As you know if you’ve spent much time in this space, I think Greg Sankey’s push to expand the men’s NCAA basketball tournament is wrongheaded on multiple fronts .
Nevertheless, I understand the impetus that, in my opinion, forms the true motivation for the SEC commissioner’s drive.
We are now in a college sports world of “super conferences.” The SEC and Big 12 both boast 16 teams. The Big Ten and ACC each have 18 members (that number includes Notre Dame competing in the ACC in sports other than football).
The practical result of grouping all the strongest athletics programs in so few conferences is that teams are going to “beat up” on each other repeatedly.
As a consequence, there are going to be a whole lot of teams with middling records. That will create the incentive for power four league commissioners such as Sankey to secure more March Madness access for “major conference mediocrities.”
For a glimpse into the competitive futures within these massive conferences, one need only look back to the coronavirus-impacted 2020 SEC football season . That year, due to COVID-19 and the efforts to contain it, SEC football teams played only against other league teams in a 10-game regular season.