This is the greatest event in all sports - let's change it!

[danwismar]

For the life of me I can't understand why (other than the obvious $$$ reasons) the NCAA would even consider f**king with the greatest sporting event ever by expanding the field by 50%.

The obvious effects would be to dilute the quality of the play...make conference tournaments virtually meaningless...reward sub-500 teams and coaches...what else?

But the even more obvious argument against expanding the field is....IT'S TREMENDOUS JUST AS IT IS!!!!!

It ain't broke, you idiots! So stop trying to fix it!

Discuss.....and please...someone...tell me what the upside is.

[jordan kramer]

i can't tell u the upside i completely agree. i been screaming this for as long as they been talking about expansion. 64 is perfect, u get good bubble teams, enough potential cinderellas, great matchups in the first round, and the best couple weekends in all of sports. bar none. yet the coaches and big wigs see a few extra potential dollars out there they don't have their hands on and they're willing to screw up the best thing going for their sport to grab the cash. like wiz said, someone explain to me why diluting the field with 32 more sub .500, mediocre, major conference teams is better for the tournament?

[peeker643]

I can swing the Thursday/Friday off of work in most years and that's where the momentum is built for the rest of the tourney. But my eyes were glossed over on Sunday night. If they water it down more I think it spreads out the tourney too thin. The four or five days between Selections and Tip on Thursday is necessary IMO to build the excitement.

Leave it alone. Please.

Not to mention I need every minute available to organize pools as it is.

[hermanfontenot]

There is no upside, unless you want more high-major teams with 7-9 & 6-10 conference records to get invited. Frankly, there are too many of those teams as it is. I thought Georgia Tech was absolute garbage, they shouldn't have been anywhere near the Tournament. With 96 teams you get two, three, many Georgia Techs.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

There is no upside, unless you want more high-major teams with 7-9 & 6-10 conference records to get invited. Frankly, there are too many of those teams as it is. I thought Georgia Tech was absolute garbage, they shouldn't have been anywhere near the Tournament. With 96 teams you get two, three, many Georgia Techs.

Yep. I pretty much agree with everything said here.

[peeker643]

There is no upside, unless you want more high-major teams with 7-9 & 6-10 conference records to get invited. Frankly, there are too many of those teams as it is. I thought Georgia Tech was absolute garbage, they shouldn't have been anywhere near the Tournament. With 96 teams you get two, three, many Georgia Techs.

Paul Hewitt may as well be Art Shell on the sidelines. All that talent and not a clue how to coach it or harness it. Same blank expression too.

[waborat]

Yes, it's about the money, always is...

Is it a good idea? I'll say sure only because I'm selfish & love watching this craziness every year...

Ya gotta remember that even with 65 teams in the tourney, NCAA basketball still puts less percentage wise into the post-season than any other major sport...

I love watching the NIT games as well, so why not stick em all together?

Seeds #1-8 in each region would remain the same. The added teams would play the current bottom 33...After the bye, the #1 seed would still play the winner of #16/17...

We say we want THE best 64 every year??? Well, guess what, the bottom 3-4 schools in every region are not the best 64...They're all schools who get praised for winning their tiny conferences whether they have a winning record or not?

Think about it, you would now have the winner of the Big Sky as a #22 or 23 seed playing an above average BCS school at a #10 or 11 seed...The Big Sky school would actually have a better match up and a much better chance to win and move on...If not, then we probably get an even better matchup in round 2 to watch...

Wouldn't you have rather watched the '08 Buckeyes in the tourney then Austin Peay?

My problem isn't them raising it to 96 teams, it's how will I fit my brackets on an 8x11 piece of paper?

[peeker643]

My problem isn't them raising it to 96 teams, it's how will I fit my brackets on an 8x11 piece of paper?

Print at 50% and get someone younger than you to read it.

Duh.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

96 teams?

The regular season has already been marginalized by Confrence Tournaments. a 96 team field will make them mean nothing. It'll be one big long preseason. It would so much fun to see a bunch of .500 teams getting the chance to ruin a good team's season.

[waborat]

It'll be one big long preseason. It would so much fun to see a bunch of .500 teams getting the chance to ruin a good team's season.

Unlike the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, Nascar, etc who already do it?

And quit hatin' on those con-tourneys, it's because of them that the Bobcats beat GTown and gave the Bucks an easier road to Indy

[Cerebral_DownTime]

It'll be one big long preseason. It would so much fun to see a bunch of .500 teams getting the chance to ruin a good team's season.

Unlike the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, Nascar, etc who already do it?

And quit hatin' on those con-tourneys, it's because of them that the Bobcats beat GTown and gave the Bucks an easier road to Indy

90% of the time the teams in those leagues don't have their seasons ruined by one .500 team. (Yes I remember DA at Cincy in 2007).

I'll quit hating on confrence tourneys when they quit allowing crap into the NCAA Tournament. I'd argue that Ohio shouldn't have even been in position to play GT. 7-9 in the MAC is a joke.

[pup]

I wonder what the message board fury was like when they went from 32 ---> 64?

[Cease]

I wonder what the message board fury was like when they went from 32 ---> 64?

Between the tourney and Coke releasing "New Coke," there were some epic melts on this board (I won't name names, but you know who you are )! Those were the days the internet was great. Now it just sucks.

[peeker643]

I wonder what the message board fury was like when they went from 32 ---> 64?

Between the tourney and Coke releasing "New Coke," there were some epic melts on this board (I won't name names, but you know who you are )! Those were the days the internet was great. Now it just sucks.

My bet is FUDU went ape shit over both.

[BruceK]

Well, since they went to 64 teams in 1985 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Men's_Division_I_Basketball_Championship)
I'm pretty sure the epic meltdown was mitigated by the fact that people were on 300 baud dial-up modems.

[waborat]

I wonder what the message board fury was like when they went from 32 ---> 64?

Between the tourney and Coke releasing "New Coke," there were some epic melts on this board (I won't name names, but you know who you are )! Those were the days the internet was great. Now it just sucks.

My turn...

I'll guess Ron Washington?

[waborat]

It'll be one big long preseason. It would so much fun to see a bunch of .500 teams getting the chance to ruin a good team's season.

Unlike the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, Nascar, etc who already do it?

And quit hatin' on those con-tourneys, it's because of them that the Bobcats beat GTown and gave the Bucks an easier road to Indy

90% of the time the teams in those leagues don't have their seasons ruined by one .500 team. (Yes I remember DA at Cincy in 2007).

I'll quit hating on confrence tourneys when they quit allowing crap into the NCAA Tournament. I'd argue that Ohio shouldn't have even been in position to play GT. 7-9 in the MAC is a joke.

Sorry CDT, misunderstood your post....

Thought you were saying that the post-season would be brought down with .500 teams? Which it could still...

You meant the con-tourney's, which would mean that most of time you'd get the tourney winner & the regular season winner infrom the mid's...

See? It flawless

[mattvan1]

I wonder what the message board fury was like when they went from 32 ---> 64?

Between the tourney and Coke releasing "New Coke," there were some epic melts on this board (I won't name names, but you know who you are )! Those were the days the internet was great. Now it just sucks.

My turn...

I'll guess Ron Washington?

Dingle Stetson

[hermanfontenot]

The big difference between expansion then (to 32 teams in 1975, to 40 in '79, to 48 in '80, to 64 in '85) is that a lot of the smaller leagues didn't have automatic bids. Tournament expansion opened the door to a lot of major also-rans, the Georgia Techs and Oklahoma States- but it also opened the door to conferences like the SWAC and the AMCU-8.

Nowadays every conference- except for the Great West- already has an automatic bid. There is no conceivable way the Tournament would be expanded to accomodate more teams from, say, the MAC or Horizon Leagues. This is all about cramming more mediocre majors into March.

The expansions of the late '70s and early '80s were necessary for the sport to thrive on a national stage. This expansion is mere dilution.

[Triple-S]

sort of OT, but related to the point somewhat.

But it still boggles the mind that CFB doesn't want to be anything like college basketball in it's post season. This past weekend proves it.

[leadpipe]

As with the potential playoff system in football, as soon as they figure out the way to make a playoff more profitable than the bowls, University presidents won't care so much about the "tradition" of the bowl.

All they are doing now if running numbers and seeing how much cash they can make with 96 - and it will be done.

By the way, there hasn't been a team yet left out of the 64 team field that woulda won it. I feel sorry for undefeated football teams not playing in the championship game - the the team that feels they were "robbed" of the thirty somethingish at large spot....not so much. The teams that get in deserve post season basketball, and some of the teams that get in don't deserve post season basketball. If you can;t make a 64 team field, tough shit.

[waborat]

It's gonna happen and we'll still watch it...

No different then the BCS...

Wild cards in baseball...

Or the assinine Pro Bowl...

We...will...watch...it

[danwismar]

Paul Hewitt may as well be Art Shell on the sidelines. All that talent and not a clue how to coach it or harness it. Same blank expression too.

...and I hear tonight Hewitt is the new favorite for the St. Johns job. I wonder what part of the game the St. Johns people were watching Sunday afternoon that made them think..."yeah...this is our guy"

[oberle]

If they REALLY want to fix the NCAA tourney, all they got to do is schedule the first two weeks so that no more than two games are on at the same time. Let ME decide what I want to watch. I'm so tired of the network deciding that a particular game is boring and forcing you to watch two teams you don't care about just because the game is within 15 points.

[jordan kramer]

If they REALLY want to fix the NCAA tourney, all they got to do is schedule the first two weeks so that no more than two games are on at the same time. Let ME decide what I want to watch. I'm so tired of the network deciding that a particular game is boring and forcing you to watch two teams you don't care about just because the game is within 15 points.

mmod.ncaa.com brotha. i never used it before this year, and i will never watch the tourney the same way again. i set up the t.v. right by the computer and watched 2 games at once for several hours a day the first weekend, it was awesome. march madness on demand does serious work

[swerb]

They should have never went to 65 teams. It's so goofy, 65 instead of 64 ... the one sacrificial play in game. It's dumb. When they added a conference they should have just taken away one of the at large berths.

That said, since they have gone to 65, and since it appears unlikely they will go back to 64 (my #1 preference) ... I'd like to see them expand it to 68.

You do four play in games. Two Tuesday night, two Wednesday night. Between the eight bubble teams. Four winners get in as #12 seeds.

Games would be very exciting. Get the Tourney started two days earlier too. This years games would have been like ...

Virginia Tech vs UTEP
Illinois vs Utah St
Mississippi State vs Minnesota
Dayton vs Washington

Of course, the reason this can never happen: brackets would have to be done by Tuesday afternoons. Probably 25-30% less people would play brackets as a result, and it would have an impact on ratings.

[waborat]

Of course, the reason this can never happen: brackets would have to be done by Tuesday afternoons. Probably 25-30% less people would play brackets as a result, and it would have an impact on ratings.

Shouldn't be a problem at all...

The NCAA frowns on the gambling aspect anyways

[Cease]

FWIW, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney calls the move to 96 teams "probable". Gottlieb brings some decent takes in the video.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament/2010/news/story?id=5043254

[skatingtripods]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaab/news;_ylt ... -expansion

[Cerebral_DownTime]

This is about money. Nothing more.

The NCAA can never use the "Kids will miss too much class" excuse for not having a playoff in CFB again.

[peeker643]

This is about money. Nothing more.

The NCAA can never use the "Kids will miss too much class" excuse for not having a playoff in CFB again.

Think they'll discount their regular season and conference tourney tickets now that they've rendered that portion of the season somewhat less meaningful?

[waborat]

Love it...

The best event just got bester...

Another day of the year to just sit-on-ass

[Cerebral_DownTime]

This is about money. Nothing more.

The NCAA can never use the "Kids will miss too much class" excuse for not having a playoff in CFB again.

Think they'll discount their regular season and conference tourney tickets now that they've rendered that portion of the season somewhat less meaningful?

The regualr season already means very little.

It's a stupid idea that only the morons running the NCAA could come up with.

It'll make day 1 and 2 pretty much irrelevant.

Can't wait to see those 12-18 teams playing the 17-13 teams.

[swerb]

How the 96 team field mighta looked ...

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/con ... ID=1074155

[hermanfontenot]

"Mid-Majors May Not Benefit"

Well, no shit.