The Saturday Column With No Name: Time Get Rid Of A Relic And Eliminate The Big 12 Tournament, What IF…We Didn’t Expand The NCAA Tournament – But Instead Went Back To 1985 Or 1983 And Be Careful Looking For Upsets In Your Bracket, Things Have Changed In College Basketball

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Welcome back to the Saturday Column With No Name. Actually, that may have become its official name unless y’all come up with something better. Here’s a few quick Saturday thoughts from Raiderland. Feel free to add your own in the comments or on our social media feeds like X and Facebook.

1. Since its inception in 1997, now men’s team has won the Big 12 Postseason Basketball Tournament that wasn’t already firmly in the NCAA Tournament field. Let that sink in. It begs the question…why are we still playing this tournament in 2027? In this hyper-money era of college sports, the tournament is really a drop in the schools’ budgets. Of course when spend a reported $184,000 to “rent” a gimmicky court, that cuts down revenue too. Does it wear down teams? Yes. Does it fundamentally affect where they get seeded in the NCAA Tournament? No. There is no strong upside these days to justify it. It’s a relic from the past. The Big 12 needs to eliminate the postseason tournament and just wrap-up the regular season on the Wednesday that would have been the start of most tourneys. Give teams rest. Heal up for the grind of March Madness. It’s time to get rid not just of gimmicky courts but a useless event.
2. Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, can we all agree to go back to 64 teams and eliminate the “Play-In”, “First Four” whatever you want to call it. There’s no reason to reward those teams anyways. The talk should never be about expanding the tournament, but rather should we even reconsider 64 teams and reduce from there…. If you’re old enough, you remember fields of 32 and 48….It worked. We had 32 teams in the field from 1975 to when it expanded to 40 in 1979 then 53 in 1983 on to 64 in 1985…. At least get us back to a legit 64…
3. Finally, when the bracket comes out Sunday evening, don’t go off looking for a lot of upsets or mid-majors ready to give the Big Boys fits. That era has quick succumbed to NIL and the Transfer Portal. No longer can the Bradley and Butlers or Winthrops or VCUs even hold on to talent and groom them into solid teams. Any player at that level that shows promise ends up at a Texas Tech or a Houston. This tournament is going to be very, very chalky. So, if you don’t see pretty much all one and two seeds in your Final Four, rethink that bracket.

Y’all have fun today and feel free to add your thoughts and share with a friend or two. We’ll see y’all in the morning with our 5 Things We Know On A Sunday column.
Hyatt