NCAA explores expanding tournament field to 96 teams

[ou4ever]

It's not about letting NIT teams into the tournament, it's the extra week of television revenue. There were a lot of protests when the field expanded to 64.

 

[suncoastsooner]

What if OU had to play Auburn (22-11) instead of Morgan State?

Did you see Allbarn play last season? We'd have beat them to a pulp... I'd have loved to have that game because of where I live. They make OSU and aTm people look sophisticated and classy.

 

[sys]

i like the idea. i think it would make the regular season more interesting, not less interesting for upper echelon teams. as being seeded among the 1st 32 and getting a bye would be much more important than seeding is now.

it would also eliminate those boring 1-16 and 2-15 blowout games.

for those of you with no interest in seeing a game between the putative 96th and 33rd best teams in the country, just ignore those 1st round games and start watching from the 2nd round on. bigabd and i can enjoy those games without you.

the only real downside i see is that you eliminate a bit of the huge underdog excitement of the occasional 15-2 and 14-3 upset. well worth the tradeoff in my opinion.

 

[campbest]

The tournament as of right now is viewed as a reward, either for winning your conference or having an above average year everything included. Does anyone actually think this would be considered if it were really about making the tournament better? No, this is being pushed by a bunch of mid-echelon coaches who are trying to use this in the short run to gain job security, nothing more (in addition to the NCAA wanting more money). But after a few years, that novelty will have worn off and they will be pushing for something else, probably even a larger tournament. As someone else stated, why don't we just add consolation brackets and make it double-elimination?

Don't see why it needs to be "tweaked" at all, it's perfect right now. Making the tournament is an accomplishment, should stay that way.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

Right, but what I am saying is that last years Baylor team (NIT) could have defeated ANY team seeds 2-15 playing in last years NCAA Tournament on a neutral court.

First, I don't agree with that.

Second, b/c invites are handed out based on RESULTS, not how good your team may or may not be. For a team that had so much potential, as you put it, they sure didn't show up very often.

Just like the BCS isn't trying to match up the two best teams, they are trying to match up the two teams that had the best seasons. The Dance isn't any different, excluding the auto-bids. Until you expand it to include everybody, somebody is going to cry.

 

[MNsooner]

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/ncaa_expands_march_madness_to

 

[AdamsHall]

Why not keep the bracket clean and make it 128?

This ... and then just cancel the regular season. I was saying they should move it back to 32 earlier this week.

 

[drmouse]

they should do what the bcs does, just pick the two highest ranked teams and have them play for the national championship. that is the only fair way to do it. that way students and players won't miss valuable school time playing post season games.

 

[DenverSooner]

The point of the tournament is to find the best team, not give the regular season champs the easiest road for a title.

I disagree, the Tournament finds the team that is playing the best at the end of the season. It is not always the best team. There are a couple of notable examples, like Kansas in 1988. There is no way Kansas was the best team in 1988. They weren't even close to the best team that year. However, in March they played better than everyone. When NC State won the Tournament they were not the best team.

I think there were some years in the mid 90s when Kansas probably was the best team in the country and lost early in the tournament.

 

[DenverSooner]

I don't see why people have a problem with this. It would be great for the smaller schools. I would love to see it. If people are worried about extending the Tournament another week, make them play on Wednesday night.

I really like watching the little guys take on the big conference schools. Unless it is OU losing, there is nothing better than watching some small school that has no business beating a major program play a great game and have the ultimate memory for the rest of their lives. It is even better if they can do it two games in a row. The guys that play at those schools had no chance to go to a school like OU, Alabama, Minnesota, etc. Heck most of them couldn't even go to mid-majors like Butler, Tulsa, George Mason, etc. I love to see those guys win games in March. I think those victories are one of the best things in sports because it reminds us all that if we work hard, anything can happen, even a 15 seed beating a 2 seed.

 

[afaSooner]

NCAA basketball has the best post season of all sports IMO and they want to tinker with it?