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Count John Calipari against expanding the college basketball tournament.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported last week that the NCAA is holding conversations after increasing the March Madness field to no more than 80 teams. Ahead of Kentucky’s first-round matchup against Oakland, Calipari made his case to maintain the current format.
“I hope it stays where it is,” Calipari said Wednesday, per The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker. “People get mad at the committee — you won’t believe this, I’ve been mad at that committee … but it’s part of the NCAA Tournament.”
Calipari argued that somebody omitted will always be upset regardless of how many teams make the cut. He thinks even more college football coaches will complain about missing the College Football Playoff when it expands from four to 12 teams next season.
Coach Cal called March Madness “too good an event” to tweak.
“Keep it where it is,” he said. “Don’t mess with something this good.”
Kentucky’s opening opponent, Oakland, is making its first tournament appearance since 2011 after winning the Horizon title. Expansion could potentially hurt mid-majors by complicating the automatic qualifying process.
Golden Grizzlies head coach Greg Kampe also doesn’t want the NCAA tournament to change.
“This is the holy grail for mid-majors, right? It is,” Kampe said, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “And I’ve said this many times over the last week. The NCAA basketball tournament — please don’t change it. Please don’t change it.”
Calipari will make his 12th NCAA tournament appearance as Kentucky’s head coach when the No. 3 Wildcats play Oakland on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET.