Calipari pushes back on possible NCAA tourney expansion

Kentucky head coach John Calipari doesn't want NCAA Tournament expansion - and he's not shy to say so.

"I hope it stays where it is," Calipari told reporters before the Wildcats' opening-round matchup against 14-seed Oakland, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor. "Don't mess with something that's great," he added.

The 65-year-old pushed back on the idea that expanding the NCAA Tournament will fix any issues surrounding the Big Dance. He used the College Football Playoff's expansion to demonstrate that inviting more teams will only increase the number of programs that are upset that they were left out.

Calipari's comments come after reports surfaced that the NCAA is considering increasing the number of tournament teams from 68 to 80, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey recently spoke up in favor of changing the tournament format, lamenting that the automatic bids from smaller conferences keep stronger teams out of the field.

"We are giving away highly competitive opportunities for automatic qualifiers (from smaller leagues), and I think that pressure is going to rise as we have more competitive basketball leagues at the top end because of expansion," Sankey said, according to Thamel.

Texas and Oklahoma will join the SEC for the 2024-25 season, while the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and WCC will add teams from the soon-to-be-defunct Pac-12.