Mountaintop View 3-27-24. March Madness expansion, NCAA Tournament Units, New Mexico Spring Ball, Sophia Knight, POTW

March Madness is returning tomorrow! And San Diego State plays on Thursday. Plus, other updates in the world of college sports. Through it all, we have you covered. Take a look at today’s links, plus the content coming your way on our site.

March Madness expansion critiques.

Chris Vannini shared his thoughts on SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s comments, and they are not in agreement with each other. Sankey is advocating for March Madness expansion but wants to relook at automatic bids for small conferences. Small schools were at it again at the start of the tournament, pulling off a number of upsets, most notably Oakland beating Kentucky and Yale topping Auburn in the first round. Sankey and the SEC already pulled a power play with conference expansion and then how that revenue is distributed. Now it seems like they have their sights set on overtaking the NCAA Tournament by stacking the deck in their favor. Hopefully that doesn’t happen, because the upsets are what make March Madness madness.

Mountain West MBB cashing in on tournament opportunities.

While the 4-5 record of conference-record 6 Mountain West tournament teams may not be anything to get excited about, the units the conference is receiving definitely are. Geoff Grammer breaks down the payout process the NCAA and Moutain West uses, with each unit basically equating to $31,000 for every MW school per year for the next six years. Last season, thanks to San Diego State, the Mountain West received a record 8 units. This year, they have broken that record and are due at least 10, depending on how SDSU does going forward. Grammer breaks down the payment schedule for the six-year cycle, and the bottom line is more money is coming int to schools. Keep in mind this was written before Utah State and SDSU played Sunday.

Lobo’s biggest questions entering spring ball.

New Mexico is one of the last teams in the Mountain West and there are no shortage of questions for this team. It starts with the offensive line, which was a strength of last year’s team and is now almost a complete unknown following departures. There will be a quarterback competition and the offensive staff is focused on learning who their top players are and what they do best in order to know how to cater the offense around them. On defense, a lot of focus will be figuring how they will transition from a 3-3-5 scheme to a 3-4 base, although perhaps some elements will be similar. Then it will be about looking to see which transfers will be making the biggest impact and carving out roles on the team.

Knight leading nation in hits.

Baseball/Softball Players of the Week

On the horizon:

• Later today: Peak Perspective: Beef Jerky, MBB, and College Football Playoff
• Later today: San Diego State Game Preview, 3 Keys to Victory
• Coming Thursday: 3 Reasons San Diego State will reach the Final Four and 3 Reasons they won’t
• Coming Thursday: San Diego State How To Watch, Odds, and the actual game against UConn.
• Coming Friday: Reacts Results