I am not arguing for 16 teams I am saying what would really be the difference if they made it to 96 teams. Most teams have little to no chance of getting to final 4 whether it is 64 or 96 teams.
Like I said, there is much more to the NCAA tournament than just who reaches the Final Four. It's also about the journey and drama of teams that don't make it. Just reaching the Sweet 16 is a major accomplishment for a lot of schools. The sigh of relief of qualifying for the 2nd weekend and the 5-day period of reflection/celebration/preparation/anticipation is awesome for the schools who get that far (and for their fans). I don't think it's debatable that the first two rounds of the current format have a lot of meaning and value.
The difference is you'd have far fewer interesting games. You wouldn't have nearly as many Ohio vs. Georgetowns. Instead, you'd have Ohio vs. Virginia Tech, and then if Ohio pulled off the upset, they'd have to face a rested Georgetown who got to watch them play already. It takes away the magic of the tournament and reduces the number of upsets - which is what makes the tournament exciting in the first place. And with 64, you get all the automatic qualifiers, plus every legitimate team that didn't win their conference, plus a bunch of good teams, and then several fringe teams that are irrelevant. We don't need 32 more fringe teams - there's no benefit of adding the 10th place team in the B12 or Big East into the tournament. None at all.
To see the quality if teams you'll get, just look at the NIT - those are the next 32 teams. You have powerhouses like Texas Tech, who went 19-16 for the year and 4-12 in the Big 12. Or UNC and NC State, both of whom went 5-11 in the woeful ACC. Why even have a regular season if 4-12 gets you into the NCAA Tournament?
i love going to that game at UD arena though. its fun, people make signs rooting for the teams even though no one here in dayton cares about either of the teams.
Agreed! this is still a 64 team tournament & should stay that way. If you can't .500 in your league, then you don't belong in March Madness.
I'da supported a double elimination March Madness tourney over adding more teams. Any variation involving the BEST teams >> inclusion of lesser teams. This is almost like high school freshman and JV track meets where you have several school districts in it, and there's like 25 heats of the 200 meter dash. The best part is this would give 1st round byes to 32 teams (like HALF of the current 65 team format!), so there's less crap to sit through
If there's money to be had, people will s*** all over anything. Nothing sacred when it comes to the dollar, it seems.
