Michigan State coach Tom Izzo lifts the NCAA championship trophy after the win over Florida, April 3, 2000 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. At left, Mat Ishbia raises his right arm in triumph. Msu 040300 Trophy Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK

MSU's Tom Izzo Gives Thoughts on Potential Tournament Expansion

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Aidan Champion | Last updated Jul 21, 2025 8:00 AM ET

College basketball -- and college athletics, for that matter -- has been changing rapidly, and it seems like nothing is ever going to be constant for too long.

The College Football Playoff, for example, just expanded to 12 teams last year, and now, there's already a demand for even more expansion.

Now, the NCAA Tournament, the most sacred tournament in sports, is in talks of getting its own expansion. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who is more familiar with March Madness than any active head coach in the game, having been to 27 consecutive tournaments, including eight Final Fours, is in support of the idea.

“There’s a lot more Division I teams, No. 1,” Izzo told Big Ten Network's Rick Pizzo in an interview that aired on "Big Ten Today" last week. “And there’s a lot more people that put money into basketball, No. 2. And we see that football went from four to 12, now they’re talking 16 or 18.

“I think you can water down a tournament; I don’t think we should be going to 100. I don’t know what the right number would be, but if you look at it, how many better teams are there today than there were 20 years ago? There’s a lot better teams, and there’s a lot more of them. Division I, now there’s what, 363 or something? So, I think that should play some of the part in it.”

"But I don't want to lose -- there's something about, even though I've been a part of Cinderella's slipper not fitting; I've lost to a 15 seed or a 14 seed. But that is what makes the tournament, and I think keeping those teams in and maybe expanding a little more, so you get maybe more of the better teams in, could be good.

"But at 68, it's not broken. I just think we're getting more teams. People are putting more money into basketball, so there's better teams. You look at the Big Ten and the SEC last year, it's amazing how well both of them did."

We shall see if the madness reaches another level of chaos. The NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 before adding the First Four in 2011.

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This article first appeared on Michigan State Spartans on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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