March Madness news: Joel Klatt rips NCAA Tournament format due to Cinderellas – ‘A joke’ appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Joel Klatt had a major hot take to share about his stance on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, which many people know as March Madness.
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The tournament garners enormous popularity every year. College basketball fans, even casual sports fans, come around to watch the entertaining matchups. They get witness historic upsets and performances that set the stage for the biggest stars to show off their potential at the NBA level.
However, Klatt had a differing opinion. The college football analyst gave his thoughts about the tournament during an appearance on The Next Round podcast. He described it as a joke and believes that the best teams should be the only ones qualifying for the tournament.
“In fact, hot take, I mean like the hottest of all takes that I’ve ever had in my entire life, the NCAA basketball tournament is a joke,” Klatt said.
“It’s the dumbest tournament and the least fair tournament in all of sports. We go, and we put teams at odd times on neutral sites in a one-game affair. That doesn’t crown a true champion. We’re not doing anything that tells us who’s the best team over the course of the entire season.”
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Instead of the current single-elimination format with 68 teams, Klatt proposed that he wants group stages in which teams play multiple games at the higher-seeded arenas.
What lies ahead for NCAA Tournament
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It is quite the bold take for Joel Klatt to have about the NCAA Tournament.
Rather than have Cinderella stories like 2006 George Mason Patriots or 2023 Florida Atlantic, he wants the same major-conference programs to dominate the tournament. Similar to the way he wants the College Football Playoff to look without Group of Five teams like James Madison.
“It would help in the sentiment, you know, the public sentiment, but it will be determined by finances and litigation,” Klatt said. “And the reason the Group of Five is included in this playoff is to avoid antitrust litigation — that’s it, guys. We’re not looking for a Cinderella. Nobody cares in football about James Madison, or the equivalent of George Mason going to the Final Four. Nobody cares in football about that. We don’t want Cinderellas. We want the best teams playing each other at the end.”
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March Madness allow teams from humble backgrounds to make history and put their stamp in the record books. Even if the powerhouses end up winning the titles, the tournament gives other programs a chance to be the bigger team for at least one game. That alone is the allure and prestige of the NCAA Tournament.
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