Donovan makes case for larger NCAA tourney

Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan makes a case for a larger NCAA Tournament, as told to Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples:

I’ve always liked the idea of an expanded NCAA tournament. A lot of coaches feel that way. Why? Most importantly, it should expand for the players.

I think it’s difficult for a player to go through college and never get a chance to play in an NCAA tournament. […] If it’s supposed to be about these kids, and you’re saying that the NCAA tournament is the biggest sporting event in our country, why would you not want to have more kids participate.

It also should expand because everyone is being evaluated on what happens in March. Coaches are judged on whether their team makes the tournament and what their team does in the tournament, even though tournament performance can sometimes be misleading. […]

When you’re dealing with a single-elimination situation, anything can happen. The average fan really doesn’t follow the season. The mainstream fan just says “March is the only thing that matters. Everything else doesn’t make a difference.” […]

Anything can happen in a one-and-done. I even made a comment when we won the national championship in 2006. I said if we’d started the tournament over, we might not be standing up there. But that’s also what makes it so great. It’s like the lottery. You’ve got to be in it to win it. The more pieces you have, the more talent you have, the more chemistry you have, your odds of winning go up. […]

What the country loves about the tournament are upsets and Cinderella. Immediately, when the brackets are done, the first thing that’s said is, “Who’s on upset alert?” They want to see upsets. […]

Donovan’s argument for an expanded NCAA Tournament field is much more involved than the snippets we posted here on OGGOA. Read the entire thing over at SI.com.