5/24/2023 basketball Edit

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton wants NCAA Tournaments to double in size

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

Leonard Hamilton knows some people might think his idea is ridiculous.

But with parity as high as it has ever been in the extensive history of college basketball, the Florida State men’s basketball head coach thinks it is time to once again consider NCAA Tournament expansion.

And in Hamilton’s opinion, the NCAA Tournament should be doubled from 68 to either 128 or 136 teams to reflect the state of the sport.

“The NCAA Tournament, it started out with 16, went to 24, then 32, then 48, then 64, then 68. Every time, it has gotten bigger and better, more exciting,” Hamilton said during ACC Meetings last week in Amelia Island. “I believe the NCAA tournament is the greatest sporting event in the world. It captivates everybody's imagination for about three weeks.

“It’s time, in my opinion, to at least give it conversation, look at the questions and answers of what it has done for basketball and what it possibly could do in the future. I might be a little ridiculous when I make this comment, but I think you could double it.”

Hamilton has heard from others about expanding the tournament to 96 teams with 32 first-round byes and the bottom 64 teams playing their way into the field of 64. However, he’s adamant that doubling the size of the field is the right move, citing FAU and San Diego State each making the Final Four last season as proof of how far parity has come in the college basketball space.

In terms of time frame, doubling the size of the NCAA Tournament would not be a significant change. The tournament already has the First Four games in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday and Wednesday before beginning in full on Thursday. Doubling the field would only add one round of game which could be played that Tuesday and Wednesday, making the first week of the tourney a three-game week in order to advance to the Sweet 16.

What would be a tougher challenge would be the logistics of adding another round of games. Would the NCAA set up home-site games for that first round before teams quickly traveled to regional sites for that weekend’s second and third-round games? Would the regional schedule be expanded to carry through the entire week with three sets of games played there?

Hamilton didn’t share his preference there, but did quip, “We can put someone on the moon, I’m sure we can figure that out.”

Also of note, Hamilton said this should apply to both the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments.

Hamilton knew he might be offending some people with this idea and that feedback quickly came on the Internet. However long the road to tournament expansion is, it’s clear there is some opposition.

"I love what Leonard Hamilton has done in his college career but I totally disagree in doubling the field in ⁦@MarchMadnessMBB⁩ from 68 to 136 teams. The ⁦@NCAA⁩ tourney should not be for MEDIOCRITY!” ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale shared on his Twitter account in the wake of Hamilton sharing his belief.

ACC working on a variety of fixes to try to shift the basketball narrative

Between the talks of a new revenue-sharing model, the long-term future of the conference and how it can keep up financially, basketball was far from the No. 1 topic at last week’s ACC Meetings.

Behind closed doors, however, all 15 men’s basketball coaches from across the ACC converged to try and fix what has emerged as an issue over the last few years: postseason reputation.

After the ACC had at least six teams in each NCAA Tournament from 2014 through 2021 – and seven or more in five of the seven tournaments of that span – the conference has had just five teams make the field of 68 each of the last two years.

From preseason No. 1 North Carolina failing to make the NCAA Tournament this past year and FSU’s fall-off after one of the best runs in program history, there are some reasons behind this recent dip.

If you ask the ACC coaches, though, there’s also quite a bit of belief that narrative comes into it and that early-season struggles have diminished what talking heads think of the ACC as a basketball conference.

“No. 1, we’ve got to win, but the narrative, the conversation that is going on on a national basis is competitive. Just like teams compete, conferences compete, media people compete promoting whatever they believe in. If you go back and do a statistical analysis and look at what has happened the last 10 years in the Elite Eight and the Final Four, the ACC is always well-represented. But all year long, it’s that down and down, we’re not as competitive…” Hamilton said.

“I don’t think enough respect has been given to the fact that the pillars of our league have allowed the Miamis and Florida States, the Clemsons to be pulled up to the point where it’s more competitive in our league now than it has ever been. That should be celebrated by more people and embraced, but it’s almost like now as the other teams benefit from the top teams pulling them up, that becomes a detriment and the league is not as strong.

“Actually, it’s better and more competitive than it has ever been. Somehow or another, the message is not being translated in the proper way. Because some teams aren’t as successful, the message is that maybe the ACC is not quite as good. That’s not true, there’s nothing you could find statistically at the end of the season that would bear any of the conversations that you had to listen to all year.”

In ACC commissioner Jim Phillips’ address to the media in Amelia Island, he mentioned that some basketball coaches in his conference may not be entirely pleased with the job that the ACC Network’s coverage does of portraying the conference in a positive light.

“I want our network to be positive. I’ve talked to our group about that,” Phillips said. “At times, I know our coaches are frustrated even with our own network because they should be more glowing than they are.”

While that may play a role, the conference is also embracing what it can change to try and shift the narrative itself. That started with bringing in some consultants to talk to the ACC basketball coaches about how to properly work the system when it comes to non-conference scheduling.

That was a huge reason why Clemson, which finished 23-11 and won 14 of its 20 ACC games, was left out of this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Tigers’ non-conference schedule was the 123rd toughest nationally, plummeting Clemson’s overall strength of schedule to 73rd despite playing in the ACC.

“You know how disappointed I was about the selection and only having five bids. But that’s on us to try to fix. We had some really good dialogue…” Phillips said. “We’re going to try to help our schools a little bit more with some of that scheduling and do it in a more strategic way. I’ve been a member of both of those committees, men’s basketball and women’s basketball, and that’s not an easy assignment so this isn’t a disparaging comment about the committee and the committee’s work. That is really difficult. It just is.”

However, Hamilton is also well aware of how challenging creating a properly tough non-conference schedule can be considering the unknowns.

“It’s hard to predict when you schedule a couple years in advance to be in one of those (preseason) tournaments,” Hamilton said. “A team that went to the Elite Eight the year before, they’re there and not quite as good. You can’t control that.”