Syracuse Basketball: ACC, power 4 leagues aim for more control of NCAA Tournament

The power four conferences, including the ACC, where Syracuse basketball is a member, are proposing to take over more control of the NCAA Tournament.

I'm not surprised by this, although I'm also not sure how I feel about such a proposal. College athletics are evolving all the time, for better or for worse. I'm talking about things such as conference realignment, NIL, the transfer portal, future revenue-sharing and potential changes in eligibility, among other issues.

I've long been on record in stating the NCAA is an incompetent, hypocritical organization. Various media reports in recent months, and further back, have discussed the possibility of the NCAA seeing its governance structure shift, and I'm all for that.

However, an article this week from top national writer Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports notes a proposal from the power four leagues, including the ACC, that "stands to potentially remake the NCAA governance and championship structure, shifting more authority to the power leagues over rule-making, policy decisions and, even, postseason events."

The NCAA has long operated the NCAA Tournaments in men's and women's basketball, however, this proposal "would grant the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC rights to manage postseason championships, such as the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments," Dellenger writes.

He stressed in his article that this proposal is currently just a "working document," and no final approvals have come. Interestingly enough, the proposal being out there in the public domain arrives as the NCAA's annual convention descends upon Nashville, Tenn., next week.

Syracuse basketball and the rest of the ACC lag behind other big leagues this season.

As Dellenger and other national observers have reported, the NCAA is eyeing a new governance model amid the organization and its major conferences having agreed to settle several pending antitrust legal cases at the federal level, a historic moment in college sports that paves the way for schools to directly pay players for the first time ever in revenue-sharing.

According to Dellenger, the ACC and the other power four leagues "want an expansion of their previously existing autonomous legislative powers, not only for rule-making and policy decision-making but for NCAA championships as well, controlling concepts like tournament format, revenue distribution and selection committee process."

For his piece, Dellenger interviewed commissioners from the power four conferences, including ACC commissioner Jim Phillips. Even should those leagues end up running the NCAA Tournaments in college basketball, these commissioners say a commitment will remain to provide access to the Big Dance for mid-major programs.

I hope that's the case. While I want to see Syracuse basketball back in March Madness as soon as possible, I don't want the NCAA Tournament field to just end up being teams - some of them with sub-par records - from the ACC and the other power conferences.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey said in part to Yahoo Sports, "The basketball tournament is a national and American experience. I do think what happens in March is pretty cool. The Cinderella stories are part of the fabric and we respect that reality."

Recent reports indicate that NCAA officials are in discussions with broadcast partners about potentially expanding the men's and women's NCAA Tournaments by "four or eight teams."

Dellenger adds: "The chances of the NCAA adopting the power leagues' proposal is uncertain."