“It’s definitely TBD right now, I’d say,’’ says a former NCAA Tournament selection committee member, who was granted anonymity in exchange for candor. But the threat never really went away, and as the football Power 5 shrinks to the Power 4, and the expense of doing college athletic business continues to rise via name, image and likeness, it feels even more real now than a decade ago. That led, initially, to a decent dose of football autonomy/forgiveness from the NCAA 10 years ago, and even more independence this year, with the restructuring of the NCAA governance model allowing sport-specific silos. Since conference realignment began, folks have feared a fracture between the football-playing power schools and everyone else. Multiple sources who have worked with or served on the NCAA Tournament selection committee agree that a small compromise in expanding the field - somewhere north of the current 68, but ideally less than 96 teams - could serve as the ideal best olive branch to prevent the real threat to the whole operation: namely that the football-playing schools opt out of the tourney altogether, and form their own. Multiple sources told The Athletic that a stretched bracket likely needs to be in place in time for the 2025 tournament, after the reorgs in the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and ACC take over. A future that, by the way, is not exactly off in the distance. Now, with conferences ballooning memberships and cannibalizing the century-old Pac-12 in the process, even hoops folks are grudgingly coming to recognize that a bigger bracket might be the best way to ensure the NCAA Tournament’s future. That, however, was before college athletics went haywire yet again. As recently as July, the Division I basketball committee said it had discussed expansion but that no decisions were imminent.
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