Pivovar: Expanded tourney would help Valley teams

One might think that any plan that would provide Missouri Valley teams with more avenues to the NCAA basketball tournament would be a slam dunk with the league coaches.

And professionally speaking, Northern Iowa's Ben Jacobson and Illinois State's Tim Jankovich see merit in any proposal that would expand the tournament from its present 65 teams.

“Selfishly, I'd vote yes,'' Jankovich said. “But if I were not a basketball coach, if I were just a fan, I'd have to say keep it the way it is. It's a very complex issue, and whatever side you take, there are probably 10 good arguments against it.''

Jacobson, too, said his personal feelings probably clash with his professional thoughts on the matter.

“Our job is to get our team into the tournament, and that's what we're ultimately judged on these days,'' Jacobson said. “Would it be better to have another 31 spots available? Sure, it would be. But I don't know if you expanded that you would have the same excitement that you do now, from that first game all the way through to the title game.

“My personal feelings are that I like it where it's at. It's difficult to make the field, but that's what makes it the best sport event of the entire year.''

The NCAA has been looking at possible expansion of the tournament since last fall. Its Championships Cabinet heard a number of proposals, including one from Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen that would expand the field to 128 teams and guarantee every team at least two games in the tournament.

Expansion talk heated up in some circles in recent days after a SportsBusiness Journal report that the NCAA is considering opting out of its television contract — it has until Aug. 31 to decide — and that it would consider expansion to 68 or 96 teams. Expansion plans would be tied to a renegotiated TV contract. In other words, more money.

On their weekly Tuesday telephone conference call with the news media, Valley coaches generally expressed support of expanding the tournament field. The Valley, like many mid-major conferences, believes that the deck is stacked against it in trying to advance more than its league champion to the NCAA tournament.

After a decade of placing multiple teams in the field, the Valley has been a one-bid league the past two seasons. That's part of a mid-major downsizing trend that has taken place since 2004, when a dozen teams received at-large bids. Last season, only four mid-majors received at-large invitations.

“After we got four teams into the tournament in 2006, there was a considerable outcry from the BCS schools,'' Bradley coach Jim Les said. “The result is that the so-called mid-major programs are getting shortchanged.''

It's no secret that Valley coaches chafe when one of their own with a worthy résumé gets passed over in favor of including a team from the so-called power conferences that has finished in the lower half of its league race. It happened last season to Creighton, when the Bluejays earned a share of the regular-season title and had 26 wins on Selection Sunday.

It happened the previous season to Illinois State, when the Redbirds had 24 wins and second-place finishes in both the regular-season race and the conference tournament.

Several coaches cited the postseason discrepancy between major-college football and basketball as a reason for tournament expansion. More than half of the 119 teams playing Division I-A football have a chance to play in a bowl.

There are 347 basketball teams in Division I this season. There will be 129 postseason slots available when you add in the National Invitation Tournament and two privately run events. That means that 37 percent of the teams playing Division I basketball get a postseason opportunity, with the percentage dropping to 19 percent when you consider only the NCAA tournament.

“Look at football and how many teams go to bowl games,'' Indiana State coach Kevin McKenna said. “The more you include people in the postseason, the more you get a feeling that you accomplished something. In our sport, it's all about making it to the NCAA tournament.''

With a month left in the regular season, two Valley teams — Northern Iowa and Wichita State — have built résumés that might be considered worthy for at-large consideration should they not earn the league's automatic berth. But a slip or two in the final weeks could be very costly to either team.

“Teams in our league don't have the luxury of being .500 and in eighth place in their league,'' Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said, “and still having a chance to get into the tournament.''

Contact the writer: 679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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