Morgantown, West Virginia – West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins made headlines today when he said that major conferences should create their own postseason tournament and ditch the current NCAA Tournament.
“They’re doing it in football,” Huggins said earlier today at the Big 12 media event. “Why wouldn’t they do it? The presidents and athletic directors that have all the juice, why wouldn’t they do it? Makes no sense why they wouldn’t. I think it’s more ‘Why wouldn’t then?’ than ‘Why would they?’ And the the other people can have their own tournament.”
Huggins is essentially against the idea of major programs playing in the same tournament as Cinderella teams due to difference in support the teams receive.
“Those Cinderella schools are putting 200 people, at best, in their gym,” Huggins said. “We’re putting 14,000+ people in ours.”
Huggins added, “We have no power because we don’t generate the same kind of TV income that football does, but we also don’t try to right now.”
Although it’s unlikely to ever happen, the move would make financial sense for schools like West Virginia University, who currently have to share television revenue with much smaller schools during the NCAA Tournament.
However, it’s really a very greedy idea that would effectively kill the magic of the NCAA Tournament, where any and every team is capable of winning college basketball’s national championship.
