FanNation - The Republic of Sport

There is no reason to expand the tournament. They already have 65 slots for teams to try and win the national championship. There are plenty of spots for teams to get in if they just play well in the regular season and the conference championship.

Add 3 more teams to make it 68. Have each bracket have a play-in game with 2 games on Tuesday and 2 games on Wednesday. The winners on Tuesday play on Thursday, and the winners on Wednesday play on Friday. Otherwise get rid of the play-in game and keep the Tournament field at 64.

Why the hell would they expand it? It's perfect. Don't change it at all!

good, 64 is enough

Too many already! Do we really need to see UMBC or American get destroyed by Duke or UCLA?

The tournament does not need to be expanded, it needs to be contracted (or get rid of all the pre-season and conference tournaments). The season is essentially meaningless. The media has a pretty good handle on which major conference teams are going to get in and for the most part, only the smaller conference's champion get in. What is the point?

It's perfect as it is. The national champion is in the top 64 teams. I highly doubt we are leaving anyone worthy out of it.

I agree with YDT... there's no good reason why there is only one play-in game. Either make it zero (reducing the field from 65 to 64) or expand it to four play-in games (raising the number to 68 teams). Heck, I could even see the field expanding to eight play-in games (increasing the number of teams to 72) on the Tuesday before the "official" start of the tourney.

It is hard enough to justify many of the 64 teams in it now. You do not play your way in the tournament, you have to play your way out of it. You have enough teams that finished sith in their conference in it now.
32 teams and double elimination would be a better choice and would make the NIT tournament better too.

Expand the tourney? Are you crazy? All it would do is add more crap teams.

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They should expand the big dance to include all division I teams, the top 24 division II teams, the top 12 high school teams, and have one intra-murals at-large selection. Then maybe 80% of the world will be happy and can shut up. Go fire a coach!

I agree with keeping the field at 64 teams. However, I think that Dick Vitale and others who have said so are correct--it should be the 64 BEST teams, not the 32 best and 33 cannon-fodder teams. I grant you that sometimes, the little guys upset the big guys. I will also grant you that this is the best way for the little guys to get national exposure. However, seeing as how 16-seed teams are 0-for-everything, and the 15-seeds and 14-seeds aren't much better, I'd rather see teams who actually have a chance. I mean, would you rather see teams like Florida, Oregon, and Kentucky in the field, or UMBC, Lehigh and American? Honestly, which of those sets of teams is likely to draw in more viewers? I think we all know the answer to that.

I like seeing the little guys in it. Especially when they beat the big guys like Florida, Oregon, and Kentucky!

I think 64 is a great number and no need to dd any more they need to get rid of the playin game though it's worthless and they need to get more exposure to the NIT tourney on TV

Double the 64 and have 128. Start on Tuesday and the rest of the tourney is the same. If a team can't make the 128 picks they're really SOL anyway. No more crying about not being picked, more games, more money for NCAA, and Tiger Woods can still play his little golf game.

Here's my only comment- I've always felt that there's too many small conferences getting in on automatic bids; expand the field to 68 and have
a Tuesday filled with four play-in games. This willlevel the field with a few
more deserving at-large bids and create one more day full of suspence
and decent ratings.

I agree with Duke fan_71: why not the only the best 64 teams?

It should be the 64 best best teams....but what makes some of you guys think that Ohio State, Florida, ASU or VaTech are better than Drake, Butler, South Alabama or such??? The tournament would really suck if it was just the big boys. Make 4 play-in games and have all the bubble teams play each other to get in. Tired of hearing how some were robbed....they had a regular season and then a tournament to make their case. Georgia did it, so did Coppin State. The conference tourney winners did their job to get-in, they should not have to be subjected to the play-in game. Put all the schools that are whining about not getting in play in those games.

Add 3 more play-in games? Impressive, you've read Gene Wojciechowski's article.

WHy don't they just make it 200 teams and let everybody go? Why? Because 65 teams is MORE than enough.