March Madness to Be Expanded by 31 Teams?
According to an unnamed espn source, it’s a “done deal“. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will be expanded from 65 teams to 96 teams, which means 31 games will be added to the tournament, maybe as soon as 2011. From a basketball fan’s standpoint, this seems pretty cool. From a fan of a certain school or two, this seems like a TERRIBLE idea.
Right now, it takes six wins to bring home a national championship. With 96 teams, it would take eight wins. Does this mean that fans will start throwing octopi on the hardwood like they do during playoff season at Red Wing games? That’d be an ugly mess.
It’s already tough enough for the top teams to make it to the Final Four, why make them play two more lesser teams? We already know that Michigan State is a much better team than Lehigh. There is no point in giving Lehigh a chance to win the lottery on one certain night and pull off a ridiculous upset (when they wouldn’t have been one of the original 65 teams).
On the flip side, wouldn’t it be cool to see Lehigh get their shot and take down Kentucky, easing the way for Izzo and the boys to get to the promised land?
Nah, I was wrong. Even though I consider myself a huge college basketball fan, this is still a stupid concept no matter which way you slice it.
Don’t expand the tournament to 96 teams, NCAA. Please, don’t do it. Well, unless the Lehigh cheerleaders resemble UCLA’s. Then it may be a decent idea.
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I disagree. If Michigan State is better than Lehigh, they need to prove it in a playoff game. The NCAA tournament is a great sporting event because it gives many deserving schools the "chance" to win the title (although USA Today always gives schools like Canisius and Robert Morris a 10 trillion to one chance of winning!). More realistically though, it gives small schools or schools that are trying to build a national program (UB Bulls) a shot at maybe winning one or two tournament games, which for those schools, is like winning the championship. The tournament is so popular because not only do you get to see the top programs like Duke and Michigan St., but you also get to see the lesser known programs who often play in exciting games and produce some great upsets. You might be right though that 96 teams is too many thereby diluting the significance of making the tournament in the first place. To be continued…..
Hey Erik, good points. I read this morning that Coach K is also a proponent of a 96-team tournament.
I think your last point is my prominent argument for keeping the tournament how it is. If 31 more teams were added, the regular season and conference tournaments' importance would be lessened. I think there are enough potential Cinderellas already. If a 16 seed hasn't yet beaten a 1 seed, why should a lesser team (an 18 or 19 seed, if you will) be allowed a shot? My argument for UB is to win your conference – or at least dominate your conference the way Michigan State, Duke, Kansas, etc. normally do.
Other than the baseball playoffs/World Series (because I'm a baseball nerd), the NCAA Tournament is by far the best postseason in sports. I don't think adding 31 teams would improve anything.
The important issue Tim, which you didnt address -is how the hell do you fit a 96 team bracket on a standard sheet of paper? This would totally f up office pools!!!