By ADAM ZAGORIA
Jim Boeheim isn’t backing down on his views on expanding the NCAA Tournament.
Boeheim, in his 46th year at Syracuse, is in favor of making the field larger amid the possibility the tournament could expand to as many as 90 teams starting in the 2024-25 season.
“We started this thing with 12 teams, right?” Boeheim said Monday on the ACC conference call. “Sixteen, 24, 32, 48, right? Nobody complained about it.
“We’ve almost doubled in size in terms of teams, 350 [in Division 1] vs. whatever it was back then, 175 or 200. So it’s only natural that you would expand the tournament. People say so many stupid things, ‘It dilutes the tournament.’
“The bad teams will be out. The teams that get in that are bad, they’ll be out right away. It actually gets more good teams in the tournament because you have the qualifiers who wouldn’t get in if they weren’t automatic. You get more good teams in the tournament. The balance is so good in the country, look at our league.”
He added that logistics wouldn’t be much of an issue.
“It’s just a natural progression that you would expand the tournament,” he said. “The only reason they don’t is because of when it is and what’s after it….You just have three more play-in sites and you do the play-in sites where you have the tournament. Now the teams that play don’t have to travel, they’re right there…
“The dilution of the tournament is what kills me. You really actually get more good teams in and then the bad teams will be out after the first weekend anyway, so you end up with a better field….
“I think it’s a no-brainer.”
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