By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College
It’s hard to imagine a March without the “Madness,” yet that’s what we could be looking at soon. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament as we know it could fade away to the importance of, say, the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) unless serious reforms are made.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has been around since the 1930s. It’s made some changes here are there, but here are some earth-shattering shakeups that could alter the game as we know it. Unless the leadership steps in to steer the tournament to more positive outcomes, such changes could make the madness moniker a reality, in terms of organization.
NIL
I am not an opponent of players being paid. Given that there are hundreds of millions of dollars in the tournament alone and not just the league, I think players should get some of it. And NIL offers the chance for some deregulated innovation in player funding. But as college coaches are complaining these days, agents have replaced parents in terms of whispering in the players’ ear, and it’s often in opposition to the Head Coach. Robbed of an opportunity to mentor and mold minds, it’s no wonder legends like Nick Saban and Rick Pitino are frustrated.
Whatever the NCAA, Congress, or the Courts come up with, it should offer something for everyone so even the role players and reserves get something (it’s still a 5-on-5 game), while allowing creative compensation for the stars and more successful players on the court.
Football Changes Affect Basketball
March Madness may make hundreds of millions, but College Football makes even more. And football still drives the bus. And conference realignment has the potential to threaten traditional rivalries and even the existence of conferences themselves. Will there be a PAC-12 Basketball Conference? Is the legendary ACC able to survive what Florida State, Clemson and Miami of Florida may do, which is leave the conference?
It’s instrumental to note that the Big East died in football, yet the conference hung around, focusing on less-than-football powerhouses like UConn and some teams without a football team, like Marquette University. Now it’s a highly respected basketball powerhouse. It’s the only way for the conferences to survive.
Location, Location, Location
Fans of SEC Champion Auburn University fans are riled up by having to fly across the country to Spokane, Washington, as will Big East Champion UConn. The best teams from the geographic region aren’t heading to their own geographic regions, which makes the geographic element rather moot, or laughable. It renders both the regular season, and now the conference championship, relatively meaningless. There could be more open seats at these contests.
The solution is to have the top four seeds host the first-round game. All of the 5-12, 6-11, 7-10 and 8-9 games can be on neutral grounds. The second-round game will take place on the higher seed’s turf. And keep the top teams as close to their geographic region as possible. For later rounds, you can have neutral sites for exotic trips to big cities instead of burgs.
It’s time for the NCAA to make these meaningful changes, before we envision an era where the game is played while people watch, instead of what’s happening in the NIT, which only commands a fraction of their followers.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is JohnTures2.
