Should the NCAA Tournament Expand?
Should the NCAA tournament expand? My answer: YES! Now, I've been on the other side of the argument before - I get it.
The tournament is already formatted perfectly.
"15 and 16 seeds never win anyways".
"It's not like the teams who miss the tournament have a shot to win".
"If you can't make it into a 65 team field, you shouldn't be allowed to complain".
Yep, I've said those same things.
Still though, the more I think about it, the more I completely fall in love with the idea of 96 teams.
128 teams would be a disaster, as the first round would be incredibly anti-climatic AND you're forcing the great teams to have to play an additional game.
But, 96 teams would be perfect and here's why: With a 96 team field, you can do away with the stupid play-in game and the NIT tournament.
What would then happen is the selection committee would go about picking teams in the same format.
There would be a set amount of automatic bids, and then the committee would decide the rest of the at large bids.
Once the field is determined, the top 32 teams would get seeded first.
This means that seeds 1 through 8 would be set in each of the four regions.
These 32 teams essentially get a bye because they don't have to participate in, what I call, the "preliminary round".
The preliminary round would consist of 64 teams and it would decide the remaining 32 teams in the main bracket.
The 32 preliminary round winners earn themselves a spot where the real competition starts.
It's worth noting here that the #1 overall seed in the tournament would play the winner of seeds 95 and 96, the #2 overall seed would play the winner of seeds 93 and 94, and all the way down to where the #32 overall seed plays the winner of seeds 33 and 34.
What this does is it gives every team a chance to prove themselves.
This is not professional sports - this is college, and the talent levels from team to team and league to league are so incredibly widespread that you simply cannot use the "perform in the regular season" argument.
Everyone's regular season is so different that you really need to give everyone at least a mathematical chance.
I do realize that the odds of any of the preliminary rounders actually winning the NCAA tournament would be slim to none, but that's not the point of including them.
The point of including them is to see how they match up against everyone else.
Also, including them will make for much more excitement because of upsets and mini-Cinderella runs.
These small college programs need coverage in order to get recognized, so giving them at least a chance to win a game or two on the national stage could be all they need.
I love the NCAA tournament the way it is.
I can't think of many other sporting events that are more exciting.
I'll be perfectly content if the format never changes.
But, as a former avid proponent of no change, I have to say that even I have come to realize how much greater it could actually become! You think there's madness in March now? Add 32 more teams and you'll get March madness on steroids!
The tournament is already formatted perfectly.
"15 and 16 seeds never win anyways".
"It's not like the teams who miss the tournament have a shot to win".
"If you can't make it into a 65 team field, you shouldn't be allowed to complain".
Yep, I've said those same things.
Still though, the more I think about it, the more I completely fall in love with the idea of 96 teams.
128 teams would be a disaster, as the first round would be incredibly anti-climatic AND you're forcing the great teams to have to play an additional game.
But, 96 teams would be perfect and here's why: With a 96 team field, you can do away with the stupid play-in game and the NIT tournament.
What would then happen is the selection committee would go about picking teams in the same format.
There would be a set amount of automatic bids, and then the committee would decide the rest of the at large bids.
Once the field is determined, the top 32 teams would get seeded first.
This means that seeds 1 through 8 would be set in each of the four regions.
These 32 teams essentially get a bye because they don't have to participate in, what I call, the "preliminary round".
The preliminary round would consist of 64 teams and it would decide the remaining 32 teams in the main bracket.
The 32 preliminary round winners earn themselves a spot where the real competition starts.
It's worth noting here that the #1 overall seed in the tournament would play the winner of seeds 95 and 96, the #2 overall seed would play the winner of seeds 93 and 94, and all the way down to where the #32 overall seed plays the winner of seeds 33 and 34.
What this does is it gives every team a chance to prove themselves.
This is not professional sports - this is college, and the talent levels from team to team and league to league are so incredibly widespread that you simply cannot use the "perform in the regular season" argument.
Everyone's regular season is so different that you really need to give everyone at least a mathematical chance.
I do realize that the odds of any of the preliminary rounders actually winning the NCAA tournament would be slim to none, but that's not the point of including them.
The point of including them is to see how they match up against everyone else.
Also, including them will make for much more excitement because of upsets and mini-Cinderella runs.
These small college programs need coverage in order to get recognized, so giving them at least a chance to win a game or two on the national stage could be all they need.
I love the NCAA tournament the way it is.
I can't think of many other sporting events that are more exciting.
I'll be perfectly content if the format never changes.
But, as a former avid proponent of no change, I have to say that even I have come to realize how much greater it could actually become! You think there's madness in March now? Add 32 more teams and you'll get March madness on steroids!
