Expanding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is a topic that continues to come up among top college athletics administrators, although there are many of them. ardent critics. And a conference commissioner offered some insight into what the current conversations surrounding the tournament might entail.
As it stands, the NCAA tournament has 68 teams, with four play-in games to reduce that number to 64 for a clean single-elimination field. Some suggestions even went so far as to expand the field to 96 teams.
But according to the Big 12 commissioner Brett Yorkmarkconcerned stakeholders could find common ground, adding eight teams to the current 68 to bring the new total to 76.
This, says Yormark, according to Athleticism Justin Williamswould be the biggest benefit for Power 4 leagues trying to attract more middle-of-the-pack teams.
“The data shows that if it expands to 76, the Power 4 conferences will primarily benefit, and I think at the center of that will be the Big 12…Broader access is great for us,” Yormark said.
The appetite for women’s college basketball is bigger than ever
Sunday was a record day for ESPN triple women’s basketball conference championship title. The channel broadcast the SECOND, ACC And Pac-12 tournament championship matches – and viewership soared.
SEC Championship led the way with 2 million viewers LSU take charge Caroline from the south, which represents an increase of 126% compared to last year. This followed the ACC title game between our Lady And NC State, which attracted 1.4 million viewers, a whopping 462% increase from last year. The evening concluded with the Pac-12 Championship, which saw U.S.C. defeat Stanford. An average of 679,000 fans watched the game, a 42% increase from the 2023 title game.
Each match was also the most watched on its respective leagues’ ESPN platforms.
These numbers add up to a record day for women’s basketball. Earlier Tuesday, CBS announced the Big Ten championship between Iowa And Nebraska Has become the Most-Watched Women’s Conference Tournament Game with an average of 3 million viewers for the overtime thriller.
The SEC championship game made headlines for what happened late in the game: a South Carolina victory. The benches cleared, leading to the expulsion of the Gamecocks star Kamilla Cardoso that will keep her out for the first round of the NCAA tournament. Plus, LSU’s brother stands out Flau’jae Johnson was arrested after jumping the scorer’s table to get on the field during the fight.
The other two title matches also became interesting. Notre Dame outscored NC State 14-8 in the fourth quarter to earn the 55-51 victory, led by the heroics of Hannah Hidalgo. The true freshman earned MVP honors after dropping 22 points on the Wolfpack to help propel the Fighting Irish to their first conference title since 2019.
During the nightcap between USC and Stanford, the Trojans star Juju Watkins was limited to nine points, the lowest of the season. However, McKenzie Forbes rose to the occasion with 26 points to help USC defeat Stanford 74-61 and win a Pac-12 title.
As the NCAA Tournament approaches, ESPN’s championship success on Sunday and CBS’ impressive numbers will likely help. set the table for the rest of the playoffs. The biggest names in women’s basketball – from Caitlin Clark has Paige Bueckers has Angel Reese – will be playing on the game’s biggest stage, and they’ll find out when they perform on Sunday’s Selection Show.
