The ACC is proposing an NCAA Tournament with every Division I school in college basketball (WHAT?!)

by:Jack Pilgrim09/09/20
The NCAA Tournament is called March Madness for a reason, but the latest proposal for the upcoming 2020-21 season will guarantee unprecedented postseason chaos this year. According to numerous national analysts - Jon Rothstein, Jeff Goodman, and Pat Forde are among those to report the news - the ACC is proposing that every Division I team in college basketball make the NCAA Tournament this year. "The ACC has already had discussions with Dan Gavitt and the NCAA regarding an NCAA Tournament in 2021 featuring every Division 1 team in college basketball," Rothstein reported. "All ACC programs agreed earlier today to have every single Division 1 team in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Several are expected to release official statements later today. This is being done to "celebrate" college basketball." "The ACC coaches will propose an all-inclusive NCAA tournament," Goodman added. "The coaches just finished the call and voted unanimously on this. ... This idea of EVERY team being included in the NCAA tournament this year is spearheaded by Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski. The proposal would mean that every single team in the D-1 ranks would be included in the NCAA tournament." "Can confirm reports that the ACC basketball coaches are proposing an ALL-IN NCAA tournament," Forde reported. '"Just working on the bracket," said a source. ... Plan would turn conference championship week into the opening round of the Big Dance. From there the field is reduced to 64-68 by the following week." "For the last 21 Wednesdays, we as ACC head coaches have been meeting to discuss options for college basketball in 20-21. We are united," Louisville head coach Chris Mack said in a statement. "The safety of our players is paramount. The ability to incentiivize the regular season without mandating a select number of non-conference and conference games provides options and flexibility for all member institutions. "As ACC head coaches, we strongly believe it's in the game's best interest to have an all-inclusive 2021 NCAA Tournament." https://twitter.com/CoachChrisMack/status/1303705125270192128?s=20 “This is a unique time and it’s time to do something different," Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim told Goodman.  There are currently 350 schools that are full members of 32 Division I basketball conferences, along with seven programs in transition from NCAA Division II that are officially considered new Division I members. According to Goodman, though, "only" 346 of those schools would be eligible for this tournament, as seven of the 357 are reclassifiers, three are ineligible due to APR, and Oklahoma State has been declared ineligible due to recruiting violations. Would you be up for a mass-chaos edition of March Madness this year?

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