Syracuse Basketball: Leave March Madness the heck alone, pretty please

Even though Syracuse basketball didn’t make the Big Dance a season ago, and the Orange has resided on the proverbial bubble many a time in recent campaigns, that has never prevented me from delighting in the magic that the NCAA Tournament produces year after year.

Yes, first and foremost I’m a proud Syracuse University alum and a fanatical follower of the ‘Cuse hoops program. But I also adore the entirety of college basketball, and those few weeks in March and early April, season after season, are simply the best as it pertains to U.S. sporting events.

Now, surely it’s not a fair comparison to weigh March Madness against, say, the Super Bowl, or the NBA Finals, or the World Series.

However, between the yearly cadre of stunning upsets, heavyweight battles and dreams captured as programs large and small make their journeys to the Final Four, you can’t ask for a more thrilling event than the Big Dance.

And despite some sub-par regular seasons lately, Syracuse basketball has made its mark on March Madness.

Over the years, the Orange has won a national title, reached a handful of Final Fours, flamed out as a high seed in the opening rounds, and had its heart broken on more than one occasion (hi, Richmond, Vermont, Butler, Dayton, Ohio State, Indiana, and on and on).

At the same time, the ‘Cuse has carved out a reputation, in recent seasons, of being a double-digit seed and then proceeding to advance to the Sweet 16 or, better yet, the Final Four (hello, 2016, 2018 and 2021).

I’m, as usual, rambling here. But the point of this column is to say that I adamantly and wholeheartedly hope that the NCAA Tournament, in the future, doesn’t change.

As it is, the Big Dance not too long ago added four extra teams, with the First Four arriving and the field expanding to 68 squads. I don’t mind the First Four. I just don’t want to see the event grow even larger.

Amid conference realignment, with UCLA and USC heading to the Big Ten Conference, Oklahoma and Texas heading to the Southeastern Conference, and other leagues like the Atlantic Coast Conference presumably hanging on for dear life, it wouldn’t surprise me if March Madness looks different down the line.

Especially considering that the ultimate demise and evaporation of the incompetent NCAA is likely to occur at some point in time.

In recent weeks, I’ve come across a variety of articles where the Big Dance’s future make-up is discussed. One thought is to expand the current field, possibly to, say, 80 teams.

Another notion that I saw is the idea that, perhaps, automatic bids earned by squads in smaller leagues for winning their post-season tournaments could potentially go away.

To put it bluntly, both of those notions are awful. Just awful.

Certainly, some stakeholders might want to have the Big Dance grow to 80 invitees, because more teams participating in March Madness could mean more revenue from numerous sources.

However, this is where I think of my beloved ‘Cuse. Oftentimes, when bracketologists and national pundits are prognosticating on the field for a particular NCAA Tournament, these folks and other commentators will opine that the teams on the bubble, and this has included Syracuse basketball lately, simply aren’t that good.

These bubble bunches are mediocre at best, the talking heads say. So if the field balloons to 80, will that mean more average groups from the big conferences will get in, or will we see more mid-majors with strong regular-season records but which were upset in their league tourneys land bids?

I’m all for having more Cinderella stories in the Big Dance, even if that results in the Orange not making the field. Either way, though, an 80-team event seems like it could be so watered-down.

As far as the discussion point that automatic bids earned by squads in small conferences could go up in smoke, well, that’s a whole lot of nonsense.

All the folks from the Big Ten, the SEC, the ACC and other giant leagues need to think of the larger picture here.

Undeniably, the 2022 Final Four of Kansas (the eventual champion), North Carolina (the runner-up), Duke and Villanova was filled with blue-blood programs. That’s great and all.

But if you nix auto bids, down the road, would a group like Saint Peter’s not get in? Because that would be a travesty.

The No. 15 seed Peacocks were the darlings of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, knocking off No. 2 seed Kentucky, No. 7 seed Murray State and No. 3 seed Purdue before falling in the Elite Eight to No. 8 seed North Carolina.

I readily acknowledge that seismic conference realignments will continue to change collegiate athletics as we know it. From the transfer portal, to massive TV contracts, to NIL, and so on, it’s a brave new world out there.

I could care less about the NCAA as an organization. But, please, I beg you, leave March Madness just the way it is.