The NCAA Considered A 16-Team Tournament Before Its Decision To Cancel

As with many things in the sports world and across the globe in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, things changed rapidly with regard to the 2020 NCAA Tournament. In a matter of hours, March Madness changed from its “normal” setup to a tournament scheduled to play without fans and, finally, to the full cancellation of the men’s and women’s tournaments. Since then, chatter has emerged that the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee is even considering the release of what would have been the 68-team field, in part to honor the teams that would have been chosen if the tournament actually took place.

With that said, an exceptionally interesting hypothetical seemingly took place, with Ralph Russo of the Associated Press bringing word that the committee considered the implementation of a shortened, 16-team tournament. Russo caught up with NCAA vice president of men’s basketball Dan Gavitt, who indicated that the committee spent “a significant amount of time very late Wednesday night trying to figure out alternative models.” One such lead was Gavitt’s proposal to have the committee choose 16 teams, covering what he believed to be “eight or nine” Division I conferences, and have them descend on Atlanta for a tournament that would take place in a single long weekend.

“Far from ideal. Far from perfect,” Gavitt told the AP. “Imperfect as it may be, that was one of the only reasonable options we thought we could at least maintain some level of our tournaments.”

By the time Thursday arrived, though, the plan was untenable, with Gavitt noting that the news of Rudy Gobert’s positive coronavirus test played a part in tipping the scales.

“There was a real concern about not being inclusive enough, with only 16 teams,” Gavitt said. “But the other thing that was in play at that point in committee members’ minds, and we saw this play out at conference tournaments, once an NBA player was infected, I think it started to really hit home for the players, from what I’ve heard from coaches by text message and anecdotally.”

Obviously, this proposal would not have enjoyed a 100 percent approval rating, especially with smaller schools left out of the mix. Beyond that, there would’ve been serious push-back on bringing that many players into one city (proposed to be Atlanta, where the Final Four was set to be played) amid coronavirus concerns, and the right decision was to shut the entire thing down. Still, this is food for thought on what might’ve transpired on the floor and, in a time without sports, many will be dreaming of what a five-day, truncated tournament would’ve looked like.

Written by: Uproxx