Newsstand: Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti talks potential NCAA Tournament expansion
Tweets Of The Day
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti met with the media at Big Ten Basketball Media Days this week, discussing hot topics surrounding Michigan’s conference and ever-changing college athletics scene. Petitti was asked about potential NCAA Tournament expansion and if he has a strong opinion on the divisive topic, one way or the other.
“I do,” he replied. “I think, look, something like that I really rely on what our coaches think, to be honest. In terms of the first place to go to have conversations about expansion, it should be our coaches who do it and get their take on the way they think it would work.
“I think on the NCAA side we’ve had a lot of conversations with NCAA staff, with Dan [Gavitt], with President Baker. I think there are some positive feelings towards expansion in our league.
“I think also the detail of how the seeding would work, I just need to hear more about how that would work depending on how many teams they had, what the seeding looks like, what the first two days look like, because it’s just not as simple as saying add more teams.
“I think it has an impact on actually how you structure those first couple of days and what types of changes they would be considering or not.
“I think that’s relevant. It impacts how you feel about the idea to expand.”
The Michigan vs. Washington betting line has moved around quite a bit.
Michigan’s five games have drawn the second most television viewers this season.
Michigan alum and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has said he’d be willing to provide an NIL deal for a future Wolverine quarterback. Per On3, he said this week that he has spoken with head coach Sherrone Moore about a partnership. From On3:
Portnoy explained that he does have concerns about getting overly involved with NIL dealings, but that he’s willing to spend the money.
“My problem with the NIL, besides it’s a lot of money just to kind of throw out the window, but I’m willing to, like do it,” Dave Portnoy said. “I do not want to talk to other people. I don’t want to — I am not trying to get in the middle of the NIL, I do not want people I don’t know calling me, I don’t want to talk to this guy. I don’t want emails from that guy. I don’t want any of that. I don’t want any of that.”
Quote Of The Day
“Basketball is a game of size. When you look at the NBA, when you look at the highest level that the game’s played at, there’s positional size at every position typically, with the exception being the point guard. So it just allows us to be bigger. Our court dimensions don’t change as players get bigger. And so just to have that type of size that can play together and when you’re bigger, you can offset a little bit of foot speed. And so I do think that those guys will be able to cover for each other. They’ll be switchable and Danny’s shown a real ability to guard on the perimeter, moving his feet.”
— Michigan basketball head coach Dusty May
Headlines Of The Day
• Anthony Broome, The Wolverine: What we learned at Big Ten Basketball Media Day: Hype intensifies for transfer combo, freshmen exceeding expectations, more
• Chris Balas and Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine: INSIDE THE FORT: Michigan quarterbacks update (Tuttle rising?), Washington intel, more
• Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine: How many current Michigan, Washington players saw time in the national championship game?
• EJ Holland, The Wolverine: Top 100 DL Aiden Harris talks Michigan, gives summer visit high marks
• EJ Holland, The Wolverine: ITB Extra: Four-star Auburn commit locks in Michigan official visit
The post Newsstand: Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti talks potential NCAA Tournament expansion appeared first on On3.
