Norfolk State men’s basketball coach Robert Jones doesn’t expect the MEAC or mid-major conferences to benefit from the NCAA Tournament expansion.
“There’s no over-the-top reaction because you knew it was going to happen,” Jones told WTKR-3 sports director Marc Davis earlier this week. “Anytime there’s big money involved, the more teams you get in, the more games you can have, the more tickets you can sell and expand your TV package.”
Jones said that the expansion, which takes the men’s and women’s tournament from 68 teams to 76, would likely not help his Spartans or the MEAC in terms of getting multiple bids for the tournament.
“For a team or a conference like us, I don’t think it does us a big service,” he said. “People say ‘There’s eight more teams, maybe you’ll have a better shot.’ Those eight bids are just going to go to the major conference teams, so we’re going to have to win our conference just like 25 other teams just to get into the tournament.”
MEAC teams will not be Cinderella in NCAA expansion
Jones, who will be entering his 14th season as Norfolk State head coach, continued, “Your Cinderella team will now just be the ninth-place team from the SEC; it won’t be a Norfolk State beating a Missouri. It doesn’t help us that much.”
Jones, a three-time MEAC tournament championship coach, says he’s still ready for the opportunity to make the Big Dance, no matter how many teams are in it.
“I don’t care if it’s 128 teams, as long as we’re in it,” he said. “We’ve been one of the 68 teams a few teams, so hopefully we’ll be one of the 76 teams this season coming up.”
