Recently, there has been talk of making the Big Dance even bigger.
The annual NCAA men's college basketball tournament, famously known as "March Madness," has invited 65 teams to play in the postseason tournament every year since 2001. The Tuesday before the opening weekend of the tournament, the weakest two teams play in the lowly "play-in game" to determine who will be the 64th team. The winner advances to play a No. 1 seed, and it inevitably gets thrashed every year.
Now, there have been reports that the NCAA is looking to expand the tournament to 96 teams.
The madness has got to stop. Sixty-five is the perfect number of teams for the tournament, and expanding it would be a huge mistake.
As it stands, there are 31 automatic qualifiers for the tournament and these berths go to the teams who win their conference tournaments following the regular season - except for the Ivy League because it does not hold a tournament and simply sends its regular season champion. The remaining 34 spots are at-large bids, which are awarded to the best teams that don't win conference tournaments.
With the current format, the best and most elite teams are making the tournament. Adding 31 more at-large teams would significantly water down the tournament and decrease the overall quality of the teams in it.
Sure, it would be great if Virginia could make the tournament this year, and it would have a better chance of receiving an invitation in a larger tournament field. But the tournament is for the very best teams, and I'm not sure the Cavaliers meet that benchmark - though I hope they prove me wrong. At a minimum, Virginia would probably have to wind up with an 18-11 overall regular season record to be considered for the tournament. And even so, it would probably only be on the "bubble" and would need a win or two in the ACC Tournament. The Cavaliers would need to attain a 9-7 ACC record to get to 18-11 overall. A winning conference record is something I would say almost all at-large tournament teams should have. Adding 31 more at-large teams to the tournament would allow teams in with sub?.500 conference records, and that is just not a very high-quality tournament.
With the 65-team format, BCS conference teams that achieve 20 wins or keep their number of losses below 10 stand a pretty good chance of getting into the tournament. A 96-team format would erase these milestones of success and replace them with milestones of mediocrity. Teams with records such as 16-13 and maybe even 15-14 would be considered for the tournament. The bubble would be bursting. The tournament should only reward good teams, not sort-of?good teams. In addition to the Big Dance, the college basketball world now has three other postseason tournaments - the NIT, the CBI and CollegeInsider.com tournament - so a plethora of decent teams can play in the postseason. Everyone can be happy. I'm sure plenty of teams want invitations to the Big Dance, but still, it's a privilege only the best teams can earn.
Unfortunately, undeserving "legacy" teams would stand a better chance of getting into a 96-team tournament. This year's North Carolina squad is a perfect example. The Tar Heels just don't have what it takes to make the tournament this year. I can bet you an overall record such as 16-13 for the Tar Heels would get them into a 96-team tournament, though. That would likely mean a more deserving team with an overall better r
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