Welcome to the Morning Commute

Today we’re talking about potential NCAA Tournament expansion.

We won’t spend the last four commute posts talking Mizzou Football Recruiting (though the Tigers did land three-star Edwardsville WR Devyon Hill-Lomax on Wednesday).

Instead, let’s talk about the potential NCAA Tournament expansion where it could increase to 76 teams in 2026 — per a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Tuesday.

For someone who loves college basketball, more NCAA Tournament games should be a good thing, right? Well, not if the selection committee is going to reward eight more mediocre power conference teams who were probably undeserving anyway to reach the field of 68. I’m assuming the majority of people don’t want to see a 17-15 Syracuse team have a shot at the Big Dance. (“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”)

If you’re going to expand the tournament to 76 teams, I guess that’s fine — but maybe reward the deserving mid-major teams that won their conference regular season (but did not win their conference tournament title for the automatic bid)?

Yeah, I’m still annoyed that Mizzou lost to Drake in the first round, but that Drake team entered the NCAA Tournament with a 30-3 record … as an 11 seed. It’s clear that those Bulldogs deserved a better seeding fate. If Drake would have lost the MVC Championship Game to Bradley, it’s possible that they wouldn’t have received an at-large bid … and that’s a shame.

I don’t know what the exact format would look like, but if you’re going to expand to 76 teams — simply reward the mid-majors as the eight more teams. That’s just my opinion on it.

Time for a poll.

Poll
What are your thoughts on a potential NCAA Tournament expansion?

  • 0%

    Leave it as is — 68 teams is perfect

    (0 votes)

  • 0%

    More basketball! 76 teams is the way to go. but reward the mid-majors.

    (0 votes)

  • 0%

    Heck, reduce it to the original 64 teams

    (0 votes)

0 votes total

Vote Now

“But three-stars? Numerous four-star athletes made commitments today to top programs including Ohio State grabbing a pair, and BYU securing its quarterback of the future in five-star Ryder Lyons. We will have to see if Eliah Drinkwitz can pull some higher ranked recruits, but he still has plenty of time.

Mizzou’s 2026 recruiting class hasn’t brought in the highly ranked prospects …. yet.

“Unfortunately for Mizzou, Moss had the best game of his career against the Tigers last season, when he exploded for 138 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries. That included a 75-yard house call on the first play of the second half. One of many performances worth forgetting for Mizzou that day.”

Will the Mizzou defense respond for revenge on Le’Veon Moss when Texas A&M is in COMO this season?

“It’s been a relatively quiet spring for Football recruiting, but this week has felt like the old days where it just seems like Eli Drinkwitz is sending out bat signals left and right. Two days after adding Chicago RB Maxwell Warner, and one day after adding Michigan OT Khalief Canty, Jr the Bat signal went out again this morning.”

Edwardsville WR Devyon Hill-Lomax becomes the third commitment in three straight days for the Mizzou Football program.

Rock M Radio’s Dive Cuts with Sam Snelling and Matthew Harris: Diving into Mizzou’s non-conference slate

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