024
Izzo is not against the idea of eliminating some of the smaller schools, but does believe the current selection process needs to be examined. One key factor for him surrounds the automatic bids given to teams that win their conference tournament. This season, 20 of the 32 Division 1 conferences saw a team that wasn’t the best team during the regular season win the conference championship.
“It’s all about what is best for the financial part of it, if I’m going to be very blunt, more than it is the players and teams,” added Izzo.
