“Stop talking about changing the NCAA tournament”: Duke’s Coach K vehemently opposes NCAA tournament expansion
Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has opposed the expansion of the NCAA Tournament, urging the college basketball community to stop talking about it.
Krzyzewski voiced his displeasure in Thursday's episode of the Dan Patrick Show, saying that expanding the NCAA Tournament will not work without knowing what the league will be like.
"I wish people would stop talking about changing the NCAA Tournament right now. It's a treasure; it works; it's beautiful. You don't expand something not knowing what it's going to fit into in the future.
"We do not know the future of the NCAA," the legendary Blue Devils coach, who guided the team to five NCAA championships during his tenure from 1980-2022, said.
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Since the inception of the First Four in 2011, 68 college basketball teams out of 362 have been invited to compete in the NCAA Tournament. There's an initiative to expand March Madness to at least two rounds and scrap the National Invitational Tournament and the College Basketball Invitational.
Krzyzewski, though, urged NCAA President Charlie Baker to first determine the league's future before making a move on expanding the tournament.
"I wish Charlie Baker wouldn't talk about expanding it until he knows what his organization is going to be five years from now. By the way, we're under contract for another eight years, I think, because we screwed it up," he said.
The former Duke coach describes the conference tournaments played before the NCAA Tournament proper as "priceless." Krzyzewski said that it has allowed players from other conferences to shine:
"Every kid right now that plays Division I basketball has a chance because of the conference tournaments. I wish we would publicize the conference tournaments that started last week.
"There were eight or so buzzer-beaters in the Atlantic Sun and Patriot League and all these things."
He expressed hope the officials will not approve initiatives that could destroy the dynamics of the NCAA Tournament. The Duke coach made the comments weeks after he had hailed the league's effort to include more college programs into March Madness.
Coach K has led Duke to five titles
Krzyzewski has had an eventful 42 seasons with the Blue Devils. Since he was chosen to coach the Blue Devils in 1980, the Army standout won 1,129 regular season games and led them to 101 NCAA Tournament wins and five titles.
Coach K also led Duke to 13 NCAA Regional crowns and 15 ACC tournament championships. A three-time Naismith College Coach of the Year, Krzyzewski was also picked to coach Team USA in 2005.
He guided the "Dream Team" to gold medals in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. He retired in April 2022.
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