A look on both sides of this contentious issue. Paywall.
If you want a Cliffs Notes: There are reasons to expand the tournament; there are reasons to leave it at 68.
Personally I think 68 is 4 too many. But I guess they wanted to make room for 4 more P5 at-large bids and still have 4 spots for the little guys automatic conference qualifiers.
Personally I think its ridiculous when you see 8-9 teams from a power conference get into the tournament. NO WAY should 70% of your conference make it. I always get a kick when they do that with a conference then after their first games they only have like 2-3 left standing.
But I get it… the Big Names drive the money train and I’m not about to fool myself the main goal is to decide a champion. The main goal is to generate a tub full of money and the NCAA has done that like a machine and they will keep doing that and adding anything that will make it generate more.
I like it as is.
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Don’t mess with the single best sporting event in America.
It should be hard to get in.
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Agree with votan. 64 was better than 68, but 68 is fine.
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Leave it alone. Let the other play in the NIT.
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no…leave as it…to me expanding it is like handing out participation trophies like we do to kids…you want them to be rewarded but how many teams have we seen get in with losing records just because they won the conference tournament by upsetting the favorite?if you add more teams…it dilutes the status(for lack of a better word)of the significance of winning if you have to play 3-4"Sisters of the Poor Unicersity" before an actual tough game(s)…just seems more like a handout than earning a spot
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If they expand, the NIT probably goes away.
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Yes that is almost certain! I hope they leave the field like it is now.
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People are suckers for hype. See Super Bowl pre game firing and post game.
So that’s what they will get. Hyped up event with more teams that mean absolutely nothing.
I would prefer to shrink it back to 64, but nobody asked me. I’m sure it will grow. Eventually this dance will be about as prestigous as a December bowl game.
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Exactly. 68 was a stretch but it’s here and we can live with it. The second weekend is the Sweet Sixteen and that’s perfect. More games, more teams, less meaning.
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On the other hand, there have been two teams reach the Final Four from the First Four; neither one would have made the Dance without those four extra teams. (VCU and UCLA, if you can’t recall). The Aggies last year certainly would have been a dangerous team in the tournament, with what they did to us at the SECT and in the NIT. They may or may not expand, but if they do it doesn’t necessarily water down the field. They’ll just have more play-in games (the First Thirteen?) and away we go.
One more thing: One of the leading people pushing to expand the Dance is Greg Sankey, because he knows the SEC-16 will get a huge chunk of an expanded tournament. And as we’ve seen, Greg Sankey tends to get what he wants.
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