Truth & Rumors > NCAAB
Why tourney won't expand field
There's always talk this time of year about NCAA tournament expansion. Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said on Saturday night that it would not happen for two reasons. One was Tiger Woods and the other was cash. CBS, which owns the television rights to the tournament, has the Masters on the weekend following the Final Four. That means that there's no chance that the tournament could be extended a week. "First of all, the whole thing is moot," Tranghese said. "CBS has a television contract and there's a thing called the Masters. Jim Boeheim and I talked about this the other day. CBS is paying the NCAA a lot of money and they're not about to acquiesce to accommodate everyone else's agendas. I'm not convinced that the tournament should be expanded." Tranghese added that a concern was that the regular season was already diluted and that an expanded tournament would only dilute it more.
More FanHouse Blogs
- UFC 106 Fight Card
- UFC 106 Results
- Stefanie Spielman Dies at Age 42
- Bears Shun NBC for Sunday Night Game
- Parisyan Pulls Out of UFC 106, Dana White Says Move is Career Ender
- Questions Surround ESPN's NBA Latino Power Rankings
- Steelers Fan Claims He Was Poisoned, Blinded in Chicago Bar
- Bosh Will Consider Joining Wade in Miami
- Chelios Fights Father Time for Last Shot
- Zack Greinke Wins AL Cy Young Award
Stub Hub
The 2009 schedule has been released. Search for tickets!
Truth & Rumors
MOST POPULAR
-
1
Agent: 'Extraordinary' interest in Bay
- Views
- 5935
- Comments
- 1892
-
2
Vikings to consider L.A. move?
- Views
- 66843
- Comments
- 1879
-
3
Bills owner wanted Gruden
- Views
- 28648
- Comments
- 339
-
4
Mayo rebukes Bruschi's Belichick knock
- Views
- 45369
- Comments
- 264
-
5
Can Iverson lure LeBron to Knicks?
- Views
- 10537
- Comments
- 176
Most Active Users
Comments + Blog Posts + Throwdowns
Message Boards
-
NCAAF > General NCAAF
Are college football coaches…
- Views
- 327
- Replies
- 51
-
NFL > Pittsburgh Steelers
Big Ben accepts Blame for loss…
- Views
- 310
- Replies
- 70
-
NCAAF > General NCAAF
CFB Game Day 11/21/2009
- Views
- 173
- Replies
- 90



Tatiana Golovin
Melissa Haro



Comments (32) Add A Comment
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.
baseballbrett
Colonial Heights , VA
Total Comments (22)
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.
YDT8523
Flushing , NY
Total Comments (103)
Why the hell would they expand it? It's perfect. Don't change it at all!
IrishR#1
Total Comments (8517)
good, 64 is enough
(.) (.)
Total Comments (18)
Too many already! Do we really need to see UMBC or American get destroyed by Duke or UCLA?
Cheesy Texan
Converse , TX
Total Comments (1696)
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?
INCSOC
Total Comments (424)
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.
1Hawkeye1 wants Vida
Clear Lake , IA
Total Comments (1920)
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.
M-a-r-s
Waltonville , IL
Total Comments (410)
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.
50yearfan
Total Comments (8679)
Expand the tourney? Are you crazy? All it would do is add more crap teams.
Need bracket help?
Check out our exclusive MARCH MADNESS FORMULA RANKINGS at http://rmensch.blogspot.com/
rmensch
Bloomsburg , PA
Total Comments (69)
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!
bootlegmn
Minneapolis , MN
Total Comments (21)
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.
DukeFan_71
Durham , NC
Total Comments (8)
I like seeing the little guys in it. Especially when they beat the big guys like Florida, Oregon, and Kentucky!
1Hawkeye1 wants Vida
Clear Lake , IA
Total Comments (1920)
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
cusefan21
Jacksonville , FL
Total Comments (678)
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.
Brushybill799
Waco , TX
Total Comments (1)
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.
billfchew
Cape May Court House , NJ
Total Comments (1)
I agree with Duke fan_71: why not the only the best 64 teams?
hoyaforever
Total Comments (2)
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.
SA RedRaider
Total Comments (4)
Add 3 more play-in games? Impressive, you've read Gene Wojciechowski's article.
utermama
Doylestown, PA
Total Comments (1)
WHy don't they just make it 200 teams and let everybody go? Why? Because 65 teams is MORE than enough.
Jabril1217
Tucker , GA
Total Comments (1494)
Comment
Remember to keep your posts clean. Profanity will get filtered, and offensive comments will be removed.