Expanded Tourney

[CannonCougar85]

Listening to 1280 today and they said that the NCAA is considering expanding to a 96 team tourney. It's reported here as a done deal just waiting for a TV contract.

http://sportsbybrooks.com/source-march- ... deal-27742

Sportsbybrooks.com is somewhat of the TMZ of the sports world so I don't know how creditable this actually is but it does bring up an interesting discussion.

I personally don't like it. This will make the regular season even less relevant then it is now with so many more teams able to qualify. What are your thoughts?

[FurriousCougar]

Listening to 1280 today and they said that the NCAA is considering expanding to a 96 team tourney. It's reported here as a done deal just waiting for a TV contract.

http://sportsbybrooks.com/source-march- ... deal-27742

Sportsbybrooks.com is somewhat of the TMZ of the sports world so I don't know how creditable this actually is but it does bring up an interesting discussion.

I personally don't like it. This will make the regular season even less relevant then it is now with so many more teams able to qualify. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, not a fan. I don't think we should really tamper with what is, IMO, the best thing in college sports - scratch that - all of sports.

I can really only think of a few, small things I would change.

1. Make the play-in game between the last 2 at-large bids, not Conference Champs. Better yet - get rid of the play in game and have one less at-large!

2. Make a rule that if you suck in your conference, you don't get to go dancin'. I.E. If you are at or below .500 in conference play, you don't get to go to the Big Dance.

3. Magically Eliminate the 10 minutes of fouling that goes on at the end of 90% of the games. I can dream can't I?

[BroncoBot]

Big mistake to go any larger than 64. Every school out there has a shot and there are usually only a few (2-3) teams that end their season getting dogged. Live with it or win your tourney.

[imuakahuku]

Listening to 1280 today and they said that the NCAA is considering expanding to a 96 team tourney. It's reported here as a done deal just waiting for a TV contract.

http://sportsbybrooks.com/source-march- ... deal-27742

Sportsbybrooks.com is somewhat of the TMZ of the sports world so I don't know how creditable this actually is but it does bring up an interesting discussion.

I personally don't like it. This will make the regular season even less relevant then it is now with so many more teams able to qualify. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, not a fan. I don't think we should really tamper with what is, IMO, the best thing in college sports - scratch that - all of sports.

I can really only think of a few, small things I would change.

1. Make the play-in game between the last 2 at-large bids, not Conference Champs. Better yet - get rid of the play in game and have one less at-large!

2. Make a rule that if you suck in your conference, you don't get to go dancin'. I.E. If you are at or below .500 in conference play, you don't get to go to the Big Dance.

3. Magically Eliminate the 10 minutes of fouling that goes on at the end of 90% of the games. I can dream can't I?

I like these but I say add three more fishtail games and call them NCAA tourny games instead of play in games. I agree that conf champs shouldn't be subject to them either. Let the last eight in play for a chance to go against a 1 seed. I think that there will almost always be six more teams deserving to be in the tournament. I think it will also allow teams to schedule tougher schedules knowing that it is importing to the selection committee and there are six more spots available.

Play all four games at a kickoff site (which could be the same court the NC game is played on) two days before round one. They could have all the pagentry etc there. It starts there and ends there. I think it would be pretty cool.

[scott715]

I don't know how many conferences there are but give all conference champs the top seeds and then make the at large teams to a playoff to get in. Someone can play with that to see how it would look.

[snoscythe]

If you go with the last two at-large teams playing each other, you have to put the play-in games elsewhere in the bracket. Otherwise, you'd have the #1 overall seed playing a 12-ish seed in the first round instead of a team with an RPI in the 200s. Not much of a reward for being the top-esteemed team in the country.

I think they either have to expand to 96 as suggested or eliminate the play-in altogether. What the expansion to 96 would do is kill the NIT and CBI while taking a lot of the drama out of Selection Sunday.....will the media really be able to talk about someone getting jobbed if they get left out at that point? "Geez, I can't believe Iowa State, with a 19-12 record and an RPI of 70 got left out." It's a bit hard to have sympathy when teams are basically whining about not being selected as at least the 66th best team in the country. I have a hard enough time feeling sorry for the guys who get left out currently when the selection committee decides they aren't a top 34 team.

[Mars]

Big mistake to go any larger than 64.

Uh, the tournament is ALREADY larger than 64.

Personally, I think 68 (with 4 play-in games) would be pretty sweet.

[BroncoBot]

Big mistake to go any larger than 64.

Uh, the tournament is ALREADY larger than 64.

Personally, I think 68 (with 4 play-in games) would be pretty sweet.

True, let me correct that, The NCAA should just go back to 64 instead of 65 with the ridiculous play in game.

[AmmonCougar1]

Personally I would rather see the tournament start a week earlier with 256 teams and bag EVERY SINGLE conference tournament! Keep the Thurs/Sat, Fri/Sun format one week earlier and let the madness begin. Imagine some upsets that could occur! Oh, and the utes probably still would make the cut.

Go Cougs!!!
J. Child
Ammon, ID

[cougarsunited]

I want a tournament with a BYU team in the Final Four (or higher), other than that... I have other BYU athletics topics to get worked up over