Dan Hurley cautions NCAA expansion risks regular-season value
UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley warned that expanding the NCAA tournaments to 76 teams could render the regular season meaningless. The 53-year-old two-time national champion stressed the importance of a difficult qualification process. "You don't want the regular season to be rendered meaningless and to take away from November, December, January, February," Hurley told CBS Sports.
The NCAA has not expanded the main fields since adding three teams in 2011, bringing each tournament to 68 teams. Reports indicate discussions to grow both the men's and women's events to 76 teams, with changes to the early format. Hurley questioned whether such growth would make participation a right rather than a privilege.
Hurley expressed fondness for close early matchups like 1-vs-16 and 8-vs-9 games, but emphasized the appeal of the previous 64-team field's rigor. "It should be a privilege to play in the tournament, not a right," he said. Under the proposed setup, 24 teams would play 12 games across two sites on the first Tuesday and Wednesday, with winners advancing to the traditional bracket on Thursday.
Teams playing those initial games would need seven wins to claim the title, compared to six now. Hurley underscored that maintaining qualification pressure preserves the tournament's intensity.
