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Miami coach likes idea of 96-team tourney

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Should the NCAA Tournament be expanded to 96 teams?

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Mark Duncan/AP Photo Miami coach Charlie Coles gestures to his players during the MAC tournament Thursday, March 11, 2010, in Cleveland.

Coles endorses change but says it’s not a done deal yet.

By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 10:41 AM Thursday, April 15, 2010

OXFORD — There was no hesitation when Miami University basketball coach Charlie Coles was asked about the possibility of the NCAA Tournament field being expanded from 65 to 96 teams.

“Anything that would give us a better chance of making (the NCAA field), I like it,” Coles said.

The NCAA Board of Directors is likely to discuss the matter when it meets in Indianapolis on April 29.

You can understand why Coles would be in favor of more NCAA berths.

The Mid-American Conference has become, in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee and many others, a lower-echelon mid-major conference, becoming almost exclusively a one-bid league on Selection Sunday.

In fact, the last time the MAC received a second bid was 1999 when Coles’ own RedHawks earned an at-large berth. There have been five at-large bids in the history of the MAC, and four of them have gone to Miami.

It has been suggested that the jump to 96 is a done deal.

Coles isn’t buying it.

“I’ve heard that it’s not as far along as people think it is,” he said. “It’s still in the early staged.

“Some people are saying it’s already done,” Coles said, “but we got some letters from our conference saying that’s not the case.”

The RedHawks, who last made the NCAA Tournament in 2007, finished the 2009-10 season with a record of 14-18 overall, 9-7 in the MAC.

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