A10 Talk has obtained documents indicating that the NCAA is considering adapting a new metric system for evaluating teams in the NCAA Tournament. These changes are being spearheaded by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, who has said that if changes aren’t made, that the SEC would consider leaving the NCAA altogether.
The people who leaked us the documents have said that if the changes are implemented, that it could literally be the death of mid-majors in the NCAA Tournament.
Most notable of Sankey’s demands is the elimination of auto bids. While it is currently the only way that many mid-majors make it to the NCAA Tournament, Sankey said in communications that such schools are “money sucking leeches” and that while such NCAA credits are vital for many small programs, it would be far better if those programs went to power conference schools that heroically go 2-16 in conference play with $3 million NIL budgets. Sankey went as far as to say in one email that it would better if many mid-major schools just “closed their athletic departments because it would help SEC teams gain more fans, particularly in the Northeast where people still stubbornly root for local schools”.
Sankey also proposed changes to the NET, such as giving teams a bonus or penalty based on the conference they are in. Under this new system, it would be impossible for a team in a conference other than the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big East to be lower than top 100, and impossible for a team in any other conference to be top 75. He has simultaneously proposed that no team with a NET higher than 75 can qualify for an auto-bid.
Lastly, Sankey advocated for getting rid of the quad system. Instead, he suggested where the sorting mechanism is based on conference. If the opponent is a power conference opponent, it is a Q1 game. If it is anyone else, it is a Q-100, and for a victory to matter in the selection committee’s eyes against a Q-100 team, it would have to win by at least 35 on their home court, with an exception being made for power conference schools, who Sankey suggested get mysteriously huge NET boosts for every buy game they win at home.
Other coaches from around the SEC gave their comments on the new proposal, notably Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard. When asked, Beard said, “I love it. Mid-major teams aren’t getting any worse, so the only way to choke the life out of them is to continue to make it harder and harder for them to ever make any type of money through college sports, even if the end result is denying tens of thousands of kids the opportunity to use sports to gain an education.”
New Texas head coach Sean Miller also gave his thoughts, saying< “There’s nothing more important in collegiate athletics than loyalty. Staying in one place and developing relationships with a community is always at the forefront of my personality and philosophy. I appreciate the SEC being loyal to its teams that play tough opponents every single night and would appreciate the NCAA’s cooperation in staying loyal to the teams that make it the most money. They don’t understand that teams in the Big East have it so easy. Beating DePaul and Georgetown by 20+ points twice a year is not showing you are a good team. However, going 3-17 in the hardest conference in America? That’s a story that would rival The Blind Side and the Miracle on Ice combined. We need metrics that reflect that story.”
Sankey says this changes are necessary if the NCAA wants to kill the soul of college basketball once and for all and make the second most popular college sport finally bend its knee to the college football programs and let them strip it for parts and leave it a destroyed husk, as he and many others have been wishing to do so for years.
When reached for comment, Maryland assistant coach David Cox said he was “too busy game planning for Tre Mitchell” to respond.
