Kentucky head basketball coach Mark Pope wants the regular season expanded to 40 games. I love college basketball as much as anyone, but I think that’s a crazy idea for multiple reasons.
However, let’s give Mr. Pope the floor to make his pitch, and then I’ll explain why he’s wrong. Seriously, would any USF fan want to prolong their agony this season by watching nine more men’s games this season?
“The seasons fly by every year. It's like, it's just not long enough. I just think it's time to expand our season out to a 40-game season, like it should be a 40-game season, especially with all the change in the turnover, the lack of continuity of teams, and also with revenue sharing and everything else, it doesn't make any sense that we're at a 31-game season. It makes no sense,” Pope said.
“And so I'm a massive advocate, maybe the only one in the world.”
On that last point, he’s probably right. I haven’t seen a show of hands, but I doubt many were raised to support this idea.
"The season's not long enough. I think it's time to expand to a 40-game season. Especially with all of the change and lack of continuity year-to-year. It doesn't make any sense that we're at a 31-game season"
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) February 28, 2025
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Pope continued to speak.
“But we need to expand the season to 40 games, even for the guys that go on to be pros. It gives them a better sense. You know, I've talked about this, but I remember by the time I got to all-star break my first year in the (NBA), I was like, this is insanity. I have 41 (games) plus the playoffs to go. I got 60 games left. So I think it's a good prep that way.”
CollegeVine.com reported that 1.2 percent of NCAA men’s basketball teams can expect to be drafted by an NBA team. Put another way, 98.8 percent of the players won’t need those nine extra games to prepare for a pro career.
They could, however, use the extra classroom time to prepare for whatever career they follow when they move on from one arena to a new one in the working world.
Pope’s idea doesn’t make sense for another reason. The season already runs from November into March. Squeezing nine more games into that calendar would reduce practice time and add more travel, making for a poorer product.
Also, after the 40-game season, there are conference tournaments and the NCAAs. Teams could play anywhere from three to five games in their conference tournament, and those advancing to the Final Four would have five or six additional contests.
You’d be closing in on 50 games, and we haven’t even thought about the extra money athletic departments would have to budget for something like this.
Forget March; this idea is just madness.
Thirty-one games are more than enough.