Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has coached teams that have lost in the NCAA men’s tournament to Nevada, George Mason, Memphis and Middle Tennessee over the years.
And the coach, who commands a $6.2 million salary presumably predicated on the popularity of college basketball and, more broadly, its postseason—expressed support Wednesday for ending automatic access to the tournament for mid- and low-major conference champions.
Izzo told reporters ahead of the Spartans’ first-round game against Mississippi State Friday in Charlotte that automatic bids for mid- and low-major conference tournament champions have “got to be looked at seriously.”
“While everybody likes the upsets in the first round I’m not sure if that’s true as it goes on,” Izzo said, per ESPN’s David Hale.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made similar statements Friday that proved wildly unpopular.
The NCAA men’s tournament has long had a testy relationship with non-power conferences. As recently as 1984, 10 mid- and low-major teams were made to play in five play-in games to reach the main field. Automatic bids spent much of the 1980s in jeopardy.
When given the chance, however, smaller schools repeatedly proved to be worthy challengers to their more moneyed counterparts—gradually shaping the hyper-lucrative tournament of today.
