Last week, the NCAA officially announced that its annual men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments will expand from 68 to 76 teams, drawing mixed reactions from coaches, players, and fans.
St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino has participated in multiple editions of the tournament, before and after it expanded to its 68-team field, including this past March’s installment.
His team was in a stacked East Region, which also included Big East foe UConn and the No. 1 overall seed Duke Blue Devils, the team that eliminated the Red Storm.
And based on a recent message he sent out, Pitino thinks the critics of this newly expanded tournament need to stop getting bent out of shape over it.
“When I hear people are upset the NCAA expanded to 76 teams, I think ‘why and who cares?’. The best teams advance and more teams get to experience the greatest tournament on earth,” Pitino wrote in an X message.
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The annual March Madness event typically attracts a massive number of fans to attend, watch, and wager on games throughout the tournament.
The goal of the expansion is to give more teams a chance to participate, which should increase viewership and help schools with funding, and assist the NCAA with network deals in the coming years.
Rather than having the First Four games in Dayton, Ohio, the new-look tournament will have 12 opening-round games, played in Dayton and at another neutral site yet to be revealed.
Pitino holds a 791–315 record as a college basketball coach, winning National Championships while coaching Kentucky and Louisville. He’s yet to accomplish that feat with St. John’s, who have looked close in recent seasons, but he has also contended with Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies.
Hurley also weighed in on the tournament expansion, saying he originally wasn’t fond of it but was coming around to the idea. He indicated that as long as it wouldn’t hurt teams that earned higher seeds, he was alright with it.
UConn is currently one of the top four teams among favorites to win next year’s college basketball championship, thanks to returning players such as Braylon Mullins, Silas DeMary Jr., and Jayden Ross, along with strong additions from the transfer portal.
Pitino’s Red Storm aren’t quite as high in the odds, but are among the top 15 contenders. While they lost their standout Zuby Ejiofor to the NBA Draft and tournament hero Dylan Darling to the portal, they have star Ian Jackson and forward Ruben Prey returning.
And Pitino realizes that all that matters in the tournament is playing well at the right time of year and going on a streak through March Madness that ends with cutting down the nets.
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