HBCU coach warns Cinderella teams will disappear in expanded March Madness tournament

The expansion of the NCAA March Madness tournament will have effects that are felt around college basketball. But, if the field is expanded to 76 teams, it will have an unintended effect that could serve to weaken what many feel is special about the NCAA tournament.

Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones believes that the expansion will make it harder for traditional Cinderella teams to make upsets, as it’s widely speculated that the Power 5 conference could likely fill out the new slots in the field. He spoke about it in an interview with Marc Davis of News 3 WTKR

“For teams like us or conferences like us, I don’t think it really does a big service…Those eight [spots] are just going to go to the eight at-large high-major teams. We’re still going to have to win our conference, just like 25 other conferences in the country… It doesn’t really make that much of an impact.”

He added, “Now your Cinderella teams will just be the ninth-place team from the SEC,” Jones noted. “It won’t be a Norfolk State beating a Missouri or things like that so I think that it doesn’t really help us that much, but it should be exciting. 76 teams. I know they’ve expanded slowly but surely over the years. It’s the first expansion in a long time so it should be interesting to see how it plays out.”

Norfolk State has made the March Madness tournament three times in Jones’s coaching tenure: 2021, 2022, and 2025. No matter how many teams are in the tournament, he hopes that his team is included.

“I don’t care if it’s 128 as long as we’re in it,” Jones laughed. “I don’t care what it is, to be honest with you. If it’s 76, hopefully we’re one of the 76. We’ve been one of the 68 a few times so hopefully we’re one of the 76 in this season coming up.”

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