Dennis Gates on NCAA Tournament expansion: 'I would like to see it double'

Talk of expanding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is heating up as media days come around. But one of the boldest ideas came from new Missouri head coach Dennis Gates — and it would certainly put the “madness” in March Madness.

During SEC media day on Wednesday, Gates said he wants to see March Madness go from 68 teams to 136 teams, which would double the current field. He cited the “bubble” teams that miss out on the tournament field every year, and his solution would take that number away so those players and coaches make it.

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“I would like to see it double, to be honest with you,” Gates said, via The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker. “There are some great coaches left out of the tournament and some great players we don’t get to see.”

Gates is gearing up for his first season at Mizzou after spending the last three seasons at Cleveland State. The Tigers are coming off a 12-21 overall record and 5-13 mark in SEC play in the last year of the Cuonzo Martin era.

Greg Sankey on NCAA Tournament expansion: The division’s grown over time

Gates’ comments came the same day SEC commissioner Greg Sankey discussed the idea of expanding the tournament field, saying 68 teams isn’t enough. He cited Texas A&M’s absence from last year’s field as a reason behind his thinking.

“What I’ve been through is a set on conversations at the national level, about being fearful through this NCAA transformation process that things would be taken away. My advocacy was, rather than worrying about taking things away, why don’t we take a step back and think about how we grow?” Sankey said. “The division’s grown over time. The number of members, the quality of basketball, the commitment that I’ve talked about here, the expectations that are upon any number of programs nationally. So, why don’t we facilitate those opportunities?

“It’s informed by the fact that I think [Texas] A&M was playing as well as anyone in men’s basketball last March and didn’t have access. Then you look at baseball, where Ole Miss is recognized as the last team in, and then is of such competitive quality that it wins a national championship. It opens your mind to say, are we leaving some of these teams in a bandwidth of maybe the top 50 out, from a net standpoint? That should be looked at differently.”