March Madness–one month of high-intensity basketball. The most universally cherished college sport playoff system, especially when put side-by-side with the money-filled cesspit that is the BCS. And it could get bigger. And bigger is always better.
Expanding the NCAA Tournament from 65 to 96 teams would not be the competitive Armageddon that my esteemed colleague Sawhney may claim. I’ll concede one point: it’s all about the money. But what isn’t? The added revenue and exposure would benefit not only the league but also the schools–and ultimately the student athletes. Along with an expansion, the NCAA would most likely sell the TV rights to cable (likely the biggest capture for ESPN since Monday Night Football), greatly expanding the viewing availability of games. And for me, the experienced couch-sitter and channel changer extraordinaire, my month-long LCD trip could be lengthened and strengthened.
An expanded field of play would also take some power from the Men-Behind-the-Curtain Selection Committee and allow the bubble teams and mid-major standouts to have a better chance of prolonging their season. As it stands, the 65-team tournament only includes 18 percent of teams in the league–compare this to the 56 percent of college football teams or 53 percent of NBA teams that make it to the postseason. That makes the Big Dance a very exclusive club with an already largely arbitrary bouncer.
And dilute the competitiveness of the tournament? Please. Never, since the installation of the 64-team tournament in 1985, has a 16-seed beaten a one-seed. Only five have come within five points. Expanding and inserting a pre-round of sorts would add well-matched competitive games and more upsets, overtimes and bracket-busters. It would make sure that the most qualified low-end teams end up challenging the one-seeds, supplementing everything we know and love about March Madness. More long-shots make for more Cinderellas, and God knows we love our Cinderellas.
The current format is not some age-old tradition handed down to us on stone tablets along with the Ten Commandments. The tournament has expanded 10 times since 1939 from eight teams to the current 65, the last change coming in 2001 as the opening-round play-in was added. A bump up to 96 would not be that radical; the league has grown from 282 D-I teams in 1985, when the tournament first grew to include 64 teams, to 334 teams today. That’s a lot of new teams being robbed of their playoff berths.
Additional spots in the tournament would bring in more of the grossly overlooked, awkward middle children of college sports–the mid-major teams–giving them their overdue shots at titles. Teams from what are essentially one-bid conferences must win their conference tournament to play in March Madness; their regular seasons become completely irrelevant. These potential dark horses are cast aside with little thought. Take Hofstra, 2006, Colonial Athletic Association. The team beats George Mason twice in four games, including in the semis of the conference tournament, but loses in the finals. Their bubble is popped, they’re passed over like the ugly girl at a party, but George Mason makes it in and continues on an unlikely streak to the Final Four. With an extra round, teams like Hoftstra have a shot to show what they can do. Get rid of the mid-major-devouring and shamefully irrelevant NIT; hand out automatic bids to conference tournament winners as well as regular season winners, and spread the love.
For all the noise being made by change-haters about the expansion, it has a large number of proponents. Coach K likes it, saying,“That would add more relevance to the regular season, instead of just having big games being bracket busters and things like that.” Pat Knight likes it, saying, “If you’re talking about adding more teams, I don’t think the games would change a bit. They’d be just as competitive and I think you’d see more Cinderella stories, more teams people didn’t think had a chance and there’d be a lot more upsets if the NCAA expanded the tournament.” The NCAA certainly likes it, coming off an 11-year, six billion-dollar contract with CBS and looking to up the ante. And the average fan will like it, with more basketball and more excitement.
In a year or two, expect to be happily filling out your beautifully lopsided brackets.